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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Limited testamentary appointment power did not cause estate inclusion
A trust beneficiary held a testamentary power to appoint trust property among the descendants of one of the settlor's children. A state court declared that the power did not permit appointments to…
Limited testamentary appointment power did not cause estate inclusion
A trust beneficiary held a testamentary power to appoint trust property among the descendants of one of the settlor's children. A state court declared that the power did not permit appointments to…
Limited testamentary appointment power did not cause estate inclusion
A trust beneficiary held a testamentary power to appoint trust property among the descendants of one of the settlor's children. A state court declared that the power did not permit appointments to…
Taxpayer received 45 days to file a success-based fee safe harbor statement
A taxpayer paid success-based fees in a corporate acquisition and reported 70 percent as deductible and 30 percent as capitalized under the safe harbor in Revenue Procedure 2011-29. Its advisor…
Limited testamentary appointment power did not cause estate inclusion
A trust beneficiary held a testamentary power to appoint trust property among the descendants of one of the settlor's children. A state court declared that the power did not permit appointments to…
Inadvertently invalid S corporation election received retroactive relief
A limited partnership elected to be taxed as a corporation and also filed an S corporation election. The IRS initially rejected the S election because one shareholder was an ineligible corporation.…
Taxpayer received consent for a retroactive QEF election
A domestic limited liability company owned an interest in a publicly traded foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company. Its qualified tax adviser failed to identify the…
Taxpayer received consent for a retroactive QEF election
A U.S. limited liability company owned an interest in a publicly traded foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company. Its qualified tax adviser failed to identify the…
Taxpayer received consent for a retroactive QEF election
A U.S. citizen owned an interest in a publicly traded foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company. The taxpayer's qualified tax adviser failed to identify the corporation's…
Taxpayer received consent for a retroactive QEF election and closing agreement
A U.S. citizen owned shares in a publicly traded foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company. Two qualified tax firms had failed to identify the PFIC status or advise the…
Taxpayer received consent for a retroactive QEF election and closing agreement
A U.S. citizen acquired shares in a publicly traded foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company and later transferred all the shares to a domestic limited liability company. A…
REIT restructuring preserved TRS, rent, and independent contractor treatment
A publicly traded real estate investment trust restructured interests involving taxable REIT subsidiaries and a company that was the parent of an eligible independent contractor managing health care…
Debt-management operation lost charitable exemption
A tax-exempt credit-counseling organization primarily enrolled and serviced customers in debt management plans. It sold and purchased client accounts involving for-profit companies, outsourced…
New foreign custodian did not change gold-trust IRA treatment
An investment trust held gold bullion and issued publicly traded shares representing fractional beneficial interests in the trust. An earlier ruling concluded that an IRA or individually directed…
Mislabeled inherited IRA received a rollover waiver
A taxpayer received an individual retirement annuity in a divorce settlement but did not know the account's nature. The financial institution labeled it a “single account,” while separately labeling…
Incomplete fax received a rollover deadline waiver
A retiring employee intended to roll an entire qualified-plan balance directly into an IRA. The employee signed a four-page withdrawal form and gave it to a financial adviser, but the adviser's…
Unauthorized IRA distribution received a rollover waiver
A taxpayer kept a credit card on file with an IRA custodian for administrative fees and relied on a financial adviser to manage the account and alert him to problems. The custodian sent fee letters…
Individual innovation-grant procedures received advance approval
A private foundation operated a grant program addressing scientific and technological barriers to high-impact global health and development solutions. It proposed expanding the program from…
Industry testing laboratory income was not subject to UBIT
A section 501(c)(6) subsidiary tested and certified products under industry-wide standards created by its exempt parent. Its laboratory was one of more than thirty recognized laboratories, including…
State-law conversion did not require a new exemption application
A state legislature had created a public nonprofit corporation that administered a federal student-loan program and was recognized as a section 501(c)(3) public charity. Later legislation converted…
Cosmetology scholarship procedures received advance approval
A private foundation operated a scholarship program for students entering or attending cosmetology or barber school. An independent committee would score applicants using essay quality, interest in…
Sentencing court's restitution interest waiver did not stop tax interest
Chief Counsel advised that a sentencing court's waiver of interest on restitution under 18 U.S.C. section 3612 did not affect interest on the IRS assessment of that restitution. Interest would…
Ending basket transaction deferral required an accounting method change and section 481 adjustment
A partnership treated barrier basket securities transactions as options and deferred gains, losses, income, and deductions until each contract ended. Field Operations concluded that the contracts…
Consolidated group received more time to elect an extended net operating loss carryback
A corporation asked for more time to elect a three-, four-, or five-year carryback for a consolidated net operating loss. The election had not been filed by its deadline because the corporation…
Consolidated group received 30 days to file a required copy of its accounting method change form
A corporation and its eight subsidiaries timely attached an original Form 3115 to their consolidated return to request an automatic depreciation method change. They failed to send the required copy…
Public authority received more time to spend school construction bond proceeds
A state instrumentality issued qualified school construction bonds for work at about 100 public schools. Contractor performance problems, contract disputes, project revisions, and delayed land-use…
Corporation kept S status despite two trusts' missing ESBT elections
A corporation elected S corporation status while two shareholder trusts failed to make timely and effective electing small business trust elections. That failure made the corporation's S election…
Affiliated group received more time to elect out of bonus depreciation
An affiliated corporate group did not claim 50-percent bonus depreciation for any class of qualified property placed in service during the relevant year. Its timely consolidated return omitted the…
REIT's elective stock-and-cash dividends were taxable property distributions
A publicly traded real estate investment trust planned dividends in which each shareholder could elect all stock or all cash, subject to an aggregate cash limit of at least 20 percent of the…
Corporation retained S status after a trust missed its QSST election
After a shareholder died, the shareholder's estate eventually distributed S corporation shares to a trust. The trust remained an eligible shareholder for two years after the transfer, but it then…
REIT subsidiary received more time to align its taxable-subsidiary election with corporate status
A REIT-owned limited liability company intended to elect corporate classification and taxable REIT subsidiary status for the same wholly owned subsidiary. The forms specified the same effective…
Dividing and partly terminating a QTIP marital trust produced defined gift, estate, and income tax results
Trustees proposed dividing a QTIP marital trust into three pro rata trusts, converting one to a state-law total return unitrust, and terminating another for the deceased spouse's children. The IRS…
Taxpayer received more time to allocate GST exemption to a trust transfer
A taxpayer transferred property to an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential. Her tax professional timely filed the gift tax return but failed to allocate her available…
Settlor's retained powers made trust funding an incomplete gift while committee distributions were not committee members' gifts
A settlor proposed an irrevocable trust whose distribution committee could make unanimous distributions, while the settlor retained consent, support, and testamentary appointment powers. The IRS…
Domestic corporate partners could claim energy credits for partnership solar projects in a U.S. possession
A domestic limited liability company planned to become a partnership owned by domestic corporations and to operate solar electricity projects in a U.S. possession. Property used predominantly…
Partnership received more time to make a section 754 basis-adjustment election
A limited partnership intended to make a section 754 election for the year one of its partners died. Its accountant inadvertently failed to file the election, although the partnership's timely…
Corporation retained S status after a partnership briefly held its stock
An S corporation's election terminated when a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder, acquired some of its stock. After discovering the error, the partnership transferred…
Corporation retained S status after three years of excess passive investment income
An S corporation had accumulated C corporation earnings and profits and received more than 25 percent of its gross receipts from passive investment income for three consecutive years. That…
Corporation kept S status after ineligible shareholders and uneven distributions
An S corporation's election terminated when stock was transferred to an LLC, an ineligible shareholder. Stock was also transferred to a trust whose income beneficiary did not make the required…
Multistep foreign restructuring received tax-free reorganization and distribution rulings
A corporate group proposed moving two businesses into a newly formed foreign controlled corporation, passing that corporation's stock through seven tiers of related companies, and then liquidating…
Family-owned S corporation split-off qualified for tax-free treatment
A family-owned S corporation proposed resolving shareholder disputes by separating part of its business for one of its three equal owners. The corporation would contribute property, cash, and a note…
Court reformation of charitable remainder trust avoided self-dealing
A charitable remainder trust was intended to pay a fixed percentage of its assets each year, but the drafting attorney used language that limited payments to trust income. The trustees had…
Trust's life insurance purchase avoided the transfer-for-value rule
Several grantor trusts owned interests in life insurance policies on a married couple, and another grantor trust proposed buying those interests. One spouse was treated as an owner of both the…
QSub spin-off qualified for tax-free treatment and preserved S eligibility
An S corporation proposed distributing its wholly owned qualified subchapter S subsidiary to its shareholders so two businesses could operate separately. The distribution would terminate the…
Foreign entity received more time to elect disregarded status
A corporate group formed a wholly owned foreign eligible entity and intended from formation to treat it as disregarded for federal tax purposes. The entity did not timely file Form 8832 to make that…
Bank fee credits had different reporting results based on how customers used them
A bank offered commercial customers credits based on their deposit balances that could offset banking-service fees, with some programs also covering third-party services or paying interest on unused…
Corporation received S election relief after twelve trusts were modified
Twelve testamentary trusts held stock when a corporation elected S status. Each trust beneficiary could appoint trust income to someone else, which prevented the trusts from qualifying as qualified…
Governmental pension contributions were excluded from current income and withholding
A county pension plan required eligible employees of several governmental employers to make contributions through salary reductions. Each employer formally resolved before the contributions began…
Denominational health benefit plan qualified as a church plan
A religious denomination's supporting organization maintained a self-funded health benefit plan for churches, associations of churches, and affiliated tax-exempt organizations. The plan sponsor's…
IRA owner received a waiver after relying on incorrect rollover advice
An IRA owner withdrew funds while refinancing a primary residence after an adviser incorrectly explained how long she had to redeposit them. She placed the money in a non-IRA account three days…
Surviving spouse was denied an IRA rollover deadline waiver
A deceased IRA owner's account paid its proceeds to a trust named as beneficiary. More than 60 days later, the trust distributed part of those proceeds to the surviving spouse, who placed them into…
IRA owner received rollover relief after a bank mishandled a cashier's check
An IRA owner closed one IRA and tried to fund a new IRA with a cashier's check. An employee of the receiving financial institution endorsed the check for deposit only, but the issuing institution…
IRA investor received rollover relief after incorrect setup advice
An IRA owner sought to invest part of his account in a private-equity partnership through a trustee-to-trustee transfer. The partnership and receiving financial institution accepted the funds and…
IRA rollover relief granted after adviser selected a nonqualified annuity
An IRA owner withdrew funds to move them into an annuity offering a better interest rate. The receiving institution's representative completed the application but marked the nonqualified-annuity box…
ESOP loan share-release failure triggered prohibited-transaction excise taxes
An employer financed its employee stock ownership plan's purchase of company shares, but the plan released pledged shares using a principal-only method instead of the principal-and-interest method…
Private foundation's high school scholarship procedures were approved
A private foundation proposed a one-year scholarship program for financially needy and deserving graduates of a specified high school. Applicants had to meet a minimum grade-point average and were…
Private foundation's renewable scholarship procedures were approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for graduates of a specified school district's high schools who attend an accredited postsecondary degree program full time. Recipients could reapply…
Social club could reinvest conservation-easement proceeds without recognizing gain
A tax-exempt social and recreational club proposed selling a perpetual conservation easement over land used for its golf course and other member recreation. The club planned to reinvest part of the…
Insurance sold to members' widows generated unrelated business income
A tax-exempt fraternal beneficiary society regularly sold new life insurance policies to the non-member widows of deceased insured members. A widow could buy different coverage from the deceased…
Technology standards association denied business-league exemption
An association developed and promoted technical standards for interoperable devices using technology and trademarks connected to its for-profit founders. Members received access to specifications…
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.