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 a foreign entity extra time to file a late "check-the-box" election to be taxed as a partnership
A foreign business entity wanted to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes. To do that, an eligible entity files a "check-the-box" election on Form 8832 under the entity…
Late relief to elect out of the bankruptcy loss rule under section 382(l)(5)
Section 382 limits how much of a corporation's past losses it can use after an ownership change. A special rule, section 382(l)(5), applies when the ownership change happens in bankruptcy (a title…
Late relief for a surviving spouse's estate-tax portability election
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate-tax exclusion can be passed to a surviving spouse, but only if the estate makes a "portability" election on a timely filed estate tax…
Late relief to elect disregarded-entity status for a foreign company
A foreign company wholly owned by a single owner wanted to be treated as a disregarded entity for U.S. federal tax purposes, meaning it would be ignored as separate from its owner. To get that…
Estate gets extra time to make a QTIP marital-deduction election after preparer's Schedule M error
When one spouse dies leaving property in a marital trust, the estate can defer estate tax by making a "QTIP" election under IRC § 2056(b)(7), which treats the trust property as passing to the…
Corporate group gets extra time to elect to file a consolidated return
A parent corporation and its affiliated group wanted to file one combined (consolidated) federal income tax return, an election made under Treas. Reg. § 1.1502-75(a)(1) by timely filing that…
Late portability election allowed so surviving spouse can use decedent's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies without using all of their federal estate-tax exclusion, the leftover ("deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) can pass to the surviving spouse, but only if the estate makes…
Extra time granted to elect 10-year write-off of research costs
A corporation that heads a consolidated group of companies wanted to spread its research and experimental (R&E) costs for one tax year as a deduction over 10 years, an option allowed by IRC § 59(e).…
Fund gets more time to file the forms for a deficiency dividend deduction after its accountant missed the filing
Two regulated investment companies (RICs, essentially mutual funds) run by the same management firm combined when one merged into the other in a tax-free reorganization, closing the absorbed fund's…
Fund gets more time to file the forms for a deficiency dividend deduction after its accountant missed the filing
Two regulated investment companies (RICs, essentially mutual funds) run by the same management firm combined when one merged into the other in a tax-free reorganization, closing the absorbed fund's…
Estate gets extra time to make a late portability election for the surviving spouse
When one spouse dies without using up the full estate-and-gift tax exclusion, the leftover amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) can be transferred to the surviving spouse, but…
Estate gets more time to steer its GST tax exemption to the grandchild's charitable trust
When a donor died, the residue of her revocable trust was split equally among three charitable remainder annuity trusts (CRATs), one each connected to her son, daughter, and grandson. All three…
An estate too small to require a return gets 120 days to make a late portability election passing the deceased spouse's unused exclusion to the survivor
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate-and-gift-tax exclusion can be passed to a surviving spouse, but only if the estate makes a "portability" election on a timely filed…
An S corporation gets 120 days to make late check-the-box elections for five foreign subsidiaries
An S corporation owned five foreign entities and wanted to set how each is classified for U.S. tax purposes. Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible entity picks its classification by filing…
A foreign entity gets 120 days to file a late check-the-box election to be taxed as a partnership
A business entity formed under foreign law wanted to be treated as a partnership for U.S. tax purposes. Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible entity can choose its classification by filing…
A foreign entity gets 120 days to file a late check-the-box election to be treated as a disregarded entity
A business entity formed under foreign law wanted to be treated as a disregarded entity for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it would not be treated as separate from its single owner. Under the…
A foreign entity gets 120 days to file a late check-the-box election to be treated as a disregarded entity
A business entity formed under foreign law wanted to be treated as a disregarded entity for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it would not be treated as separate from its single owner. Under the…
A foreign entity gets 120 days to file a late check-the-box election to be taxed as a partnership
A business entity formed under foreign law wanted to be treated as a partnership for U.S. tax purposes. Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible entity can choose its classification by filing…
A foreign entity gets 120 days to file a late check-the-box election to be taxed as a partnership
A business entity formed under foreign law wanted to be treated as a partnership for U.S. tax purposes. Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible entity can choose its classification by filing…
An estate too small to require a return gets 120 days to make a late portability election passing the deceased spouse's unused exclusion to the survivor
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate-and-gift-tax exclusion can be passed to a surviving spouse, but only if the estate makes a "portability" election on a timely filed…
An estate too small to require a return gets 120 days to make a late portability election passing the deceased spouse's unused exclusion to the survivor
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate-and-gift-tax exclusion can be passed to a surviving spouse, but only if the estate makes a "portability" election on a timely filed…
A parent company gets 75 days to file a late election waiving the net-operating-loss carryback into its former consolidated group
A group of companies left one consolidated tax group (their former parent's) and began filing their own consolidated return under a new common parent. When a corporation that carries net operating…
An estate too small to require a return gets 120 days to make a late portability election passing the deceased spouse's unused exclusion to the survivor
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate-and-gift-tax exclusion can be passed to a surviving spouse, but only if the estate makes a "portability" election on a timely filed…
An S corporation gets 120 days to file the late QSub elections it forgot for two subsidiaries
An S corporation owned two lower-tier subsidiaries and intended to treat both as qualified subchapter S subsidiaries (QSubs). A QSub election makes a wholly owned subsidiary invisible for tax…
A private foundation gets 60 days to make late elections its preparer forgot, treating grants from another foundation as distributions out of corpus
A private foundation regularly received grants from another private foundation under agreements that required it to pass the money along and to make a specific tax election each year. That election,…
Corporation granted 60 more days to make a late success-based-fee safe-harbor election its preparer omitted
A corporation acquired another company through a merger and paid its advisor a fee that was contingent on the deal closing, a "success-based fee." Under Rev. Proc. 2011-29, a taxpayer can elect a…
Parent corporation granted 75 more days to make a late election to file a consolidated return
A parent corporation that headed an affiliated group of companies missed the deadline to elect to file a single consolidated federal income tax return (with itself as the common parent) for one tax…
Partnership granted 60 more days to file the missing duplicate "Ogden copy" of its accounting-method-change application
A partnership wanted to change a depreciation-related accounting method using the IRS's automatic-consent procedures. To do that it files a Form 3115 (Application for Change in Accounting Method) in…
9100 relief for an estate to make late QTIP and reverse-QTIP elections its accountant omitted
After a person died, their revocable trust split into a family trust and two marital trusts (an exempt and a non-exempt marital trust) for the surviving spouse. To defer estate tax on the marital…
9100 relief to file a late Form 8832 electing foreign-disregarded-entity treatment
A foreign company that had become a wholly owned subsidiary of a U.S. corporation wanted to be treated as a disregarded entity (ignored as separate from its owner) for U.S. federal tax purposes,…
9100 relief for a non-filing estate to make a late portability (DSUE) election
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate-and-gift tax exclusion can be passed to their surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE, amount), but only if…
9100 relief for a non-filing estate to make a late portability (DSUE) election
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate-and-gift tax exclusion can be passed to their surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE, amount), but only if…
120-day extension to make a late estate-tax portability (DSUE) election
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exclusion, the surviving spouse can inherit the leftover amount (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE) through a…
120-day extension to make a late estate-tax portability (DSUE) election
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exclusion, the surviving spouse can inherit the leftover amount (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE) through a…
75-day extension to elect apportionment of a consolidated section 382 limitation to a departing subgroup
Two corporate consolidated groups asked the IRS for more time to file an election that splits up a tax attribute when a subgroup leaves one group and joins another. Section 382 limits how much of a…
120-day extension to make a late estate-tax portability (DSUE) election
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exclusion, the surviving spouse can inherit the leftover amount (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE) through a…
120-day extension to make a late QTIP election after the accountant omitted it from the estate tax return
A married couple's trust split into a Marital Trust and a non-marital (Exempt) Trust when the first spouse died, and the estate planning intended the Marital Trust to qualify as qualified terminable…
120-day extension to file check-the-box elections disregarding six foreign subsidiaries
Under the "check-the-box" rules of Treas. Reg. § 301.7701-3, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed, and a single-owner entity can elect to be disregarded (treated as part of its…
120-day extension to make a late estate-tax portability (DSUE) election
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exclusion, the surviving spouse can inherit the leftover amount (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE) through a…
120-day extension for two foreign entities to file check-the-box classification elections
Under the "check-the-box" rules of Treas. Reg. § 301.7701-3, a foreign business entity can elect how it is classified for U.S. tax purposes by filing Form 8832: one with two or more owners can be a…
120-day extension to make a late estate-tax portability (DSUE) election
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exclusion, the surviving spouse can inherit the leftover amount (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE) through a…
120-day extension to make a late estate-tax portability (DSUE) election
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exclusion, the surviving spouse can inherit the leftover amount (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE) through a…
90-day extension for a consolidated group to elect to waive its NOL carryback period
When a group of affiliated corporations files one consolidated tax return and reports a net operating loss (NOL), it can normally carry that loss back to earlier years to recover past taxes, or it…
75-day extension to elect apportionment of a consolidated section 382 limitation to a deconsolidating subgroup
Section 382 limits how much of a company's built-up losses can be used each year after an ownership change. When a subgroup that carries such a limitation leaves a consolidated group, Treas. Reg. §…
Estate gets 120 more days to make a late portability (DSUE) election for the surviving spouse
When someone dies without using up their full estate-and-gift tax exemption, their surviving spouse can inherit the leftover amount (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE) and add it to…
Estate gets 120 more days to make a late portability (DSUE) election for the surviving spouse
When someone dies without using up their full estate-and-gift tax exemption, their surviving spouse can inherit the leftover amount (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE) and add it to…
Consolidated group gets more time to elect out of bonus depreciation after its preparer filed the extension late
Businesses that buy qualifying equipment can normally take a large "additional first year" (bonus) depreciation deduction under IRC § 168(k), but they can also elect out of it for whole classes of…
Consolidated group gets 75 more days to elect to waive the carryback of its net operating loss
When a consolidated group of corporations has a net operating loss, it can choose to carry that loss back to earlier years or instead waive the carryback and only carry it forward. Waiving the…
IRS grants an estate a 120-day extension to make the section 663(b) "65-day rule" election
An estate made distributions to its beneficiaries within the first 65 days of a new tax year. IRC § 663(b) (the "65-day rule") lets an estate or trust elect to treat such early-year distributions as…
IRS grants a corporate parent extra time to make the elections that close its foreign subsidiaries' tax years
A U.S. corporate parent needed to make special elections to avoid an unfavorable result under the dividends-received-deduction rules for foreign subsidiaries (§ 245A and Treas. Reg. § 1.245A-5).…
IRS grants extra time to make a late section 338(g) election for a foreign stock purchase
When one corporation buys the stock of another, § 338 lets the buyer elect to treat the stock purchase as if it had instead bought the target's assets, which can reset the tax basis of those assets.…
IRS grants extra time to elect out of tax-exempt-entity status so a housing project keeps its normal depreciation
A tax-exempt § 501(c)(3) housing charity owned a for-profit corporation, and that corporation was part of a partnership structure that built and operates a mixed-income (low-income housing tax…
IRS grants a late estate 120 extra days to make a portability election so the surviving spouse can use the decedent's unused exclusion
When someone dies, any part of their federal estate-and-gift tax exclusion they did not use can be transferred to a surviving spouse. This transfer is called a "portability" election, and the estate…
IRS gives a married couple 120 days to make a late election to treat all their rental real estate as one activity
Rental real estate income is normally treated as "passive," which limits when the owner can deduct losses against other income. Taxpayers who qualify as real estate professionals under § 469(c)(7)…
IRS grants 120 days to file a late check-the-box election making a foreign subsidiary a disregarded entity
Under the "check-the-box" rules (Treas. Reg. § 301.7701-3), an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A foreign entity that does not elect otherwise defaults to…
IRS grants 120 days to file a late check-the-box election making a foreign entity a disregarded entity
Under the "check-the-box" rules (Treas. Reg. § 301.7701-3), an eligible business entity elects how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A single-owner entity can elect to be "disregarded," meaning it is…
IRS grants a late estate 120 extra days to make a portability election so the surviving spouse can use the decedent's unused exclusion
When someone dies, any part of their federal estate-and-gift tax exclusion they did not use can be transferred to a surviving spouse through a "portability" election. The estate makes that election…
IRS grants an S corporation 120 days to make late QSub elections for three subsidiaries
An S corporation that owns 100% of a subsidiary can elect to treat that subsidiary as a "qualified subchapter S subsidiary" (QSub) under § 1361(b)(3). A QSub is ignored as a separate corporation, so…
Late "portability" election allowed so a surviving spouse can use a deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies without using up their federal estate-tax exclusion, the unused part (the DSUE amount) can pass to the surviving spouse, but only if the estate makes a "portability" election on a…
Late "portability" election allowed so a surviving spouse can use a deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies without using up their federal estate-tax exclusion, the unused part (the DSUE amount) can pass to the surviving spouse, but only if the estate makes a "portability" election on a…
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.