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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IRS grants more time to make an LLC's section 754 election
The IRS granted a limited liability company 120 more days to make a § 754 election for the year a member died. The company had inadvertently failed to make the election on time, but represented that…
IRS grants more time to make an LLC's section 754 election
The IRS granted a limited liability company 120 more days to make a § 754 election for the year a member died. The company had inadvertently failed to make the election on time, but represented that…
IRS grants more time to make an LLC's section 754 election
The IRS granted a limited liability company 120 more days to make a § 754 election for the year a member died. The company had inadvertently failed to make the election on time, but represented that…
IRS grants more time to make an LLC's section 754 election
The IRS granted a limited liability company 120 more days to make a § 754 election for the year a member died. The company had inadvertently failed to make the election on time, but represented that…
IRS grants more time to make an LLC's section 754 election
The IRS granted a limited liability company 120 more days to make a § 754 election for the year a member died. The company had inadvertently failed to make the election on time, but represented that…
IRS grants more time to make an LLC's section 754 election
The IRS granted a limited liability company 120 more days to make a § 754 election for the year a member died. The company had inadvertently failed to make the election on time, but represented that…
IRS allows late S-corporation election after finding reasonable cause
The IRS ruled that a corporation could be treated as an S corporation effective on the requested date even though it did not timely file Form 2553. The corporation established reasonable cause for…
IRS treats oilfield water and waste services as qualifying partnership income
The IRS ruled that specified income of a publicly traded limited partnership would be qualifying income under IRC § 7704(d)(1)(E). The services include supplying and transporting water used in…
IRS grants more time for a foreign entity to elect partnership status
The IRS granted a foreign eligible entity 120 more days to file Form 8832 and elect partnership classification for federal tax purposes effective on the requested date. The entity had several owners…
IRS grants more time for a foreign entity to elect disregarded-entity status
The IRS granted a foreign eligible entity 120 more days to file Form 8832 and elect disregarded-entity classification for federal tax purposes effective on the requested date. The entity had one…
IRS grants more time to make a partnership basis election
The IRS granted a limited partnership 120 more days to make a § 754 election for the year a partner died. The partnership had inadvertently failed to make the election on time, but represented that…
IRS grants an estate more time to elect portability of a deceased spouse's unused exclusion
The IRS granted a decedent's estate 120 more days to elect portability of the deceased spousal unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate had not filed Form 706 by the original…
IRS treats foreign-regulated separate accounts as segregated under the variable-contract rules
The IRS ruled that separate accounts of an electing foreign insurance company could be treated as segregated from its general asset accounts under § 817(d)(1). The company was treated as a domestic…
IRS approves marital-deduction treatment for LLC preferred units placed in a marital trust
The IRS ruled that the surviving spouse would have a qualifying income interest for life in preferred units of an LLC held by a marital trust. It further ruled that a marital deduction would be…
IRS rules on trust ownership and gift-tax treatment of distributions
The IRS ruled on income-tax ownership and gift-tax consequences for an irrevocable trust controlled through a grantor and a distribution committee. It concluded that the grantor was not treated as…
IRS rules on trust ownership and gift-tax treatment of distributions
The IRS ruled on income-tax ownership and gift-tax consequences for an irrevocable trust controlled through a grantor and a distribution committee. It concluded that the grantor was not treated as…
IRS rules on trust ownership and gift-tax treatment of distributions
The IRS ruled on income-tax ownership and gift-tax consequences for an irrevocable trust controlled through a grantor and a distribution committee. It concluded that the grantor was not treated as…
IRS rules on trust ownership and gift-tax treatment of distributions
The IRS ruled on income-tax ownership and gift-tax consequences for an irrevocable trust controlled through a grantor and a distribution committee. It concluded that the grantor was not treated as…
IRS rules on trust ownership and gift-tax treatment of distributions
The IRS ruled on income-tax ownership and gift-tax consequences for an irrevocable trust controlled through a grantor and a distribution committee. It concluded that the grantor was not treated as…
IRS rules on trust ownership and gift-tax treatment of distributions
The IRS ruled on income-tax ownership and gift-tax consequences for an irrevocable trust controlled through a grantor and a distribution committee. It concluded that the grantor was not treated as…
IRS rules on trust ownership and gift-tax treatment of distributions
The IRS ruled on income-tax ownership and gift-tax consequences for an irrevocable trust controlled through a grantor and a distribution committee. It concluded that the grantor was not treated as…
IRS rules on trust ownership and gift-tax treatment of distributions
The IRS ruled on income-tax ownership and gift-tax consequences for an irrevocable trust controlled through a grantor and a distribution committee. It concluded that the grantor was not treated as…
IRS rules on trust ownership and gift-tax treatment of distributions
The IRS ruled on income-tax ownership and gift-tax consequences for an irrevocable trust controlled through a grantor and a distribution committee. It concluded that the grantor was not treated as…
IRS rules on trust ownership and gift-tax treatment of distributions
The IRS ruled on income-tax ownership and gift-tax consequences for an irrevocable trust controlled through a grantor and a distribution committee. It concluded that the grantor was not treated as…
IRS waives the 60-day IRA rollover requirement after a financial institution error
The IRS waived the 60-day deadline for a taxpayer to roll a distribution from an IRA into a rollover IRA. The taxpayer said the financial institution incorrectly told her that the funds were not…
IRS waives the 60-day IRA rollover requirement after an investment processing error
The IRS waived the 60-day deadline for a taxpayer who intended to move IRA funds into a new rollover IRA that would invest in a limited partnership. The taxpayer completed the subscription materials…
IRS waives the 60-day IRA rollover requirement after a medical emergency
The IRS waived the 60-day deadline for a taxpayer who received an IRA distribution while recovering from serious injuries. The taxpayer broke both ankles, underwent surgery, developed a blood clot,…
IRS waives the 60-day IRA rollover requirement after an investment processing error
The IRS waived the 60-day deadline for a taxpayer who intended to move IRA funds into a new rollover IRA that would invest in a limited partnership. The taxpayer completed the subscription materials…
IRS revokes an organization's tax-exempt status for commercial operations and missing records
The IRS revoked an organization's recognition as exempt under IRC § 501(c)(3), effective on the specified date. The organization had described itself as presenting multimedia art and educational…
IRS denies exemption to a member-funded medical aid plan seeking social welfare status
The IRS denied an unincorporated association's application for exemption under IRC § 501(c)(4). The association provided medical expense reimbursements only to members of a particular faith who paid…
IRS denies exemption to a fee-based health care cooperative serving its members
The IRS denied a nonprofit health care cooperative's application for exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3). The organization arranged discounted medical services, physician retainer plans, and insurance…
IRS approves a private foundation's scholarship grant procedures
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve its procedures for awarding scholarships under IRC § 4945(g). The program would give two scholarships to graduating seniors from two redacted high…
IRS declines to limit the retroactive revocation of an organization's exemption
This Technical Advice Memorandum considered whether the IRS should limit the retroactive effect of revoking a taxpayer's exemption under IRC §§ 501(c)(3) and 7805(b). The taxpayer had represented…
IRS approves a cemetery's plan to operate a funeral-home subsidiary
A tax-exempt cemetery company asked whether it could form a wholly owned, for-profit subsidiary to own and operate a funeral home. The IRS approved the plan because the subsidiary would be…
IRS advice says an acquiring corporation should obtain a new EIN
Chief Counsel advised that an acquiring corporation could not continue using the employer identification number of a disregarded entity acquired from its parent in the described transaction. The…
IRS advice supports sharing return information between transactionally related audits
Chief Counsel agreed that a local revenue agent could communicate with a revenue agent in another office about their respective audits under IRC § 6103(h)(1) when the agents had a need to know the…
IRS advice permits sharing an unredacted Form 886-A within the IRS
Chief Counsel advised that an unredacted Form 886-A could be shared with another IRS examination team under IRC § 6103(h)(1). The advice also required the document to identify its source so it could…
IRS says processing a late amended S corporation return is a case-by-case decision
Chief Counsel considered whether the IRS should process an amended Form 1120S filed after the assessment and refund-claim limitation periods had expired when the amended return reported no change in…
IRS grants extra time to file a Form 3115 copy with the National Office
The IRS granted a taxpayer 30 additional days to file a copy of Form 3115 with the National Office. The taxpayer had timely filed the original Form 3115 with its federal income tax return to change…
IRS approves a tax-free corporate separation involving a spin-off and debt exchange
A publicly traded corporation planned to separate one business from another by transferring the second business to a newly formed corporation and distributing the new corporation's stock to its…
IRS approves a spin-off separating two business lines
A publicly traded corporation planned to separate two business lines by contributing one business and related entities to a newly formed corporation, then distributing that corporation's stock to…
IRS rules on savings-bond interest held in a decedent's trust
A trust held U.S. Series I savings bonds that had belonged to a decedent and the decedent's family. The IRS ruled that, if the specified qualified disclaimer and transfer steps occurred, the…
IRS revokes a social club's tax exemption for excessive public and nonmember activity
The IRS revoked a social club's exemption under section 501(c)(7). The club regularly opened events to the general public, and its nonmember receipts exceeded the limits described in Public Law…
IRS rules that endowment unit contracts will not create unrelated business taxable income
An educational charity planned to issue contractual units tied to the value and distributions of its endowment to charitable remainder trusts for which it served as trustee and remainder…
IRS approves a private foundation's scholarship grant procedures
The IRS approved a private foundation's procedures for awarding scholarships to qualifying students from low-income families. The foundation proposed objective selection criteria, financial-need…
IRS rules that charitable remainder trusts' endowment units will not create UBTI
An organization that served as trustee and charitable remainder beneficiary of trusts planned to issue contractual units tied to its endowment. The IRS ruled that issuing the units, making or…
IRS rules that stream mitigation credit sales are not unrelated business income
A nonprofit environmental organization operated a nature center and planned to create and sell stream mitigation credits. The IRS ruled that the organization's stream restoration and mitigation-bank…
Social-justice organization denied section 501(c)(3) exemption
An organization seeking recognition under section 501(c)(3) described social-justice research, education, grants, and community mobilization. It shared staff, facilities, governance ties, and…
Broadband-access organization denied section 501(c)(3) exemption
The IRS considered an organization formed to expand broadband internet service in underserved and unserved areas. The organization planned to organize community stakeholders, negotiate access to…
IRS grants late-filing relief for an accounting-period change
The IRS considered a taxpayer's late Form 1128 requesting a change from a December 31 tax year to a November 30 tax year. The taxpayer requested relief under § 301.9100-3 after missing the filing…
IRS grants relief for a late S corporation election
The IRS considered a corporation's request for relief after its Form 2553, Election by a Small Business Corporation, was filed late. The corporation intended to elect S corporation status for a…
IRS grants extra time for a consolidated NOL carryback election
The IRS considered a consolidated group's request for more time to elect an extended carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss. The group missed the election deadline after relying on a…
Mining and processing income qualifies under the publicly traded partnership rules
A limited liability company planned to form a publicly traded partnership that would mine and process a mineral or natural resource and earn income from sales, storage, and transportation. The…
Foreign insurance reserves approved for measuring income
The IRS considered whether a controlled foreign insurance company could use certain foreign statement underwriting and loss reserves to measure income from life insurance and annuity contracts. The…
IRS grants extra time for a closing-of-the-books election
The IRS considered a loss corporation's late election to close its books for an ownership change under § 1.382-6(b). The taxpayer missed the deadline and later requested relief under § 301.9100-3,…
IRS grants extra time for late entity-classification and S corporation elections
The IRS considered a newly formed eligible entity's request to make a late election to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation and a late S corporation election. The entity had…
IRS approves a RIC's cash-or-stock special dividend plan
The IRS considered a regulated investment company's plan to pay special dividends in cash or common stock, subject to a cash limit and stockholder elections. If too many stockholders chose cash, the…
IRS approves a RIC's cash-or-stock special dividend plan
The IRS considered a regulated investment company's plan to pay special dividends in cash or common stock, subject to a cash limit and stockholder elections. If too many stockholders chose cash, the…
IRS approves a deferred exchange using qualified intermediary and EAT safe harbors
The IRS considered a taxpayer's plan to sell a retail building and acquire a long-term ground lease with improvements through a deferred like-kind exchange. A qualified intermediary would hold the…
IRS restores S corporation status after an IRA caused an inadvertent termination
The IRS considered an S corporation whose election terminated when an individual acquired its stock through a self-directed IRA, an ineligible shareholder. The IRA later distributed the shares to…
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.