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.
No determinations match these filters
Try fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A foreign limited partnership intended to make a section 754 election but inadvertently omitted the election from its timely partnership return. The IRS found that the partnership satisfied the…
Late section 336(e) election extension granted
A partnership acquired more than 80% of an S corporation through a disregarded entity, and the parties intended to treat the stock sale as an asset sale under section 336(e). They entered the…
Entity may change classification within the 60-month limit
A single-owner limited liability company previously elected corporate classification, which ordinarily prevents another classification election for 60 months. A new owner later acquired all shares…
Late section 336(e) election extension granted
A purchaser acquired all stock of an S corporation, and the parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as an asset sale. They did not timely attach the election statement…
Late GST exemption allocations allowed for two trusts
A grantor created two trusts intended primarily to benefit grandchildren and more remote descendants. Although the grantor had enough generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to give both trusts…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership intended to make a section 754 election but failed to include it with its return. The IRS accepted the company's representations that it acted…
QOF self-certification accepted after filing with the wrong return
A limited liability company was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and had elected S corporation status. Because its lawyer did not tell the accounting firm about that election, the…
Corporation received 120 days to make a late S election
A corporation's sole shareholder intended S corporation treatment from a specified effective date, but the corporation inadvertently failed to file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause…
S corporation termination from missed ESBT elections treated as inadvertent
An S corporation transferred shares to two trusts that met the substantive requirements for electing small business trusts, but their trustees failed to file timely ESBT elections. That omission…
Executor may make late GST allocations to three trusts
A donor made pre-2001 transfers to three descendant trusts created by the donor's spouse, and the spouses elected to split the gifts. The donor relied on an accounting firm to prepare Form 709, but…
Partnership may revoke election out of bonus depreciation
A partnership elected out of 100% additional first-year depreciation for its 5-year, 7-year, and 15-year qualified property after relying on its return preparer. A later preparer reviewing the…
Partnership may revoke election out of bonus depreciation
A partnership elected out of 100% additional first-year depreciation for its 5-year, 7-year, and 15-year qualified property after relying on its return preparer. A later preparer would have advised…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A partnership had previously made a section 754 election, but a later ownership change caused a technical termination under the law then in effect. After another partner-interest purchase, the…
S corporation termination from missed ESBT elections treated as inadvertent
Two shareholders transferred S corporation stock to trusts that met the substantive requirements for electing small business trusts, but the trustees failed to file timely ESBT elections. That…
Late QSub elections granted for three subsidiaries
An S corporation acquired all the stock of three subsidiaries and intended to treat each as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from its respective acquisition date. It inadvertently failed to file…
Prior section 754 election deadline extended by 60 days
The IRS had previously issued a private letter ruling concerning the taxpayer's deadline to file a section 754 election. This supplemental ruling does not restate the facts or analysis from the…
S corporation's QSub spin-off qualifies as a tax-free Type D reorganization
A closely held S corporation planned to separate businesses by transferring assets to a wholly owned QSub and distributing all QSub stock pro rata to family shareholder trusts. The distribution…
Pre-2018 Roth IRA contributions may be recharacterized
A financial institution removed the word “Roth” from an IRA's displayed account title while processing the taxpayer's name change, although the account remained coded internally as a Roth IRA.…
Ministry lost exemption after failing to substantiate charitable activity and allowing insider benefit
A religious organization said it would conduct online ministry, Christian programs, community assistance, and promotional activities. During the examination, it acknowledged that it had no website,…
Research charity lost exemption after failing to document its activities, finances, and use of funds
A charity formed to conduct scientific research reported that it also offered youth basketball, tennis, and swimming programs and employed a foreign worker to research a camera’s capabilities. Its…
Technology-business accelerator denied exemption for private benefit
An organization sought section 501(c)(3) exemption for an accelerator, conference, networking events, directory, and other programs serving underrepresented owners of small technology businesses.…
Cold-storage services and TRS rents qualify for REIT income tests
A publicly traded REIT leased temperature-controlled warehouse space and charged tenants for temperature reduction, tempering, rapid freezing or warming, and handling by taxable REIT subsidiaries.…
Late qualified opportunity fund self-certification accepted
A partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund, but its manager believed no federal return was required for the first year because the entity had no business activity. After the…
Late multiple-building housing credit election allowed
A low-income housing taxpayer intended to treat all buildings in a project as one multiple-building project but inadvertently omitted the election from Forms 8609. The IRS found that the taxpayer…
Late election to treat trust as a GST trust allowed
A taxpayer created a trust for a son and the son's descendants and intended to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to every contribution. Because the trust was not automatically…
Late election out of automatic GST allocation allowed
A taxpayer created a grantor retained annuity trust whose remaining assets would eventually pass into separate trusts for two children. The taxpayer intended not to allocate generation-skipping…
Late election out of automatic GST allocation allowed
A taxpayer created a grantor retained annuity trust that divided directly into separate trusts for two children when the annuity term ended. The taxpayer intended not to allocate generation-skipping…
Late election out of automatic GST allocation allowed
A taxpayer created a grantor retained annuity trust that divided directly into separate trusts for two children when the annuity term ended. The taxpayer intended not to allocate generation-skipping…
S corporation termination from missed ESBT election was inadvertent
Two spouses transferred their S corporation stock to a grantor trust. After one spouse died, the trust became a non-grantor trust and its trustees failed to make a timely electing small business…
IRA stock transfer caused inadvertent S corporation termination
A bank holding company's S corporation election terminated when some of its stock was transferred to a shareholder's individual retirement account. The IRA was not a permitted S corporation…
Reverse improvement exchange qualified for section 1031 safe harbors
A real estate partnership proposed exchanging rental property for a leasehold of more than 30 years plus improvements to be built on land owned by a related partnership. An exchange accommodation…
Sports and activity center set-asides approved
A private foundation requested approval to set aside funds over two fiscal years to construct a sports and activity center. The center would operate on a nonprofit basis for community youth…
Educational organization lost exemption for private benefit and commercial activity
An educational organization offered fee-based courses, workshops, seminars, and online materials while contracting with related for-profit businesses for teaching services. The IRS examination found…
Surviving spouse could roll estate-paid IRA proceeds into own IRA
An IRA owner died intestate after the owner's estate had become the IRA beneficiary. The surviving spouse was the estate's sole administrator and, under state law, was treated as its sole…
Corporation received extra time to request tax-year change
A corporate parent wanted to align its federal tax year with a new financial reporting year. Its accounting firm agreed to prepare the short-period filings, but internal miscommunications between…
LLC received extra time to elect corporate classification
A limited liability company intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation from the date it was formed. It did not timely file Form 8832 to make that entity-classification…
Taxpayer received extra time to submit duplicate Forms 3115
A corporate parent filed two original Forms 3115 with its consolidated return for an acquired subsidiary and reported the requested accounting method changes. It failed, however, to send the…
Late election out of automatic GST allocation allowed
A taxpayer created a trust for the taxpayer's spouse's siblings, their spouses, and their descendants. The taxpayer and spouse elected to split gifts, but their accounting firm failed to report the…
Late election out of automatic GST allocation allowed
A taxpayer's spouse created a trust for the taxpayer's siblings, their spouses, and their descendants. The couple elected to split gifts, but their accounting firm failed to report the trust…
Dual citizen satisfied expatriation exception citizenship requirement
A taxpayer acquired both U.S. citizenship and citizenship in another country at birth, returned to that country shortly after birth, and lived there except during graduate studies. The taxpayer used…
Subsidiary group could correct an improper consolidated return
A newly formed parent acquired a corporation that already headed an affiliated group and then filed one consolidated return including the parent and that existing group. The parties had believed the…
Special-contract solar projects were not public utility property
A regulated electric utility proposed two renewable energy projects for a manufacturer, one grid-scale project under a virtual power purchase agreement and one rooftop system. The utility would own…
Revised nuclear decommissioning fund contribution schedule approved
A regulated utility requested approval of a revised schedule of deductible contributions to its nuclear decommissioning reserve fund. The schedule used the utility's ownership share, a…
STEM scholarship procedures received advance approval
A private foundation proposed annual scholarships for college-bound public, private, and home-school students in a specified county who would attend a four-year college or trade school. Its board…
Revised scholarship and study-travel grant procedures approved
A private foundation revised an existing program that awards scholarships and study-travel grants to high-achieving residents of a specified state who attend designated universities. Scholarship…
IVF expenses deductible, gestational surrogacy expenses denied
A married couple used their own eggs and sperm for in vitro fertilization and engaged a gestational carrier because carrying a pregnancy posed a high health risk to one spouse. The IRS allowed…
Substitute mortality tables approved for two pension plans
A plan sponsor requested new substitute mortality tables after a group annuity purchase caused its previously approved tables to no longer predict future mortality accurately. The new tables used…
Substitute mortality tables approved for two pension plans
A plan sponsor requested new substitute mortality tables after a group annuity purchase caused its previously approved tables to no longer predict future mortality accurately. The new tables used…
Educational facility renovation set-aside approved
A private foundation requested a set-aside to renovate a facility used for science, agriculture, arts, and music education for children and adults. The work included heating, ventilation, air…
Employer-related scholarship procedures received advance approval
A private foundation proposed one-time scholarships for eligible dependents of employees of a company. An outside administrator would manage applications, due diligence, selection, payments to…
Scholarship procedures for underrepresented students approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for historically underrepresented students in a metropolitan area who demonstrate academic excellence, community commitment, and plans to pursue four-year…
Organization lost exemption for serving founder's private interests
An organization had once operated as a church but reported little or no activity after those operations ceased. Its representatives told the IRS that the organization's bank account had been used as…
Estate received extra time to elect portability
A decedent's estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 but needed a timely estate tax return to transfer the deceased spousal unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The estate did…
Consolidated group received extra time for closing-of-the-books election
A consolidated group experienced an ownership change that limited the use of its pre-change losses under IRC § 382. It did not timely elect to close its books on the change date when allocating…
Nonstock insurance-company acquisitions qualified for section 338 election
A taxable mutual insurance company purchased the sole memberships of two taxable, nonstock nonprofit insurance companies from another nonprofit holding company. Although the targets could not issue…
Foreign entity received extra time to elect partnership status
A foreign entity intended to be classified as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes from its formation date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity…
Estate received extra time to elect portability
A decedent's estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 but needed a timely estate tax return to transfer the deceased spousal unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The estate did…
IRS grants 120 days to make a late partnership basis election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership missed the deadline to elect under IRC § 754 after a 50 percent general partner died. That election allows the partnership to adjust the basis of…
LLC receives 120 days to file a late disregarded-entity election
A limited liability company intended to elect disregarded-entity status for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The company and its owner had filed tax returns consistent with…
Trust modification preserves generation-skipping transfer tax exemption
An irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985, sought to modify how property would pass to descendants after the settlors' daughter died. Instead of distributing certain shares outright,…
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.