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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Foreign entity receives extension for disregarded-entity election
A foreign entity was eligible to elect disregarded-entity status for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The entity requested discretionary relief to make the election effective…
Foreign entity receives extension for partnership election
A foreign entity was eligible to elect partnership status for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The entity requested discretionary relief to make the election effective on its…
Corporate parent receives extension to opt out of bonus depreciation
The parent of a consolidated corporate group did not claim additional first-year depreciation for qualified property placed in service during three tax years. Although it intended to opt out of that…
Gifts to great-grandchildren's separate trust shares qualify for the GST exclusion
A taxpayer made stock gifts to separate trust shares for several great-grandchildren and treated the gifts as direct skips without allocating generation-skipping transfer tax exemption. The taxpayer…
Corporation retains S status after trust missed its ESBT election
An S corporation shareholder died, and the shareholder's stock eventually passed from the estate to a trust. The trust was represented to be eligible as an electing small business trust, but its…
Court-approved trust settlement avoids GST and gift tax
A testamentary trust created before September 25, 1985 had been involved in years of litigation among its beneficiaries. All qualified beneficiaries reached an arm's-length settlement, and a state…
Multi-step business separation qualifies for nonrecognition treatment
A corporate group proposed separating one active business from another through a series of related transactions. The plan included converting a subsidiary into a disregarded entity, moving assets to…
Partnership may make a retroactive QEF election
A U.S. limited partnership indirectly invested in a foreign corporation whose offering materials did not indicate that it was a passive foreign investment company. The partnership's tax adviser…
Partnership receives consent for a late QEF election
A U.S. limited partnership indirectly acquired shares of a foreign corporation through another foreign entity. The investment materials did not identify the corporation as a passive foreign…
Foreign subsidiary receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A parent company intended its wholly owned foreign subsidiary to be treated as a disregarded entity from the subsidiary's formation date. The subsidiary was eligible for that classification but did…
Retirement and welfare plans qualify as church plans
A tax-exempt residential care center was governed through organizations tied to a church, shared property and facilities with the church, and provided spiritual care through the church's chaplain. A…
Medical impairment supports waiver of the IRA rollover deadline
An IRA owner withdrew the entire account balance and placed it in a non-IRA bank account. A worsening medical condition affected the taxpayer's memory, judgment, reasoning, and ability to manage…
Address oversight does not justify a late IRA rollover
An individual living overseas held real estate through a self-directed IRA but did not update the IRA custodian when the mailing address changed. After annual fees went unpaid for two consecutive…
Postal error excuses a late IRA rollover
An IRA owner received a distribution and promptly sent the check by certified mail to an adviser with instructions to deposit it into another IRA. After the 60-day rollover period ended, the…
Employer-related scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation proposed two employer-related scholarship programs, one for employees and one for employees' dependent children. An outside administrator would receive applications, apply…
Need-based community scholarship procedures receive approval
A private foundation proposed need-based scholarships for members of a defined community in a particular geographic region. Applicants had to attend an eligible post-secondary or vocational…
Art and media grant procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation proposed three grant programs for individuals working on community art, digital access to news and information, and experimental journalism or media tools. Applicants would be…
CLAT payments on charitable pledges avoid self-dealing
A married couple served as trustees of a private foundation and created revocable trusts that called for testamentary charitable lead annuity trusts. Separate agreements assigned charitable payments…
Testamentary CLAT payments do not create self-dealing
A married couple served as trustees of a private foundation and arranged for testamentary charitable lead annuity trusts to make payments under separate hospital and museum pledge agreements. The…
Family-controlled organization denied renewed tax exemption
An organization whose exemption had been automatically revoked for three years of missed filings applied for retroactive reinstatement under IRC § 501(c)(3). It described many religious,…
Current corporate officer may authorize representation for prior S years
Chief Counsel advised that a corporation, rather than its shareholders, remains the taxpayer in an audit even for years when an S election was in effect. A Form 2848 for the corporation must…
Marital trust ownership can trigger TEFRA partnership procedures
Chief Counsel addressed whether the TEFRA partnership audit rules applied to an otherwise small partnership after a partner's death. TEFRA did not apply for years when the deceased partner was alive…
Large-corporate interest rate applies to Form 1042 withholding tax
Chief Counsel considered whether the higher interest rate for large corporate underpayments applies to withholding taxes reported on Form 1042 after the IRS issues a notice of deficiency. The advice…
Review rights differ for rescinded offers and installment agreements
Chief Counsel advised that a taxpayer has no direct administrative appeal when the IRS rescinds, terminates, or modifies a previously accepted offer in compromise, including a rescission for fraud.…
Diesel used in particulate filters qualifies as a nontaxable use
Chief Counsel advised that diesel fuel consumed by a tractor's diesel particulate filter qualifies as a nontaxable use under IRC § 6427(l). The filter uses a separate injector and fuel line, and its…
Refundable state investment credit is ordinary income to partner
Chief Counsel advised that a refundable New York investment tax credit paid directly to an LLC member is ordinary income to that taxpayer. The LLC neither receives nor has a right to the refund, so…
Disallowed property-distribution loss reduces S corporation basis and AAA
Chief Counsel advised that an S corporation's permanently disallowed loss under IRC § 311(a) is a nondeductible, noncapital expense under § 1367(a)(2)(D). When an S corporation distributes…
Late railroad track maintenance credit form treated as timely
The IRS granted a corporate taxpayer relief for a late Form 8900 claiming the railroad track maintenance credit. A tax-department restructuring caused the personnel responsible for IRC § 45G…
Controlled group receives extra time for value-restoration elections
The IRS granted a parent corporation and three foreign subsidiaries 60 additional days to make value-restoration elections under Treas. Reg. § 1.382-8(h). After the parent underwent an ownership…
Controlled group receives extra time for value-restoration elections
The IRS granted a parent corporation and three foreign subsidiaries 60 additional days to make value-restoration elections under Treas. Reg. § 1.382-8(h). After the parent underwent an ownership…
Controlled group receives extra time for value-restoration elections
The IRS granted a parent corporation and three foreign subsidiaries 60 additional days to make value-restoration elections under Treas. Reg. § 1.382-8(h). After the parent underwent an ownership…
IC-DISC receives extra time to file election
The IRS granted a newly formed corporation 60 additional days to file Form 4876-A electing interest charge DISC status for its first tax year. The owner directed experienced accounting and law firms…
Additive-treated coal and pilot testing qualify for refined-coal credit
The IRS ruled that coal treated with chemical additives to reduce nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions constitutes refined coal under IRC § 45 when made from feedstock of the tested source or rank…
Additive-treated coal and pilot testing qualify for refined-coal credit
The IRS ruled that coal treated with chemical additives to reduce nitrogen oxide and mercury emissions constitutes refined coal under IRC § 45 when made from feedstock of the tested source or rank…
Estate receives extra time for 2010 carryover-basis election
The IRS gave the personal representatives of a decedent who died in 2010 an additional 120 days to file Form 8939, elect the carryover-basis regime under IRC § 1022, and allocate basis increases to…
Estate receives time to add bank trustee to QDOT
The IRS granted an estate 120 additional days to amend a qualified domestic trust for a surviving spouse who was not a U.S. citizen. Although the estate timely elected QDOT treatment on Form 706,…
Ineligible shareholder caused inadvertent S election termination
The IRS ruled that an S corporation's election terminated when an ineligible shareholder acquired its stock, but that the termination was inadvertent under IRC § 1362(f). The corporation represented…
Ineligible shareholder caused inadvertent S election termination
The IRS ruled that an S corporation's election terminated when an ineligible shareholder acquired its stock, but that the termination was inadvertent under IRC § 1362(f). The corporation represented…
Ineligible shareholder caused inadvertent S election termination
The IRS ruled that an S corporation's election terminated when an ineligible shareholder acquired its stock, but that the termination was inadvertent under IRC § 1362(f). The corporation represented…
Estate receives extra time to elect portability
The IRS granted a decedent's estate 120 additional days to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount. Because the estate represented that its gross estate…
Trust may distribute series LLC interests as securities partnerships
The IRS approved a trust's plan to place diversified equity and fixed-income portfolios into two series of an LLC and distribute the series interests to remainder beneficiaries. Each series would…
Multiemployer pension plan does not qualify as a church plan
The IRS ruled that a pension plan maintained by a communal welfare organization and multiple affiliated or beneficiary organizations was not a church plan under IRC § 414(e) and had never qualified…
Medical impairment supports waiver of 60-day IRA rollover deadline
The IRS waived the 60-day IRA rollover deadline for a taxpayer whose bipolar disorder and resulting depression impaired his ability to manage his financial affairs during the rollover period. The…
Adviser’s RMD calculation error supports late-rollover waiver
The IRS waived the 60-day rollover deadline for the portion of a retirement-plan distribution caused by a financial adviser's required-minimum-distribution calculation error. The adviser told the…
Mental illness and hospitalization support rollover waivers
The IRS waived the 60-day rollover deadlines for distributions from two employer plans and an IRA after the taxpayer suffered severe psychological disorders, impaired judgment, delusions, and…
Adviser’s transfer error supports inherited SEP-IRA rollover waiver
The IRS waived the 60-day rollover deadline for an elderly widow who inherited her husband's SEP-IRA and relied on his financial adviser to complete a rollover. She instructed the adviser to…
Foundation receives five more years to dispose of business stock
The IRS extended a private foundation's period for disposing of donated corporate stock by five additional years under IRC § 4943(c)(7). The foundation and other shareholders had repeatedly tried to…
Employee-family scholarship procedures receive advance approval
The IRS approved a private foundation's procedures for scholarships awarded to children and other relatives of employees through a public charity's nationwide competition. Applicants had to achieve…
Open-source software organization denied business-league exemption
An organization developed and promoted open-source unified-communications software and sought exemption as a business league under IRC § 501(c)(6). It offered paying higher-education members…
Internet ministry denied church status and exemption
A religious corporation recorded sermons and messages for on-demand viewing through a website. It had no regularly scheduled services, established place of worship, organized ministry, established…
Cooperative's retail-sales reporting exemption requires scrutiny
Chief Counsel advised how to evaluate a consumer cooperative's application for exemption from information-reporting requirements under IRC § 6044(c). The exemption is limited to cooperatives…
Section 6229 extends, but does not shorten, a partner's assessment period
Chief Counsel explained the relationship between the general tax-assessment period in IRC § 6501 and the TEFRA partnership rule in former § 6229. A partner's § 6501 period runs from the filing of…
CFC partnership loan triggers section 956 inclusion under anti-abuse rule
A partnership owned by controlled foreign corporations loaned funds to a related CFC, which combined those funds with another loan and immediately lent the total to its U.S. parent. The structure…
School construction bond spending period extended for site delays
A public authority issued qualified school construction bonds to finance a nonprofit borrower's school site and new facility. The project fell behind after a court-required location change and the…
Taxpayer receives 60 days to make late foreign earned income elections
A U.S. taxpayer living and working abroad prepared returns claiming the foreign earned income and housing cost exclusions for two years and gave them to personnel of the taxpayer's employer for…
Entity receives 120 days to correct corporate classification date
A single-owner eligible entity intended to elect corporate tax classification effective on one redacted date. Its Form 8832 inadvertently specified a different effective date. The IRS found that the…
S corporation termination from ineligible shareholder treated as inadvertent
An S corporation's election terminated when an ineligible shareholder acquired its stock. After discovering the problem, that shareholder distributed the stock proportionately to its members, who…
Oilfield-services partnership receives mixed qualifying-income ruling
A company planned to contribute oilfield-services operations to a limited partnership and offer partnership interests to public investors. The partnership would provide well-site services used in…
Bankruptcy trust qualifies as a liquidating grantor trust
Chapter 11 debtors planned to transfer most of their cash and remaining assets to a trust for liquidation and distribution to unsecured creditors. The trust would not continue a trade or business…
Consolidating identical unitrusts preserves surviving trust's status
Two charitable remainder unitrusts had substantially identical terms, trustees, income beneficiaries, payout percentages, and charitable remainder beneficiaries. Their trustees proposed transferring…
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.