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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Corporation receives relief for inadvertent S election termination
An S corporation transferred shares to two ineligible shareholders, which terminated its S election. The corporation and its shareholders did not know that the recipients were prohibited from…
Housing agency may correct credit allocations on Forms 8609
A state housing agency made two carryover allocations of low-income housing credit to a project whose buildings entered service across two years. The agency later issued two Forms 8609 for each…
Corporation receives relief for invalid S election caused by trusts
Two trusts owned shares when a corporation's S election took effect. Their beneficiaries elected qualified subchapter S trust treatment, but the trusts did not meet the QSST requirements. The trusts…
Corporation receives relief for missed ESBT election
An S corporation transferred shares to a trust, but the trustees did not timely elect to treat the trust as an electing small business trust. The trust otherwise met the ESBT requirements, and the…
Stock buybacks aggregate by open trading window under § 382
A domestic corporation was wholly owned by a publicly traded foreign parent whose shareholder changes were attributed to the corporation for § 382 purposes. The parent regularly repurchased shares…
Nuclear units were abandoned, but loss deduction must await claims
A regulated public utility permanently retired two nuclear generating units after a steam leak revealed extensive wear in replacement generators. It removed the fuel, made regulatory filings…
Nuclear plant owner receives revised funding and deduction schedules
A utility owned and operated a share of a nuclear power plant and maintained a qualified nuclear decommissioning fund. Following a rate proceeding and updated decommissioning assumptions, it…
Foreign insurer receives extra time for domestic and small-company elections
A foreign property and casualty insurance company relied on its law firm and accountant to handle its initial U.S. tax filings. Both the § 953(d) election to be treated as a domestic corporation and…
Nuclear plant owner receives revised funding and deduction schedules
A utility owned and operated a share of a nuclear power plant and maintained a qualified nuclear decommissioning fund. Following a rate proceeding and updated decommissioning assumptions, it…
Consolidated group receives extra time to file duplicate Form 3115
A parent corporation and three subsidiaries changed their accounting method for deducting bonuses. The parent timely attached the original Form 3115 to its consolidated return and reflected the…
Professional corporations may join parent's consolidated group
A corporate group provided administrative and support services to two professional corporations operating under state laws that restricted their shares to licensed professionals. A licensed…
Corporation receives extra time to file two duplicate Forms 3115
A corporation prepared two Forms 3115 to change its accounting methods for software development costs and for specified prepaid expenses. It timely attached copies to its electronic return but did…
Transmission-upgrade reimbursements are not capital contributions
An electric and gas utility had to upgrade its transmission system to accommodate a new transmission project linking two regional grids. A municipal power entity ultimately paid the upgrade costs…
S corporation may make late real-property debt exclusion election
An S corporation with interests in several real estate partnerships received cancellation-of-debt income through three Schedules K-1. Its accountant properly excluded the eligible qualified real…
Dividing grandfathered trusts preserves transfer-tax treatment
A grantor created four irrevocable trusts before September 25, 1985, and no assets were added after that date. The trustees proposed dividing them pro rata into nine trusts, one for each…
Failed earn-out milestones fix loss on installment stock sale
A limited liability company converted secured notes into stock and sold its majority interest in a company through a merger. The sale included contingent earn-out payments, so the seller initially…
Merger's contingent payments require payment-specific interest rates
A merger agreement provided a closing payment followed by five years of contingent purchase-price payments adjusted for reserve results and a retention measure. The agreement also calculated a final…
Oil and gas infrastructure services produce qualifying partnership income
A limited partnership planning an initial public offering would own oil and gas gathering systems, a gas processing and fractionation plant, terminals, and crude-oil railcars. It would earn fees for…
Corporation receives relief for possible QSST-caused termination
Three trusts became shareholders of an S corporation and their beneficiaries elected qualified subchapter S trust treatment. During due diligence for a later stock sale, a buyer identified a trust…
Adviser-caused IRA distribution receives rollover deadline waiver
An IRA owner had enough non-IRA resources to make a third-party loan, but his financial adviser told him to fund the investment with an IRA distribution. The distributed funds were invested and were…
IRS revokes exemption for private benefit and Chapter 42 violations
The IRS revoked a nonoperating private foundation's § 501(c)(3) exemption after finding that it served related private interests and allowed its earnings and assets to benefit insiders. The…
Medical impairment supports waiver of IRA rollover deadline
An individual withdrew money from an IRA to purchase a home and timely rolled over only part of the distribution. Medical documentation showed that a progressive condition impaired his cognitive…
Bank error supports waiver of IRA rollover deadline
An individual had a longstanding practice of moving matured IRA certificates of deposit to different banks for better interest rates. He instructed a financial institution to place two IRA…
Self-directed investment error does not justify rollover waiver
An individual received an IRA distribution intending to move the money to a different investment but deposited it into a non-IRA investment. Several months later, while contacting another financial…
Deteriorating vision supports waiver of IRA rollover deadline
An IRA trustee resigned and closed an individual's IRA, issuing the account balance directly to her. At the time, deteriorating vision prevented her from understanding the tax consequences and…
IRS approves educational grant procedures for private foundation program
An entity affiliated with a private foundation sought advance approval for procedures used to fund educational programs at organizations employing nominated educators. Experienced nominators would…
IRS approves educational grant procedures for private foundation program
An entity affiliated with a private foundation sought advance approval for procedures used to fund educational programs at organizations employing nominated educators. Experienced nominators would…
IRS approves postdoctoral fellowship grant procedures
A private foundation proposed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship supporting research in plant pathology or sustainable agriculture. The opportunity would be publicized through scientific journals,…
IRS approves educational grant procedures for private foundation program
An entity affiliated with a private foundation sought advance approval for procedures used to fund educational programs at organizations employing nominated educators. Experienced nominators would…
Asset transfer between VEBAs preserves exempt status
Two voluntary employees' beneficiary associations had been funded entirely by employers to provide welfare benefits for different categories of employees. One VEBA transferred its obligations for…
Asset transfer from overfunded VEBA preserves exempt status
Two voluntary employees' beneficiary associations had been funded entirely by employers to provide welfare benefits for different categories of employees. One VEBA transferred its obligations for…
IRS approves educational grant procedures for private foundation program
An entity affiliated with a private foundation sought advance approval for procedures used to fund educational programs at organizations employing nominated educators. Experienced nominators would…
IRS approves educational grant procedures for private foundation program
An entity affiliated with a private foundation sought advance approval for procedures used to fund educational programs at organizations employing nominated educators. Experienced nominators would…
IRS approves need-based scholarship procedures
A private foundation proposed scholarships for financially needy high school graduates from a redacted local area who were enrolled in or accepted by accredited colleges and universities. Applicants…
IRS approves educational grant procedures for private foundation program
An entity affiliated with a private foundation sought advance approval for procedures used to fund educational programs at organizations employing nominated educators. Experienced nominators would…
Social club loses exemption over real estate and nontraditional activities
A social club operated a recreational property development and had been exempt under § 501(c)(7). The IRS found that the club continuously sold lots, held mortgage contracts, enforced property…
Housing nonprofit loses exemption for commercial activity and private benefit
A housing nonprofit said it would rehabilitate homes, sell them to low- and moderate-income families, and use profits for after-school programs. The IRS found that its rental and property-sale…
Reinsurance fund loses exemption after insurance activity ceases
A state-created reinsurance fund had been recognized as exempt under § 501(c)(15), but no carriers participated in the program during the examined years. The fund collected investment income and…
Public gaming activity costs veterans organization its exemption
A veterans organization conducted weekly bingo and pull-tab games that were open to the general public and generated substantially all of its income and expenses. The organization did not separately…
Aggregated court registry fund qualifies as a disputed ownership fund
Multiple courts pooled interest-bearing cash held in their registries while litigation determined who owned it. The pooled fund invested in government securities, remained under court control, and…
Spouse receives more time to allocate GST exemption to split gifts
A grantor created an irrevocable trust for three children and their descendants, and the spouses elected to split the gifts reported on their Forms 709. They intended the trust to have a zero…
Cellular system cables and site rights qualify as REIT real property
A publicly traded company planning to elect REIT status owned or leased indoor and outdoor systems that improved cellular service in high-density locations. The IRS ruled that permanently installed…
Pooled income fund sale-leaseback receives favorable tax rulings
A tax-exempt organization created a pooled income fund that would buy a building and its land from the organization, then lease them back for 25 years. The IRS ruled that four identified differences…
Consent granted to change stock compensation cost-sharing methods
A publicly traded domestic corporation and its foreign subsidiary operated a cost-sharing arrangement for developing intangibles. The corporation requested prospective consent to measure and time…
S corporation receives inadvertent termination relief
An S corporation had accumulated C corporation earnings and profits while passive investment income exceeded 25 percent of gross receipts for three consecutive years. Those facts terminated its S…
Reflective roof's incremental cost qualifies as solar energy property
A manufacturer planned to install bifacial solar panels that generated electricity from light striking both sides of each panel. It would replace only the roof area beneath the panels with a highly…
Parent receives more time to make QSub election
An S corporation owned all of a domestic subsidiary's stock and intended to treat the subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from a redacted date. It failed to file Form 8869 because of…
Bankruptcy fund qualifies as DOF and supports bad-debt deduction
A U.S. company in chapter 11 had guaranteed debt issued by a foreign affiliate and faced disputed prepetition guarantee claims. It proposed creating a court-controlled fund, transferring cash or…
Revised nuclear decommissioning funding schedule approved
A utility owned a redacted percentage of a nuclear plant and operated the facility. After a rate proceeding changed the approved assumptions for decommissioning costs, investment returns,…
Nuclear decommissioning deduction and contribution schedules approved
A utility that owned and operated part of a nuclear plant requested permission to make a special transfer to its nuclear decommissioning fund and to use a revised schedule of annual contributions.…
Late entity classification election relief granted
A foreign entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the requirements for…
Late disregarded-entity election relief approved
A foreign entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 by the deadline. The IRS concluded that the entity met the…
Late historic-status certification application treated as timely
A taxpayer renovated a property while relying on a consultant and accountant but did not learn until after the property was placed in service that the first part of its historic-preservation…
Late taxable REIT subsidiary election relief granted
A real estate investment trust and a subsidiary intended to elect taxable REIT subsidiary status, but the joint venture operator responsible for regulatory compliance did not know that Form 8875 was…
LED sign systems qualify as outdoor advertising displays
A real estate investment trust planned to install permanent LED advertising signs on its buildings and lease them to unrelated operators. The IRS ruled that the sign structures were outdoor…
Trust reformation supports estate tax charitable deduction
A decedent's revocable trust paid income to a beneficiary and left the remainder to charity, but its original terms did not satisfy the statutory form required for an estate tax charitable…
Late QTIP election receives 120-day extension
An estate tax return incorrectly listed the surviving spouse, rather than a marital trust, as the beneficiary of an account. Because the error concealed the need to divide the marital trust and…
LED display election changes depreciation without accounting consent
An outdoor advertising company planned to elect real-property treatment for its permanently affixed displays. It represented that the election would reclassify certain digital LED displays from…
Late Roth IRA recharacterization receives 60-day extension
A taxpayer timely asked an IRA custodian to reverse a Roth conversion, but the custodian did not receive a required signature page and the taxpayer did not receive the custodian's follow-up letter.…
Misrouted Roth recharacterization receives 60-day extension
A taxpayer directed a custodian to recharacterize a Roth conversion back to the qualified retirement plan that had supplied the funds. Before the deadline, the custodian said the request was ready…
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.