IRS Written Determinations
Free IRS private letter rulings, technical advice memoranda, and Chief Counsel advice with plain-English summaries and the official IRS release on every page.
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Late elections out of automatic GST allocation approved
A taxpayer made transfers in two years to five irrevocable trusts for a sibling, nephew, and nieces and did not intend to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to those trusts. The…
Foreign charitable grants receive favorable excise tax rulings
A private foundation proposed grants to two foreign charitable organizations that would independently select secondary grantees for projects serving disadvantaged elderly people, children,…
Late partnership section 754 election approved
A limited liability company treated as a partnership failed to timely elect under IRC § 754 after a buyer purchased partnership interests in a transaction the company treated as a disguised sale.…
Late qualified opportunity fund certification treated as timely
A partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund, but its manager and tax advisers did not timely file an extension or partnership return because of a miscommunication. The…
Late corporate classification election approved
A state corporation with an S election converted to a limited liability company and intended to remain classified as a corporation for federal tax purposes. It did not timely file Form 8832 to elect…
Late GST exemption allocation approved
A donor and spouse funded an irrevocable trust intended to benefit children, grandchildren, and more remote descendants. The donor relied on an accounting firm for a gift tax return, but the firm…
Late GST exemption allocation approved
A donor and spouse funded an irrevocable trust intended to benefit the donor's children, grandchildren, and more remote descendants. The donor relied on an accounting firm for a gift tax return, but…
Pension medical account may cover in-service retirees
An employer proposed amending its pension plan so its IRC § 401(h) retiree medical account could pay medical, dental, and vision benefits for employees still working after reaching age 59½. The…
Public-company stock merger qualifies as Type B reorganization
A public acquiring company proposed using a merger subsidiary to acquire all stock of another public company in exchange for the acquirer's common stock. The target would survive the merger, and…
Public-company stock merger qualifies as Type B reorganization
A public acquiring company proposed using a merger subsidiary to acquire all stock of another public company in exchange for the acquirer's common stock. The target would survive the merger, and…
Member and dependent scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval under IRC § 4945(g)(1) for five scholarships to members of an organization or their legal dependents who were graduating high school and entering…
Sculpture and writing grant procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval under IRC § 4945(g)(3) for two alternating grant programs. In odd years it would fund an artist creating a sculpture, and in even years it would fund…
Early-career science fellowship and travel grants approved
A private foundation requested advance approval under IRC § 4945(g)(3) for research fellowships and travel grants benefiting early-career scientists. Fellowship grants would be paid to tax-exempt…
Vocational and trade school scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval under IRC § 4945(g)(1) for a scholarship program serving qualifying vocational and trade school students. Applicants must have graduated from public…
Need-based college scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval under IRC § 4945(g)(1) for scholarships helping financially needy students pursue higher education and career goals. Applicants must attend a…
Five-year set-aside for an endowed professorship approved
A private foundation requested approval under IRC § 4942(g)(2) to accumulate funds over five years for an endowed distinguished chair at a university. The chair would specialize in two redacted…
Regional high school senior scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval under IRC § 4945(g)(1) for nonrenewable scholarships serving high school seniors in specified counties of two states. Applicants must pursue an…
Beef-breed association denied charitable tax exemption
An international association of national beef-breed organizations applied for recognition under IRC § 501(c)(3). Its stated purposes included promoting the breed and its products, exchanging…
Single-company financial sales group denied business league exemption
An association whose members all sold financial products for one for-profit company applied for exemption as a business league under IRC § 501(c)(6). The group trained and developed the company's…
Commercial condominium association denied social welfare exemption
A mutual benefit corporation for a single commercial condominium building applied for exemption under IRC § 501(c)(4). Its members, mostly for-profit businesses, paid dues and assessments for the…
Private road maintenance association denied charitable exemption
A membership association that maintained private gravel roads in a residential development applied for exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3), describing its work as testing for public safety. Lot owners…
Youth travel baseball team denied social club exemption
A nonprofit operating a travel baseball team for players age 12 or younger applied for social club exemption under IRC § 501(c)(7). The team practiced at a donated school field and used its funds…
Open source software organization denied charitable exemption
An organization promoting open source collaboration, standards, software, certifications, and public digital infrastructure applied for exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3). It planned to make software…
Family-only scholarship organization denied tax-exempt status
An organization applied for recognition as a tax-exempt charity under IRC § 501(c)(3). It planned to preserve one family's legacy by awarding scholarships only to descendants of that family, and…
Fraternal lodge lost exemption because it lacked a member-benefit program and conducted substantial public business
A subordinate fraternal lodge operated a club with gaming, food, beverage, fee, and other revenue. The lodge told the IRS that it did not provide life, sick, accident, or similar benefits to…
Charity faced revocation after failing to substantiate its exempt operations
The IRS proposed to revoke an organization's recognition under IRC § 501(c)(3) after an examination of its Form 990-EZ. The organization provided some records and received several extensions, but…
Condominium association denied social welfare exemption
A condominium homeowners association applied for exemption as a social welfare organization under IRC § 501(c)(4). It collected assessments to maintain the condominium building and restricted its…
Estate received more time to elect portability of unused estate tax exclusion
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return missed the deadline to elect portability for the decedent's unused exclusion amount. The estate asked for relief under Treas.…
Fund received more time to self-certify as a qualified opportunity fund
A partnership formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund missed the deadline to file Form 8996 with its partnership return. Its accounting firm had advised it about the required filings but…
Grantor received more time to elect GST trust treatment
A grantor transferred cash to two trusts created primarily for the grantor's children and their descendants. The grantor intended the transfers to be exempt from generation-skipping transfer tax,…
Solar facility owner received more time for leased-property credit election
A partnership owned a solar energy facility and leased it to another entity, intending to pass the facility's energy credit to the lessee. The parties' timely returns reflected that intended…
Outdoor storage rents and customary services qualified as REIT income
A company planning to elect real estate investment trust status owned outdoor industrial storage properties and leased storage space to unrelated tenants. The storage fees covered space plus…
Multistep business separations qualified as tax-free corporate reorganizations
A privately held corporate group proposed an internal separation followed by three distributions designed to place four businesses in separately operated companies owned by the existing…
Nonprofit insurer holding-company reorganization and spin-offs received favorable rulings
A nonprofit insurer subject to IRC §§ 501(m) and 833 reorganized under a new nonprofit holding company and separated regulated and nonregulated businesses. The IRS treated the insurer's admission of…
Mineral royalty interests could be aggregated for depletion calculations
A partnership held royalty interests under two mineral leases and did not bear exploration, development, or production costs. It asked to aggregate the separate interests as one property when…
Controlled entities received more time for tax-exempt-use property elections
Two companies wholly owned by a tax-exempt entity served as general partners in partnerships that placed projects in service. Their partnership agreements stated that the companies would elect under…
BEAT services exception does not require using the transfer-pricing cost method
Chief Counsel considered whether a taxpayer must use the services cost method for transfer pricing to claim the services cost method exception from base erosion payments under IRC § 59A(d)(5). The…
Fund received more time for built-in-loss property basis election
An investment fund transferred business assets with aggregate tax basis above fair market value to an affiliated corporation in a transaction represented to qualify under IRC § 351. The fund and…
Fund received more time for built-in-loss property basis election
An investment fund and affiliated funds transferred business assets with aggregate tax basis above fair market value to an affiliated corporation in transactions represented to qualify under IRC §…
Affiliated fund received more time for built-in-loss basis election
An investment fund transferred business assets with aggregate tax basis above fair market value to an affiliated corporation in a transaction represented to qualify under IRC § 351. The fund and…
Fund obtained late-election relief for transferred built-in-loss assets
An affiliated investment fund transferred business assets whose aggregate tax basis exceeded fair market value to a corporation in a transaction represented to fall under IRC § 351. The parties…
Late basis election allowed for fund's built-in-loss asset transfer
An investment fund transferred business assets with built-in loss to an affiliated corporation in a transaction represented to qualify under IRC § 351. The fund and corporation intended to elect…
Corporation received relief for ineffective S and QSub elections
A corporation's S election was filed for a date before its first taxable year and was therefore ineffective, which also made several qualified subchapter S subsidiary elections ineffective. Separate…
Partnership received more time to make section 754 basis election
A partnership sold interests to new partners and intended to make an IRC § 754 election with its return but inadvertently failed to do so. The election would permit basis adjustments under IRC §§…
IRS revoked a church's exemption after commercial rentals became its primary activity
The IRS revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) status after concluding that its commercial equipment rental business had become its primary activity. The organization said its religious and…
Investors could make a retroactive QEF election beginning in the third year
A married couple held shares in a foreign corporation that their longtime tax preparer failed to identify as a passive foreign investment company. As a result, the preparer did not advise them to…
Partnership received more time to opt out of bonus depreciation
A partnership placed qualified five-year and fifteen-year property in service and claimed additional first-year depreciation on its timely return. Its return preparer did not know that the deduction…
Estate received 120 days to make portability election
An estate that was not otherwise required to file Form 706 missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate requested relief under Treas. Reg. §…
Fifteen foreign entities received late check-the-box election relief
A foreign investment fund wholly or partly owned fifteen foreign eligible entities. The fund intended each entity to elect partnership or disregarded-entity status from its formation or acquisition…
Late Form 8996 treated as timely for opportunity fund certification
A partnership formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property relied on a longtime accountant to handle its tax compliance. The accountant did not know that Form 8996 was required and…
Opportunity fund's amended Form 8996 was accepted as timely
A partnership was formed to invest in a qualified opportunity zone business, and some members contributed gains they expected to defer. Its longtime accountant did not know that the partnership had…
Merger of two GST-exempt family trusts preserved exempt status
A husband and wife created separate trusts that ultimately funded two trusts with identical terms and the same beneficiaries. Each resulting trust had a zero generation-skipping transfer tax…
Five foreign entities received late classification election relief
Five foreign eligible entities failed to timely file Forms 8832 for their intended federal tax classifications. One entity sought partnership treatment, while the other four sought…
LLC received more time to elect corporate tax classification
A domestic limited liability company intended from formation to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation. It did not timely file Form 8832 to make that election. The company…
Return of surplus retiree medical assets did not disqualify pension plan
An employer terminated a frozen pension plan that included a separate IRC § 401(h) account for retiree medical benefits. After all pension and medical liabilities were satisfied, assets remained in…
Nuclear decommissioning fund received withdrawal relief and revised funding schedules
An energy company acquired interests in a two-unit nuclear facility and related qualified decommissioning funds. Contributions continued automatically after the prior schedules of ruling amounts…
Estate obtained extension to preserve unused exclusion for spouse
An estate below the Form 706 filing threshold did not timely file an estate tax return or elect portability. It sought regulatory relief so the surviving spouse could potentially use the decedent's…
Scholarship procedures for students with disabilities received advance approval
A private foundation proposed scholarships for high school, college, and graduate students with intellectual or developmental disabilities who participated in a specified program. Recipients would…
College scholarship procedures received advance approval
A private foundation proposed renewable scholarships for graduating high school seniors from specified counties who planned to enter four-year college programs. Eligibility included academic…
Need-based college scholarship procedures received an IRS determination
A private foundation proposed full or partial college scholarships for financially needy students at specified religious high schools in a particular area. Selection considered school…
What these documents are
- Private letter rulings (PLRs): A taxpayer asked the IRS to rule on a planned transaction before doing it. The ruling shows exactly how the IRS applied the Code to those facts.
- Technical advice memoranda (TAMs): The IRS National Office answering a question raised during an audit or other proceeding.
- Chief Counsel advice (CCAs): IRS lawyers advising their own field staff on how to apply the law.
- Determination letters: Rulings on exempt-organization matters, such as whether an organization qualifies under § 501(c)(3) or a foundation's grant procedures pass § 4945.
- Not precedent, still useful: Under 26 U.S.C. § 6110(k)(3) none of these can be cited as precedent. They remain the best public window into how the IRS actually rules on facts like yours, and practitioners read them for exactly that.