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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Multi-focus scholarship procedures received advance approval
A private foundation proposed scholarships for students attending high school, college, graduate school, or vocational school, with focus areas covering animal welfare, education, Christianity, and su…
Community high-school scholarship procedures received advance approval
A private foundation proposed annual renewable scholarships for graduating seniors from a specified high school to encourage growth in the local community. Eligible students must plan to pursue postse…
Downtown merchant group denied charitable exemption for serving member businesses
An organization of downtown brick-and-mortar businesses applied for IRC § 501(c)(3) status. Its bylaws focused on promoting the downtown business district, merchant cooperation, community events, and …
Inactive church lost exemption after insider property transfer
An organization recognized as a church had conducted no recent religious activities and had no funds in its bank account during the examined year. Court records and the IRS examination also indicated …
Airport terminal charges and deemed-loan interest qualified as REIT income
A REIT held an interest in a partnership developing and operating a new international airport terminal. Airlines would pay for exclusive space based on square footage and for common terminal space bas…
Airport terminal charges and deemed-loan interest qualified as REIT income
A REIT indirectly owned an interest in a partnership developing and operating a new international airport terminal. Airlines would pay for exclusive space based on square footage and for common termin…
Foreign entity received 120 days to elect corporate classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the entity met the standards for late regulator…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A partnership failed to make an IRC § 754 election for the year in which a new partner purchased interests in it. The IRS concluded that the partnership met the standards for late regulatory-election …
Foreign purchaser received more time for section 338(g) elections
A foreign corporation intended to make IRC § 338(g) elections for its deemed acquisitions of two controlled foreign corporations but discovered after the deadline that valid elections may not have bee…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A partnership failed to make an IRC § 754 election for the year in which new partners purchased interests in it. The IRS concluded that the partnership met the standards for late regulatory-election r…
Missed corporate extension did not defeat four regulatory elections
A corporate group doubled its federal and state filing workload after entering the mortgage-banking business, lost a recently hired tax director shortly before extension deadlines, and was transitioni…
Litigation-driven extension preserved liquidating-trust status
A liquidating trust was created under a Chapter 11 reorganization plan to convert assets to cash, resolve claims, and distribute proceeds, without operating a business. Unresolved litigation had preve…
Partnership ownership caused an inadvertent S election termination
An S corporation’s election terminated when a partnership, an ineligible S corporation shareholder, acquired all of its stock. The partnership later transferred the stock in equal shares to its two in…
Late QSST and ESBT elections caused an inadvertent S termination
An S corporation’s stock was held by a grantor trust that remained an eligible shareholder for two years after its owner died. The stock then passed to a trust that qualified as a QSST, but its benefi…
Late ESBT election caused an inadvertent S termination
An S corporation’s stock was held by a grantor trust that remained an eligible shareholder for two years after its owner died. The stock then passed to a second trust that qualified as an electing sma…
Three late trust elections caused an inadvertent S termination
After an S corporation shareholder died, stock held in the shareholder’s grantor trust passed to three successor trusts. Two qualified to elect treatment as electing small business trusts, and one qua…
Fine-artist grant procedures received advance approval
A private foundation proposed one-time grants to emerging and mid-career fine artists who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents and no longer students. Applicants must submit past work, a proposal,…
Unresponsive supporting organization lost exemption for failing to provide records
A functionally integrated Type III supporting organization did not respond to repeated IRS requests for records needed to verify its continued qualification under IRC § 501(c)(3). The IRS mailed the e…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate that represented it was not otherwise required to file Form 706 missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent’s unused estate and gift tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. Base…
Affiliated group received 75 days to elect consolidated filing
An affiliated corporate group failed to timely elect to file a consolidated federal income tax return with its parent as common parent. The group sought relief before the IRS discovered the omission, …
Group received 75 days to apportion its section 382 limitation
Subsidiaries left a consolidated group while the group had a consolidated IRC § 382 limitation. The parent and departing subsidiaries failed to timely elect to apportion all or part of that limitation…
Taxpayer received 120 days to perfect CFC group elections
A U.S. consolidated group intended to make controlled-foreign-corporation group elections for two years under the IRC § 163(j) business-interest rules. It mistakenly computed under older proposed regu…
Early trust termination avoided transfer taxes but triggered capital gain
A pre-September 25, 1985 irrevocable trust paid a fixed annuity to a grandchild and would ultimately pass to the grandchild’s descendants. The adult and minor beneficiaries, represented as necessary, …
Foreign entity received 120 days to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership and filed its federal tax reports consistently with that treatment, but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832. The IRS concluded t…
Foreign entity received 120 days to elect corporate classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the entity met the standards for late …
Three late QSST elections caused an inadvertent S termination
Three trusts acquired stock in an S corporation and each qualified to elect treatment as a qualified subchapter S trust, but none of their beneficiaries filed the QSST election on time. The trusts wer…
LLC received 120 days for corporate and S elections
A domestic LLC intended to elect association taxable as a corporation status and S corporation treatment effective on the same date, but filed neither Form 8832 nor Form 2553. The IRS concluded that t…
Life-insurance commission rebates were nontaxable price adjustments
A life-insurance agency entered rebate agreements under which it returned part of its commission to customers after they paid the premium and the carrier issued the policy. The rebate effectively redu…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
An LLC that had changed from disregarded-entity to partnership status intended to make an IRC § 754 election when a buyer acquired a percentage interest, but did not timely file it. The IRS concluded …
Qualified opportunity fund received relief for a late Form 8996
A limited partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and hired an adviser to file its first-year return and related elections. The return and Form 8996 were not filed on time be…
Partnership received more time to elect out of bonus depreciation
A partnership intended not to claim bonus depreciation for any class of qualified property placed in service during a tax year. Its return preparer reflected that choice on Form 4562 but inadvertently…
Corporation received inadvertent S election termination relief
An S corporation issued stock to a partnership and another S corporation, neither of which was an eligible S corporation shareholder. More stock later passed to a second S corporation, creating anothe…
Foundation scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve procedures for two scholarship programs serving economically disadvantaged students. One program offers nonrenewable awards to graduates of two specified …
Teaching and coaching grant procedures approved
A private foundation proposed grants for recent U.S. college graduates to spend a year teaching, coaching sports, and supporting students at a school outside the United States. A committee would recru…
Need-based county scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for graduating high school seniors from a specified county who plan to attend accredited postsecondary institutions. Applicants must show financial need and …
IRS denies 501(c)(3) status to a neighborhood association that is substantially social and recreational
A midtown neighborhood association applied for charity status under section 501(c)(3) using the short Form 1023-EZ. Its mission was to build community spirit and civic pride by running events like a H…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) status to a college-athlete NIL collective for serving private interests
An organization applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt charity under section 501(c)(3). Its business was to line up college athletes' name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights, then provide those NIL r…
LLC gets 60 more days to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund after its accountant missed the filing
An LLC (taxed as a partnership) was formed to invest in Qualified Opportunity Zone property, a program that lets investors defer and reduce tax on capital gains if they invest through a Qualified Oppo…
Foreign entity gets 120 more days to file a late "check-the-box" election to be a disregarded entity
A foreign business entity wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it would be ignored as separate from its single owner (so the owner reports the entity's activit…
Surviving spouse who is sole executor and sole estate beneficiary may roll over inherited IRAs into her own IRA
A person died before reaching age 73, leaving several IRAs that named the estate as the primary beneficiary. The surviving spouse was both the sole executor of the estate and the sole beneficiary of e…
A family company's redemption of one shareholder's stock will not be a deemed distribution under section 305
A privately held, family-owned corporation plans to buy back (redeem) all of one family member's non-voting Class B shares for ordinary business reasons. Normally a company redeeming shares does not c…
IRS denies 501(c)(6) business-league status to a group promoting blockchain open-source software
A section 501(c)(6) business league is a tax-exempt association of people with a common business interest whose purpose is to improve conditions across a whole line of business, not to run a for-profi…
Real estate partnership gets more time to elect out of bonus depreciation and into the real-property interest rules
Two related tax choices are at issue. First, bonus depreciation under section 168(k) lets a business immediately deduct a large share of the cost of certain property, but a taxpayer can elect out of i…
Bank trustee gets more time to certify that a QDOT beneficiary became a U.S. citizen
When someone dies leaving property to a surviving spouse who is not a U.S. citizen, the usual estate-tax marital deduction is not allowed unless the property goes into a qualified domestic trust (QDOT…
Company gets more time to elect out of bonus depreciation after preparer omitted the statement
Bonus depreciation (additional first-year depreciation under section 168(k)) lets a business immediately deduct a large percentage of the cost of certain new equipment instead of spreading it over yea…
Estate gets more time to split a marital trust and make a reverse QTIP election for GST purposes
When a person dies leaving property in a marital trust for a surviving spouse, the estate can elect QTIP treatment so the property qualifies for the estate-tax marital deduction. For the generation-sk…
Foreign single-owner entity gets more time to elect disregarded-entity status
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A foreign entity with a single owner can elect to be disregarded, meaning it is treated as …
S corporation's accidental termination is excused when a trust missed its QSST election
An S corporation is a small business corporation whose income is taxed to its shareholders rather than the company, but it can only have certain kinds of shareholders. A trust can qualify, but only if…
Donor gets more time to allocate GST exemption after accountant let him opt out by mistake
The generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax applies when wealth passes to grandchildren or more remote descendants, but each person has a GST exemption they can allocate to a trust to shield it from th…
IRS denies a late portability election because the estate used hindsight
"Portability" lets a surviving spouse use the unused portion of a deceased spouse's federal estate-tax exclusion (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE), but only if the first spouse's estate…
Donor gets more time to allocate GST exemption after accountant let him opt out by mistake
The generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax applies when wealth passes to grandchildren or more remote descendants, but each person has a GST exemption they can allocate to a trust to shield it from th…
Foreign single-owner entity gets more time to elect disregarded-entity status
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A foreign entity with a single owner can elect to be disregarded, meaning it is treated as …
Foreign single-owner entity gets more time to elect disregarded-entity status
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A foreign entity with a single owner can elect to be disregarded, meaning it is treated as …
Merged pension plan may keep using its existing substitute mortality tables
When a single-employer defined benefit pension plan calculates its funding obligations under section 430, it normally uses standard IRS mortality tables, but a plan can get IRS approval to use its own…
IRS pre-approves a company foundation's employee-children scholarship program
A private foundation tied to a company asked the IRS to pre-approve the way it will hand out scholarships to the children of the company's employees. This approval matters because a private foundation…
Foreign futures exchange is a "qualified board or exchange" for section 1256 mark-to-market treatment
Certain futures and similar contracts get special tax treatment under section 1256: they are treated as if sold at year end (mark-to-market), with gains and losses split 60% long-term and 40% short-te…
Exporter gets more time to elect IC-DISC status after filing the election three days late
An interest-charge domestic international sales corporation (IC-DISC) is a special export-incentive entity that lets a related U.S. business defer some tax on export income. To be one, a corporation m…
Buyer and seller of an S corporation get more time to elect asset-sale treatment for a stock purchase
When someone buys at least 80% of a corporation's stock, a section 336(e) election lets the parties treat the stock sale as if the company had instead sold all its assets, which can give the buyer a s…
Opportunity-fund gets more time to self-certify after its accountant left the form off the return
A limited liability company was set up to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), the kind of investment vehicle that lets people defer and reduce tax on capital gains they reinvest in economically dis…
REIT's intercompany support payments are not double-counted for the income and asset tests
A real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns wireless and broadcast communications towers, both in the U.S. and abroad, holds many of those assets through a partnership it mostly owns and through f…
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.