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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Wholly owned foreign entity gets late election relief
A wholly owned foreign eligible entity intended to be disregarded for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the entity satisfied the…
Post-reorganization entity gets late disregarded election
After a corporate reorganization, a foreign eligible entity became wholly owned by another foreign entity whose owners included a member of a U.S. consolidated group. The subsidiary failed to timely…
Reorganized foreign subsidiary gets Form 8832 extension
After a corporate reorganization, a foreign eligible entity became wholly owned by another foreign entity whose owners included a member of a U.S. consolidated group. The subsidiary failed to timely…
Late disregarded election after reorganization is approved
After a corporate reorganization, a foreign eligible entity became wholly owned by another foreign entity whose owners included a member of a U.S. consolidated group. The subsidiary failed to timely…
Foreign subsidiary receives post-reorganization election relief
After a corporate reorganization, a foreign eligible entity became wholly owned by another foreign entity whose owners included a member of a U.S. consolidated group. The subsidiary failed to timely…
Reorganized subsidiary gets retroactive disregarded status
After a corporate reorganization, a foreign eligible entity became wholly owned by another foreign entity whose owners included a member of a U.S. consolidated group. The subsidiary failed to timely…
Late Form 8832 relief follows foreign reorganization
After a corporate reorganization, a foreign eligible entity became wholly owned by another foreign entity whose owners included a member of a U.S. consolidated group. The subsidiary failed to timely…
Reorganized foreign entity gets late partnership election
After a corporate reorganization, a foreign eligible entity became equally owned by another foreign entity and an unrelated foreign third party. It failed to timely file Form 8832 for intended…
Foreign partnership classification election gets extension
After a corporate reorganization, a foreign eligible entity became equally owned by another foreign entity and an unrelated foreign third party. It failed to timely file Form 8832 for intended…
Late success-based-fee safe-harbor statement gets relief
A corporate taxpayer paid an advisory fee contingent on completing a stock acquisition. Its timely return deducted 70% and capitalized 30% exactly as required by the Rev. Proc. 2011-29 safe harbor,…
Park-development PILOT payments qualify as real property taxes
A developer leased tax-exempt property in a publicly owned park and was required to make payments in lieu of taxes equal to the real property taxes that otherwise would apply. The governing statute…
Estate gets late 2010 carryover-basis election relief
The executor of an estate for a decedent who died in 2010 retained an accountant for estate-tax advice but filed Form 8939 after its deadline. The executor sought to refile the form to elect out of…
Parent group gets late consolidated return election relief
A parent corporation and its newly formed subsidiary filed separate federal income tax returns for their first affiliated year instead of making a timely consolidated return election. The parent…
GST exemption allocation substantially complied despite wrong form line
A taxpayer made gifts to two trusts with generation-skipping transfer tax potential and hired a tax professional to prepare the related gift tax return. The preparer intended to allocate an amount…
S corporation gets late QSub election relief
An S corporation intended to treat its wholly owned subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary but did not timely file Form 8869. The corporation represented that it, the subsidiary, and its…
Estate denied late carryover-basis election after unproven mailing
An executor said an accounting firm timely mailed Form 8939 by regular mail to elect the modified carryover-basis rules for a 2010 decedent's estate. The IRS had no record of receiving the form, and…
Corporation gets inadvertent S election relief for missing QSST consent
A corporation timely filed an S corporation election, but a shareholder trust did not include the required qualified subchapter S trust election and its beneficiary did not properly consent to the…
Consolidated group gets late extended NOL carryback election relief
A consolidated corporate group missed the deadline to elect an extended carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss under § 172(b)(1)(H). The parent represented that it had not been fully…
Foreign entity gets late disregarded classification election relief
A foreign entity with one owner was eligible to elect disregarded-entity status but did not timely file Form 8832 for its intended effective date. The owner had consistently filed personal U.S. tax…
Foreign entity gets late disregarded entity election relief
A foreign eligible entity missed the deadline to file Form 8832 electing disregarded-entity treatment from its formation date. The IRS concluded from the submitted information and representations…
LLC gets late corporate classification and S elections
A single-member limited liability company intended to elect corporate tax classification and S corporation status from the same effective date. The IRS had no record of timely receiving its Form…
Foreign entity gets late partnership classification election
A foreign eligible entity acquired a second owner but did not timely file Form 8832 to elect partnership classification from that date. A related entity later bought the remaining interest and…
Foreign entity gets late disregarded classification election
A foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 to elect disregarded classification from its formation date. The IRS concluded that the entity satisfied the standards for discretionary…
Consulting group gets late personal-service ownership election
A consolidated group of consulting companies continued using the cash method after converting from S corporations, believing its members were qualified personal service corporations. The common…
Partnership gets retroactive QEF election for foreign investment
A partnership invested in a foreign corporation that had been a passive foreign investment company, but its tax director and several outside advisers did not identify the PFIC issue or discuss a…
Partnership receives retroactive QEF election consent
A partnership held stock in a foreign corporation that had been a passive foreign investment company, but its internal tax director and outside advisers did not identify the PFIC status or explain…
Retroactive QEF election allowed after adviser oversight
A partnership invested in a foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company, but its former tax director and several outside firms did not advise it about a qualified electing fund…
Partnership gets late section 754 election after partner deaths
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership did not timely make a § 754 election for the year in which a partner died and partnership interests passed through estates to successors. The IRS…
Foreign entity gets late partnership election relief
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership from its formation date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. Because foreign entities whose members all have limited…
Additive-treated coal and testing methods qualify for refined coal credit
A corporate group owned three facilities that mixed chemical additives with coal to reduce nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions before selling the treated fuel to power plants. The IRS ruled that…
VEBA may transfer retiree reserves without losing exemption or triggering UBIT
A collectively bargained voluntary employees' beneficiary association proposed moving assets from a retiree life insurance reserve to a retiree health reserve. The transferred assets would fund…
Private foundation gets S corporation stock and ESOP rulings
A private foundation expected to receive more than two percent of an S corporation's stock as a gift when a related revocable trust terminated. The IRS ruled that the foundation would have five…
Foreign business separation qualifies as a section 355 reorganization
A U.S. parent owned a foreign corporation that conducted several businesses directly and through subsidiaries and disregarded entities. The foreign corporation proposed contributing two disregarded…
Pre-1987 foreign taxes cannot enter post-1986 credit pools
A U.S. parent claimed deemed-paid foreign tax credits after check-the-box elections produced deemed liquidations of several controlled foreign corporations. Part of the claimed credit came from…
Failed-bank asset transfer blocks carryover basis through late REIT election
A bank acquired assets and deposit liabilities from a failed institution in a transaction supported by federal net worth assistance and loss guarantees. The acquiring group later filed a REIT return…
Restricted employee shares do not end S corporation status
An S corporation issued restricted nonvoting shares to employees who did not make § 83(b) elections, but the corporation mistakenly treated them as outstanding shares and the employees as…
Export corporation gets late IC-DISC election relief
A domestic corporation was formed solely to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation and began doing business under commission arrangements. Its advisers prepared the…
Corporation gets late S election relief
A corporation intended to be treated as an S corporation from its incorporation date but did not timely file the election. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and granted relief…
Business split-off gets excess-loss and liquidation rulings
A public corporate group proposed separating one business through an initial public offering, internal distributions, a subsidiary liquidation, and exchange offers for the separated company's stock.…
Business spin-off receives section 355 nonrecognition rulings
A foreign-owned U.S. corporate group proposed separating a controlled subsidiary that operated one business from a distributing corporation that operated another. The distributing corporation would…
Corporate group receives rulings for reorganization and two spin-offs
A corporate group proposed reorganizing its public parent and then separating several businesses through an internal spin-off and an external spin-off. The IRS ruled that the initial parent…
Investment fund gets late PFIC mark-to-market elections for 34 companies
A regulated investment company had consistently made mark-to-market elections for investments identified as passive foreign investment companies. Its investment manager later improved the…
Employee may revoke section 83(b) election within filing period
An employee received restricted employer stock and filed a § 83(b) election covering all of the shares. Less than 30 days after the stock transfer, the employee asked the IRS for permission to…
Two additive-treated coal facilities qualify under refined coal rules
A corporate group owned two facilities that mixed chemical additives into coal to reduce nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions before sale to a power plant. The IRS ruled that the treated fuel could…
County duty-disability benefits are tax-free and excluded from FICA wages
A county code paid disability benefits to eligible employees who suffered injury or sickness in the line of duty. Benefits under four plans were based on a percentage of prior compensation and were…
City retiree-benefit trust income is excluded under section 115
A city created an irrevocable trust with two sub-trusts to fund health and welfare benefits for retirees and dependents of two municipal departments. City-appointed retirement board members…
Housing project gets late multiple-building election relief
A low-income housing project owner intended to treat all project buildings as one multiple-building project but inadvertently omitted the election from the Forms 8609. The IRS found that the owner…
Estate denied alternate valuation election filed over one year late
An estate filed Form 706 more than one year after its due date, including extensions, and later asked to elect the alternate valuation method under § 2032. The statute bars the election when the…
IRA rollover deadline waived after adviser miscoded transfer
An IRA owner withdrew funds intending to move one amount to one bank and another amount to a second bank through trustee-to-trustee transfers. The first transfer succeeded, but the owner's financial…
Pension freeze and new 403(b) plan do not void funding waivers
An employer with minimum-funding waivers froze defined-benefit accruals for nonunion employees and some union employees while establishing a 403(b) defined-contribution plan for substantially the…
Multiemployer plan gets five-year liability amortization extension
A multiemployer plan requested the automatic extension available for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that without relief the plan would have an accumulated funding…
Former spouse gets rollover waiver after plan gave wrong deadline
A former spouse received retirement plan distributions through a divorce settlement and intended to roll part of the money into an IRA. A plan representative gave her the wrong amount of time for…
IRA rollover waiver granted after institution delayed funds
An IRA owner withdrew funds intending to roll part of the distribution into another IRA within 60 days. Representatives of a financial institution assured him that their proposed arrangement would…
Estate denied rollover waiver for decedent's bail withdrawal
An IRA owner withdrew funds to post bail and died before the 60-day rollover period expired. The estate later recovered the amount from the bail bondsman and held it in a blocked estate account. The…
IRA rollover waiver granted for serious medical condition
An IRA owner withdrew funds intending to reinvest them in a new IRA but missed the 60-day rollover deadline. During the rollover period, he experienced serious physical and emotional health…
First IRA transfer gets waiver, second transfer and earnings denied
An entity falsely represented that it was qualified to serve as an IRA custodian, and an IRA owner consequently directed two distributions into what was actually a non-IRA account. The IRS waived…
Payments restoring embezzled plan assets qualify as restorative payments
An administrator's principal embezzled assets from an employer's profit-sharing plan. Recoveries from financial institutions, a surety bond, and the perpetrator restored part of the loss, and the…
Hurricane Sandy hardship does not support IRA rollover waiver
Hurricane Sandy destroyed the main floor of an IRA owner's home, forcing the family into temporary housing and exhausting their savings. Months later, the owner withdrew IRA funds in anticipation of…
Medical memory loss supports beneficiary rollover waiver
A surviving spouse received a distribution check from her late husband's retirement plan. A severe medical condition caused debilitating effects, including memory loss, and she placed the unopened…
Dementia supports estate's IRA rollover waiver
An IRA custodian closed a man's accounts and mailed distribution checks after giving notice, but vascular dementia left him unable to manage his finances or understand the transaction. His spouse…
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.