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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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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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%…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Partnership gets more time to make a late Section 754 basis-adjustment election
An LLC taxed as a partnership wanted to make a Section 754 election, which lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets when an interest changes hands (here triggered by the death of an…
Moving terminated pension surplus into 401(k) plans avoids the reversion excise tax
An employer is terminating two frozen defined benefit pension plans that will have surplus money left over after all promised benefits are paid. Normally, when a company takes back leftover pension…
Trust can split inherited retirement accounts to a charity and heirs without triggering tax at the trust level
A woman died owning several retirement accounts that all named her revocable trust as the beneficiary. The trust splits the money two ways: a percentage goes to a private foundation (the charitable…
Fleeting stock ownership by ineligible holders under an equity-comp plan does not blow the company's S election
An S corporation can lose its special tax status if it ever has a shareholder who is not allowed to own S corporation stock (for example, another corporation or certain entities). This company runs…
Foreign entity gets extra time to elect disregarded-entity (check-the-box) status
A foreign business entity with a single owner wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. federal tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner. To do that it had to…
Hotel management fees don't create private business use of tax-exempt bond-financed property
A governmental issuer used tax-exempt bond proceeds to finance a hotel it owns, and hired a private company to manage the hotel. Interest on state and local bonds is generally tax-free, but that…
Statute-extension consents signed by the wrong person left partnership audit deadlines expired
Under the centralized partnership audit rules from the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (BBA), only the partnership representative (PR), or the designated individual (DI) when the PR is an entity, can…
IRS approves a private foundation's scholarship award procedures
A private foundation asked the IRS to bless its scholarship program in advance under IRC § 4945(g)(1). This matters because grants a private foundation makes to individuals for study are normally…
IRS approves substitute mortality tables for a pension plan's funding calculations
A single-employer defined benefit pension plan asked the IRS for permission to use its own substitute mortality tables, instead of the IRS standard tables, when calculating the plan's minimum…
Members-only mutual benefit society denied 501(c)(3) charity status
A membership association applied for tax-exempt charity status under IRC § 501(c)(3) using the streamlined Form 1023-EZ. Membership was open to people of a particular national-origin descent who…
Business-referral networking chapter denied 501(c)(7) social club exemption
A membership organization applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt social club under IRC § 501(c)(7). Its sole activity was running weekly meetings and networking events where members exchange…
IRS approves a revised schedule of ruling amounts for a nuclear decommissioning fund after the plant's license was extended
The taxpayer is a regulated public utility that owns a partial interest in a nuclear power plant. Under Section 468A, a utility can take a current tax deduction for money it sets aside in a special…
IRS approves a revised schedule of ruling amounts for a nuclear decommissioning fund after the plant's license was extended
The taxpayer is a regulated public utility that owns a partial interest in a nuclear power plant. Under Section 468A, a utility can take a current tax deduction for money it sets aside in a special…
IRS approves a revised schedule of ruling amounts for a nuclear decommissioning fund after the plant's license was extended
The taxpayer is a regulated public utility that owns a partial interest in a nuclear power plant. Under Section 468A, a utility can take a current tax deduction for money it sets aside in a special…
Supplemental ruling giving an entity a fresh 60 days for a late check-the-box election
This short letter supplements and modifies an earlier private letter ruling (PLR-110110-23, issued February 23, 2024). It updates the legend (the redacted list of defined terms) in that earlier…
Retroactive revocation of an earlier pension minimum-funding waiver
Employers that sponsor defined benefit pension plans generally must put in at least a minimum amount of funding each year. Section 412(c) lets the IRS waive that minimum for a plan sponsor facing…
9100 relief for a late Form 8996 self-certifying a Qualified Opportunity Fund
A taxpayer set up an entity to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), the vehicle that lets investors defer and reduce tax on capital gains reinvested in designated low-income areas. To become a…
9100 relief for a late Form 8996 self-certifying a Qualified Opportunity Fund
An LLC was formed to operate as a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), the vehicle that lets investors defer and reduce tax on capital gains reinvested in designated low-income areas. To become a QOF,…
9100 relief for late GILTI high-tax exclusion elections triggered by a treaty MAP adjustment
A US corporation owned a group of controlled foreign corporations (CFCs). US owners of CFCs generally must pay tax each year on "GILTI," a category of their foreign subsidiaries' income, but they…
9100 relief for a lower-tier partnership's late section 754 election
This ruling involves a tiered partnership structure: an upper-tier partnership (UTP) held a lower-tier partnership (LTP). After some restructuring, the partners of the upper-tier partnership sold…
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.