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 recognizes an organization under IRC § 4945(f)
The IRS recognized an organization as exempt from federal income tax under IRC § 501(a) because it qualifies under § 501(c)(3). The IRS also determined that the organization is not a private…
IRS denies exemption to a mortgage-mitigation counseling organization
The IRS issued a final adverse determination denying an organization's application for recognition under IRC § 501(c)(3). The organization planned to provide mortgage-mitigation counseling and…
IRS denies exemption to a fee-based creditor-harassment service
The IRS issued a final adverse determination denying an organization's application for recognition under IRC § 501(c)(3). The organization charged fees to communicate with creditors on behalf of…
IRS denies exemption to a fee-based credit-repair organization
The IRS issued a final adverse determination denying an organization's application for recognition under IRC § 501(c)(3). The organization planned to repair clients' credit reports, charged setup…
PLR 201305010: IRS grants extra time to waive an NOL carryback period
A parent company asked for more time to file an election waiving the entire carryback period for a consolidated group's net operating loss. The election was late because the parent relied on a…
PLR 201305009: IRS treats a late Form 1128 as timely filed
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 late to change its federal tax year from a December 31 year-end to a March 31 year-end. The taxpayer requested relief under § 301.9100-3 shortly after the filing deadline.…
PLR 201305008: IRS denies late Form 1128 relief filed after 90 days
A taxpayer filed Form 1128 late to change its federal tax year from an August 31 year-end to a March 31 year-end. The taxpayer did not request relief under § 301.9100-3 until more than 90 days after…
PLR 201305006: IRS treats a contractual joint venture as a foreign business entity
A taxpayer planned to enter into a profit participation agreement with an affiliate for the operation of branches outside the United States. The agreement would give the affiliate an interest in the…
PLR 201305005: IRS grants extra time for an extended NOL carryback election
A parent company asked for more time to elect an extended carryback period for a consolidated group’s net operating loss. The election was not filed on time because the parent relied on a qualified…
PLR 201305004: IRS consents to RICs revoking their section 4982 election
Thirty-seven regulated investment companies asked to revoke elections under IRC § 4982(e)(4)(A). Those elections allowed them to use their taxable years instead of the one-year period ending October…
PLR 201305003: IRS approves a recapitalization and four related section 355 spin-offs
A corporate group asked the IRS to rule on the federal tax consequences of a planned recapitalization, an internal contribution and spin-off, two additional internal spin-offs, and a final…
PLR 201305002: IRS grants extra time to make an IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation intended to be treated as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation, or IC-DISC, for its first taxable year. Its Form 4876-A election was filed late after…
PLR 201305001: IRS addresses fund status and ordinary-course redemptions under section 382
An open-end investment company asked about redemptions of its shares by target-date mutual funds that invested in it as part of their asset-allocation strategies. The funds were not formed or…
PLR 201304013: IRS waives the 60-day rollover deadline after a medical condition
A former spouse received a distribution from a qualified plan under a divorce settlement and intended to roll it into an IRA or another qualified plan. The taxpayer said a medical condition and…
PLR 201304012: IRS waives the 60-day IRA rollover deadline after financial-institution error
A taxpayer withdrew funds from an IRA to provide short-term capital to a company owned by the taxpayer's wife. A financial advisor incorrectly told the taxpayer that the rollover deadline was June…
IRS denies exemption to a farmer's market organization
The IRS denied tax-exempt status under IRC § 501(c)(3) to an organization that operated a weekly farmer's market. The organization described the market as a community gathering place and planned…
PLR 201304010: IRS approves three competitive grant programs for students
A private foundation asked the IRS for advance approval of three international grant programs for students. One program supports research projects, another provides nonrenewable graduate…
IRS approves a private foundation's scholarship grant procedures
The IRS approved a private foundation's procedures for awarding scholarships to qualifying students. The foundation proposed to award grants objectively and without discrimination, pay tuition…
Chief Counsel updates guidance on who may sign for a TEFRA partnership
Chief Counsel advice states that an older Internal Revenue Manual provision was outdated about who may sign documents for a TEFRA partnership. The advice explains that, before limited liability…
Chief Counsel approves an IRS procedure for extending the erroneous-refund suit period
Chief Counsel advice discusses an IRS procedure under which a taxpayer may waive a defense based on the period in IRC § 6532(b) for the government to sue to recover an erroneous refund. The advice…
A later estate tax deficiency does not expand a partial § 6166 election
Chief Counsel considered whether an estate that elected to defer estate tax on only part of its interest in a closely held business could later expand that election after an estate tax deficiency…
PLR 201304005: Proposed TRAC leases qualify under IRC § 7701(h)
A financial services company asked whether new leases for motor vehicles containing terminal rental adjustment clauses would qualify for the special treatment in IRC § 7701(h). The proposed…
PLR 201304004: REIT may issue multiple common-stock classes with different fees
A corporation planning to elect REIT status proposed seven classes of common stock with different selling, dealer-manager, distribution, and service fees. The classes were intended for different…
PLR 201304003: IRS approves a post-death exchange of life insurance policies under § 1035
After one insured under a survivorship life insurance policy died, a trust exchanged the policy for a new policy covering only the surviving insured. The IRS ruled that the trust did not have to…
PLR 201304002: REIT may pay special dividends in cash, stock, or a combination
A REIT planned special dividends after selling properties and realizing taxable gain. Each shareholder could elect all cash, all common stock, or a combination of 20% cash and 80% stock, subject to…
PLR 201304001: IRS grants late-election relief for an IC-DISC
A domestic corporation asked the IRS for permission to make a late election to be treated as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation, or IC-DISC. Its advisers completed most of…
PLR 201303024: IRS confirms a church plan retroactive to 1974
A tax-exempt health care organization asked whether its retirement plan qualified as a church plan under IRC § 414(e). The organization was part of a religious health care structure, and the plan…
PLR 201303023: IRS waives the 60-day IRA rollover deadline
An individual received a distribution from an IRA and asked the IRS to waive the 60-day rollover requirement. The individual said a financial adviser refused to accept the deposit even though the…
PLR 201303022: IRS waives an IRA rollover deadline after the account holder's death
A surviving spouse asked the IRS to waive the 60-day rollover requirement after the account holder died before completing an intended IRA rollover. The distributed amount remained in a bank account…
PLR 201303021: Private foundation's nonvoting stock and trust holdings approved
A private foundation asked whether it could hold nonvoting stock in a corporation without incurring the excise tax on excess business holdings. It also asked whether four family and charitable…
Determination 201303020: IRS denies exemption to a proposed government-services venture
The IRS denied exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3) to an organization that proposed researching government services, developing private-sector businesses from those services, and offering scholarships.…
Determination 201303019: IRS denies exemption to a fee-based credit counseling venture
The IRS denied exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3) to an organization that planned to market personal-finance education through financial professionals and distribute a related for-profit company's…
Determination 201303018: IRS denies exemption to an open-source music software organization
The IRS denied tax-exempt status under IRC § 501(c)(3) to a nonprofit corporation that planned to develop open-source software and provide online education for musicians and music companies. The…
Determination 201303017: IRS denies exemption to a charity funding a private farm
The IRS denied exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3) to a charity that funded projects connected to a farm owned by its director of operations and his family. The organization sent most of its…
IRS guidance on testimony by an employee using a pseudonym
An IRS employee asked what language should be used when an employee testifies in court under a pseudonym. Chief Counsel advised that no special language was required, but suggested pointing to the…
Revoking an election not to claim bonus depreciation requires consent
Chief Counsel advised that the bonus depreciation regulations specifically govern revocation of an election not to deduct bonus depreciation. A taxpayer seeking to revoke that election must obtain…
Untimely partnership adjustment requests do not start an extendable petition period
Chief Counsel advised that the three-year period in IRC § 6227(a) applies to a partnership’s Administrative Adjustment Request. An AAR filed more than three years after the partnership return…
Bankruptcy filing date controls conversion of partnership items
Chief Counsel advised when partnership items convert in a bankruptcy case. For the year in which the bankruptcy proceeding is filed, conversion occurs on the filing date. For later years, conversion…
TEFRA treatment depends on the partnership’s status and the method of proof
Chief Counsel advised that a sham partnership that files no partnership return is not subject to TEFRA because it does not meet the partnership definition. A legitimate partnership with a trust as a…
Small-partnership exception makes section 6229 inapplicable
Chief Counsel advised that IRC § 6229 does not apply when a partnership falls within the small-partnership exception in § 6231(a)(1)(B). The advice suggests considering other mechanisms to extend…
Reasonable cause may be considered at the partnership level
Chief Counsel confirmed that the IRS considers a partnership’s reasonable-cause defense to be an issue that may be raised in a partnership-level proceeding. The relevant facts include the state of…
IRS grants relief for an inadvertent S-corporation termination
The IRS ruled that a corporation’s S-corporation election terminated when its shares were transferred to an ineligible shareholder. The corporation and the affected parties did not intend to…
PLR 201303008: Retiree health trust income qualifies for a section 115 exclusion
A governmental employer asked whether income earned by a trust funding retiree health benefits would be excluded from gross income under IRC § 115. It also asked whether the trust had to file an…
PLR 201303007: Taxpayer receives more time to elect out of additional depreciation
A taxpayer that rehabilitated and operated an affordable apartment community intended to elect out of the additional first-year depreciation deduction for its qualified property. Its tax preparer…
PLR 201303006: Estates receive more time to allocate GST tax exemptions to trust transfers
The estates of a husband and wife asked for more time to allocate their generation-skipping transfer tax exemptions to transfers of company stock made to three irrevocable trusts. The IRS concluded…
PLR 201303005: Foreign insurer receives more time to make two tax elections
A foreign insurance company asked for more time to elect to be treated as a domestic corporation for U.S. tax purposes and to elect the alternative tax regime for certain insurance companies. The…
PLR 201303004: Estate receives more time to make a section 1022 election
An estate representative asked for more time to file Form 8939, make the section 1022 election, and allocate basis increases to property transferred after the decedent's death. The representative…
PLR 201303003: IRS approves dividing a marital trust and renouncing one spouse's interest
A surviving spouse and the other trust beneficiaries asked whether a marital trust could be divided into two trusts and whether the spouse could renounce her interest in one of them. The IRS ruled…
PLR 201303002: IRS grants more time to file accounting-method change forms
An affiliated group of corporations asked for more time to file Form 3115 and make accounting-method changes for accrual accounting and deferred reporting of advance payments. The group had filed…
PLR 201303001: IRS grants late election relief for a tax-exempt controlled entity
A tax-exempt controlled corporation asked for more time to make an election under section 168(h)(6)(F)(ii) to be treated as a taxable entity for depreciation rules. The corporation had intended to…
PLR 201302047: IRS waives the 60-day IRA rollover deadline after a financial institution error
An IRA owner temporarily moved stock to a brokerage account to meet a lender's liquidity requirement, intending to return it to the IRA within 60 days. The financial institution did not complete the…
PLR 201302046: IRS waives the 60-day rollover deadline after an account-titling error
A pension-plan participant intended to roll a distribution into an IRA but mistakenly deposited it into a non-IRA account after being misled by the account's title and website information. The funds…
PLR 201302045: IRS approves five benefit plans as church plans
A nonprofit school controlled by a religious organization asked whether five employee benefit plans qualified as church plans under section 414(e). The IRS found that the school was tax-exempt,…
IRS approves a private foundation's set-aside for a senior center
A private operating foundation that provides programs for seniors asked the IRS to approve a set-aside for renovating and expanding a senior center. The IRS found that the project served an exempt…
IRS approves a social club's conservation-easement sale and reinvestment plan
A tax-exempt social and recreational club asked whether selling a conservation easement would affect its exemption and the tax treatment of reinvesting the proceeds. The IRS ruled that the one-time…
IRS approves a foundation's scholarship grant-making program
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve its process for awarding scholarships to students who would be the first in their families to attend college. The foundation proposed using…
IRS denies section 501(c)(3) exemption to an organization with vague and commercial operations
The IRS finalized its denial of tax-exempt status to an organization that proposed health, fitness, education, and foreclosure-counseling activities. The organization did not provide enough…
IRS denies exemption to a foundation benefiting a related for-profit theater company
The IRS finalized its denial of exemption to a foundation formed by related individuals to support musical theater in a foreign country. The foundation's grants and financial support were…
Shipping fees for employee transit passes may be excludable commuting costs
Chief Counsel advice addressed shipping fees paid by employees to obtain transit passes. The advice concluded that the fees should be treated as a commuting cost and may be excluded from income when…
TEFRA partial-agreement status depends on the partnership year
Chief Counsel advice explained that whether an agreement is partial must be determined separately for each partnership year. If an agreement resolves all partnership items for a year, it is not…
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.