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.
No determinations match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
Partnership received 120 days to make a late GILTI high-tax exclusion election
A partnership that owned a controlled foreign corporation wanted to make the GILTI high-tax exclusion election for an earlier tax year. Its accounting firm prepared an administrative adjustment…
Subsidiary received 45 days to file the original Form 3115 after a due-date error
A corporate parent acquired a subsidiary in a transaction described as a tax-free merger, which ended the subsidiary's tax year. The subsidiary sought automatic accounting-method changes for…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent left a surviving spouse and an unused portion of the federal estate and gift tax exclusion. The estate represented that it was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because of the…
Late Form 8996 was treated as timely after an adviser used the wrong tax year-end
A corporation that had been a qualified opportunity fund converted to a partnership and later merged into another entity, creating a short tax year. The resulting partnership intended to…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent left a surviving spouse and an unused portion of the federal estate and gift tax exclusion, but the estate did not timely file Form 706 to elect portability. The estate represented that…
Buyer and sellers receive late section 338(h)(10) election relief
A corporate buyer acquired all the stock of an S corporation from its shareholders and their trusts in a transaction represented to be a qualified stock purchase. The parties intended to make a…
Two foreign subsidiaries receive late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign parent owned two foreign eligible entities that each intended to elect disregarded-entity status from its formation date but missed the Form 8832 deadline. The IRS concluded that both…
Partnership receives 30 days to file a late tax-year change request
A partnership became majority-owned by a corporation with a March 31 tax year, requiring the partnership to change from a calendar year to the majority partner's fiscal year. Its tax professionals…
Consolidated group receives 75 days to waive a loss carryback
A consolidated group incurred a consolidated net operating loss and intended to give up the entire carryback period, but its return did not include a valid election statement. The parent represented…
Opportunity fund receives 60 days for late self-certification
A partnership was formed to invest capital gains in qualified opportunity zone property and hired an adviser to prepare its returns and required elections. Although the adviser had the information…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a disregarded entity from its formation date but failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the entity met the standards for…
REIT receives 90 days to make a late taxable-subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust formed a subsidiary to lease and operate a hotel and intended to elect taxable REIT subsidiary status from the REIT conversion date. The election was missed because…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A partnership failed to make a section 754 election after a deceased partner's interest passed to several successors. The IRS concluded that the partnership met the standards for discretionary…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign entity with one owner failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect disregarded-entity status from a redacted effective date. The IRS concluded that the entity met the standards for…
Late accounting-method-change forms treated as timely
A parent company requested filing relief for controlled foreign corporations that changed how they accounted for rent expense under the automatic consent procedures. The parent intended to extend…
Partnership's late qualified opportunity fund certification is treated as timely
A partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and stated that purpose in its operating agreement. One member told an experienced tax preparer about the investment and the…
Foreign entity receives 120 days for late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a disregarded entity for U.S. federal tax purposes but failed to file Form 8832 on time. It represented that the failure was inadvertent, that…
Corporation receives 90 days to make late IC-DISC election
A corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation and attempted to file Form 4876-A for its first tax year. The filing was outside the normal 90-day…
Donor receives 120 days to elect GST trust treatment for prior transfers
A donor created a trust for descendants and made several transfers of cash and securities to it over two years. The donor instructed an attorney to elect on Form 709 to treat the trust as a…
Corporate group receives 120 days for late GILTI high-tax election
A U.S. corporate group wanted to make the GILTI high-tax exclusion election for income of its wholly owned controlled foreign corporation. Its accounting firm recognized the benefit before the…
Housing project receives 120 days to make average-income set-aside election
The owner of a single-building low-income housing project intended to choose the average-income minimum set-aside under section 42(g)(1)(C). Its contemporaneous records reflected that intent, but it…
Estate receives 120 days to complete GST exemption allocation to trust
A decedent's will created separate residuary trusts for three children. The estate's attorney intended to allocate all available generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to one trust on Form 706,…
Late tangible-property elections are treated as timely after missed extension filing
A corporate group intended to extend its federal income tax return but failed to file Form 7004 after pandemic filing relief changed its normal extension process and staff turnover contributed to…
Three partnerships receive 120 days to make late section 754 elections
Three related partnerships missed section 754 elections after deaths and transfers of partnership interests. The elections would have permitted basis adjustments to partnership property under…
45-day extension to file a late Form 8996 after a firm/management-team mix-up
An LLC (taxed as a partnership) was formed to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) as one of many entities in a single large development project. Because it formed late in the year and had no…
Late Form 8996 accepted so a fund can self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund
A partnership (an LLC) was formed to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), a vehicle that lets investors defer tax on capital gains reinvested in opportunity-zone property. Becoming a QOF requires…
Late Form 8996 accepted so a fund can self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund
A partnership (an LLC) was set up to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), a vehicle that lets investors defer tax on capital gains reinvested in opportunity-zone property. To become a QOF, an…
Late election granted to treat an S corporation stock sale as an asset sale
A buyer (taxed as a partnership) bought all the stock of an S corporation. The parties wanted the stock purchase to be treated, for tax purposes, as if the company had sold its assets, which a §…
Estate gets extra time to make a late portability election for the surviving spouse
When one spouse dies, the estate can make a "portability" election so the surviving spouse can use the deceased spouse's unused estate-and-gift-tax exclusion (the DSUE amount). That election is made…
Extra time granted to file a late check-the-box election to be taxed as a corporation
A business started as a state-law corporation, then converted to a single-owner LLC. After the conversion, its default federal tax status was "disregarded" (treated as part of its owner), but the…
Late extension request granted for three tax elections missed after a botched Form 7004
A corporation that files a consolidated return meant to make three tax elections on its return for one year: the de minimis safe harbor for small capital purchases, a controlled foreign corporation…
Late-election relief to enter the agreement and statement treating an S corporation stock sale as an asset sale under section 336(e)
When a buyer purchases all the stock of an S corporation, the parties can jointly elect under section 336(e) to treat the sale as if the company sold its assets. Making that election requires two…
Late-election relief to treat an S corporation stock sale as an asset sale under section 336(e)
When someone buys all the stock of an S corporation, the buyer and the selling shareholders can jointly elect under section 336(e) to treat the deal as if the company had sold its assets instead of…
Buyer of foreign-subsidiary targets gets 75 days to make late Section 338(g) elections its tax advisor failed to file
When one corporation buys the stock of another in a "qualified stock purchase," Section 338(g) lets the buyer elect to treat the deal as if it had bought the target's assets instead of its…
Opportunity-zone fund gets 45 days to self-certify for its first year, after its manager did not realize a Form 8996 was required
A Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) must self-certify each year by attaching Form 8996 to its timely filed tax return. Here, a tiered set of LLCs (all taxed as partnerships) set up a fund to invest…
Opportunity-zone fund gets 45 days to file a late self-certification after its advisor missed the extension deadline
A Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) lets investors defer and reduce tax on capital gains they roll into businesses located in designated opportunity zones. To become a QOF, an entity…
Couple gets 120 days to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation for four stepchild trusts, after their accountant left the election off three years of gift tax returns
The generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax applies when wealth passes to grandchildren or other beneficiaries more than one generation down. Everyone has a GST exemption, and when someone funds…
S corporation gets 60 days to make a late election opting out of bonus depreciation after its tax firm forgot to attach the statement
Bonus depreciation (the "additional first year depreciation" under Section 168(k)) normally lets a business deduct 100% of the cost of qualifying property in the year it is placed in service.…
Married couple gets 120 days to make a late election grouping all their rental real estate as one activity, after their tax pro never told them the election existed
Rental real estate is normally treated as "passive," which limits how much of its losses can offset other income. A real estate professional who qualifies under Section 469(c)(7) can escape that…
Corporate group gets 60 days to make a late success-based-fee safe-harbor election it forgot to attach, conditioned on fixing which subsidiary paid the fee
When a company pays an investment banker a fee that is contingent on closing an acquisition (a "success-based fee"), the tax rules presume the whole fee must be capitalized unless the company…
Late success-based-fee election denied because the investment banking fee was the private-equity seller's selling cost, not the target's deduction
When a business is sold, investment banking "success-based fees" tied to closing the deal can sometimes be split under a safe harbor (Rev. Proc. 2011-29), deducting 70 percent and capitalizing 30…
Consolidated group gets 120 days to make a late GILTI high-tax exclusion election after misreading the 24-month deadline
U.S. companies that own controlled foreign corporations (CFCs) generally have to include the CFCs' "GILTI" (global intangible low-taxed income) in their own income under Section 951A. A regulation…
LLC gets 120 days to re-file a check-the-box election that was missing required signatures
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an LLC with two or more members is treated as a partnership by default but can elect to be taxed as a corporation by filing Form 8832. That form has to be signed by…
Late relief lets an LLC self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund after its advisor missed the extension deadline
To be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), which lets investors defer tax on capital gains reinvested in opportunity zones, an entity must self-certify each year by filing Form 8996 with a timely tax…
Real estate professionals get 120 days to make a late election grouping all rental properties as one activity
Rental real estate is normally treated as a "passive activity," so losses from it can only offset passive income. Section 469(c)(7) gives an exception to taxpayers who qualify as real estate…
Partnership gets 120 days to make a late Section 754 basis-adjustment election it meant to make on a buyout
When someone buys into a partnership (here an LLC taxed as a partnership), the partnership can elect under Section 754 to adjust the tax basis of its assets so the new partner's inside basis lines…
Late relief granted so an LLC can self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund for two missed years
An investor put capital gains into a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) to defer tax on those gains, a benefit created by the Opportunity Zone rules in Section 1400Z-2. To be a QOF, the entity (here…
Late portability election allowed, estate gets 120 more days to claim a deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When a married person dies without using up their federal estate-tax exclusion (the amount that can pass tax-free, roughly $13 million in recent years), the leftover, called the DSUE amount, can be…
45 days granted to file a late Form 8996 QOF election after the tax preparer's oversight
An LLC taxed as a partnership was formed to qualify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) and invest in an Opportunity Zone. To get QOF treatment, an entity must self-certify by filing Form 8996…
120 days granted to make a late election to amortize R&E costs over 10 years
A corporate group that files a consolidated tax return asked the IRS for more time to make an election under IRC Section 59(e). That election lets a taxpayer spread the deduction of research and…
Late Form 8996 QOF self-certification allowed after owner missed the partnership filing
An LLC was formed to invest in an Opportunity Zone and to serve as a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF). To get QOF benefits, an entity must "self-certify" by filing Form 8996 with a timely tax…
Estate gets more time to make a late "portability" election so the surviving spouse can use the decedent's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies without using up their federal estate-tax exclusion, their estate can elect "portability" so the surviving spouse can add the leftover (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or…
Low-income-housing entity gets more time to file two late elections (corporate classification and opting out of tax-exempt-entity depreciation rules)
An entity owned entirely by a 501(c)(3) charity serves as the managing member of a partnership that builds and operates low-income housing (claiming Section 42 tax credits). The entity meant to make…
Opportunity fund gets 45 more days to file the Form 8996 its accountant forgot to attach
To get the tax benefits of a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), an entity has to "self-certify" each year by attaching Form 8996 to its timely-filed tax return. Here, an LLC taxed as a partnership…
Foreign entity gets extra time to file a late "disregarded entity" classification election
A foreign business entity with a single owner wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner. To get that treatment it had to…
Foreign entity gets extra time to file a late "disregarded entity" classification election
A foreign business entity with a single owner wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner. To get that treatment it had to…
The IRS grants extra time to file a late check-the-box election so a foreign entity can be treated as a corporation
A foreign entity wanted to elect to be treated as an "association taxable as a corporation" for U.S. federal tax purposes, the opposite of the disregarded-entity choice. That election is made by…
The IRS grants extra time to file a late check-the-box election so a foreign entity can be treated as disregarded
A foreign entity with a single owner wanted to be a "disregarded entity" for U.S. federal tax purposes, meaning it would be ignored as separate from its owner (its income and assets treated as the…
The IRS grants extra time to file a late check-the-box election so a foreign entity can be treated as disregarded
A foreign entity with a single owner wanted to be a "disregarded entity" for U.S. federal tax purposes, meaning it would be ignored as separate from its owner (its income and assets treated as the…
The IRS lets a company undo a REIT election it filed by mistake, and treats the amended return as if the REIT election was never made
A company that buys and leases single-family homes and manufactured homes planned to become a real estate investment trust (REIT) eventually, but only once it actually met the REIT qualification…
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.