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 revokes exemption from a veterans organization that operated a public bar
The IRS revoked the federal tax exemption of a veterans organization under IRC § 501(c)(19). The organization operated a bar that was open to the general public and did not maintain a legitimate…
IRS revokes exemption from an inactive charitable organization
The IRS revoked an organization's exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3), effective after the organization became inactive. The IRS found that the organization did not satisfy the operational test, lacked…
IRS proposes revoking exemption from a professional association over private inurement
The IRS proposed revoking a professional association's exemption under IRC § 501(c)(6). The examination report said that the organization lacked meaningful membership support and received most of…
IRS denies exemption to a captive insurance company serving community clinics
The IRS denied exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3) to a proposed nonprofit captive insurance company serving community healthcare clinics. The organization’s articles authorized it to provide insurance…
IRS denies exemption to a risk-retention captive insurer for community clinics
The IRS denied exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3) to a risk-retention captive insurance company serving nonprofit community clinics. The organization’s articles authorized it to provide insurance, and…
IRS rules endowment unit contracts will not create unrelated business taxable income
The IRS ruled that an educational organization’s proposed contractual units for charitable remainder trusts would not generate unrelated business taxable income to the organization. The organization…
IRS rules charitable remainder trust units will not create unrelated business taxable income
The IRS ruled that a proposed contractual unit arrangement for charitable remainder trusts would not generate unrelated business taxable income to the trusts under the stated facts. The arrangement…
Chief Counsel advice treats listed site-access items as return information
Chief Counsel advice addressed whether items listed in an email about a tour and other site access would constitute return information under IRC § 6103. The response said that the items would…
Chief Counsel advice says TEFRA notices should be sent to foreign partners
Chief Counsel advice addressed whether TEFRA partnership notices should be sent to foreign partners. The response said that foreign partners are generally taxable on U.S.-sourced income absent…
Chief Counsel advice allows a late section 108(i) election by amended return
Chief Counsel advice addressed whether a partnership could make a section 108(i) election on an amended return. The response said the election could be filed with an amended return if the amended…
CCA says a pre-1980 coke facility may qualify for the section 45K(g) credit
Chief Counsel advice concluded that a facility producing fuel from coke or coke gas other than petroleum-based products does not need to have been placed in service after December 31, 1979, to…
IRS grants a corporation relief for its late S corporation election
The IRS granted a corporation's request to have its S corporation election treated as timely. The corporation was formed on a redacted date, and its shareholders intended the election to take effect…
IRS grants a corporation relief for its late S corporation election
The IRS granted a corporation’s request to have its S corporation election treated as timely. The corporation intended to be treated as an S corporation from a redacted effective date, but it did…
IRS grants a company more time to elect REIT treatment
The IRS granted a company a 60-day extension to make an election under IRC § 856(c) to be treated as a real estate investment trust for a specified tax year. The company intended to make the…
IRS grants more time to elect the start of a low-income housing credit period
The IRS granted a taxpayer 120 days to make a late election under IRC § 42(f)(1) specifying when the credit period for a multifamily residential building would begin. The taxpayer had intended to…
IRS grants more time to elect QSub treatment
The IRS granted a corporation 120 days to elect to treat a wholly owned subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. The parent corporation had acquired all of the subsidiary’s stock and…
IRS rules that redemption agreements did not create a second class of stock
The IRS ruled that redemption agreements between an S corporation and two shareholders would not be treated as creating a second class of stock. The agreements provided for additional payments if…
IRS approves a trust division and modification without losing GST exemption
The IRS approved a proposed division and modification of an irrevocable trust into separate trusts for different family lines. The ruling addressed generation-skipping transfer tax exemption, gift…
IRS approves exercises of limited powers of appointment without loss of GST exemption
The IRS ruled that exercises of limited testamentary powers of appointment over two pre-1985 irrevocable trusts would not cause the trusts or later trusts to lose their generation-skipping transfer…
IRS approves exercises of limited powers of appointment without loss of GST exemption
The IRS ruled that exercises of limited testamentary powers of appointment over two pre-1985 irrevocable trusts would not cause the trusts or later trusts to lose their generation-skipping transfer…
IRS revokes an exempt organization’s section 501(c)(3) status after finding substantial non-exempt activity
The IRS revoked an organization's recognition under IRC § 501(c)(3). The organization said it provided debt consolidation and credit counseling to financially distressed people, but the examination…
IRS approves a private foundation’s grant program for composers
The IRS approved a private foundation’s procedures for awarding grants to composers who create and perform new musical works. The program used an application, a selection committee, objective…
IRS revokes an organization’s exemption after finding private benefit in Proposition 65 litigation
The IRS revoked an organization’s recognition under IRC § 501(c)(3), effective January 1, 2006. The organization pursued Proposition 65 litigation and said the lawsuits served the public interest,…
IRS denies a charter school’s request to avoid Form 990 filing
The IRS denied a charter school’s request to be excepted from filing Form 990 as a governmental affiliate. The school operated under a charter approved by a school district, but its board was…
IRS approves a private foundation’s grant program for teachers
The IRS approved a private foundation’s procedures for awarding grants to licensed teachers for personally renewing and intellectually revitalizing projects. The program required applications,…
IRS approves an employer-related scholarship grant program
The IRS approved a private foundation’s employer-related scholarship program for children of an employer’s employees. An independent scholarship administrator would receive applications, select…
IRS approves restructuring of a tax-exempt organization into association, union, and foundation entities
The IRS approved two parts of a proposed restructuring by a tax-exempt organization. The organization planned to transfer its charitable assets and liabilities to a new § 501(c)(3) public charity,…
IRS denies exemption to a civil-rights organization that lacked operational detail and served private interests
The IRS finalized its denial of tax-exempt status to an organization formed to promote access to justice, education, medical care, and civil-rights leadership. The organization planned to raise…
IRS denies exemption to an umpire organization that primarily served its members
The IRS denied exemption to an organization that recruited and trained baseball umpires and arranged paid assignments for schools, parks, and youth leagues. The organization’s members received the…
IRS denies exemption to a foreclosure-consulting organization that operated commercially
The IRS denied exemption to an organization that counseled homeowners facing foreclosure and negotiated loan modifications with lenders. The organization charged fees, used a for-profit referral…
IRS denies section 501(c)(3) exemption to a health care information organization
The IRS denied tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) to an organization that proposed health care information, report-card, wellness, electronic-record, and consulting activities. The…
PLR 201217017: IRS approves employer-owned life insurance coverage after reviewing notice and consent documents
An employee-owned corporation asked whether its corporate-owned life insurance contracts met the notice and consent requirements of IRC section 101(j)(4). The corporation had not obtained a separate…
PLR 201217016: IRS grants relief for a late S corporation election
An incorporated company asked the IRS to treat its late Form 2553 filing as a timely election to be taxed as an S corporation. The company stated that it intended to make the election effective on a…
PLR 201217015: IRS grants more time for pollution-control-facility elections
An electric utility asked for more time to make regulatory elections under IRC section 169 for certified pollution control facilities. The utility had claimed amortization for several facilities but…
PLR 201217014: IRS treats subsidiaries as having joined a consolidated return
After a corporate separation, a controlled parent filed an initial consolidated federal income tax return but did not include Forms 1122 for its subsidiaries, and one subsidiary was omitted from…
PLR 201217013: IRS grants relief for a late S corporation election
An organization asked the IRS to recognize it as an S corporation after it failed to timely file Form 2553. The IRS found that the organization had reasonable cause for missing the filing deadline.…
PLR 201217012: IRS grants more time to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemption
Trustees asked the IRS for more time to allocate a decedent's generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to two cash transfers made to an irrevocable trust. The decedent's accountants prepared the…
PLR 201217011: IRS grants time to sever a QTIP trust and make a reverse QTIP election
An estate asked for more time to divide a marital trust into a generation-skipping transfer tax exempt trust and a nonexempt trust, make a reverse QTIP election, and allow the decedent's unused GST…
PLR 201217010: IRS restores S corporation treatment after inadvertent trust-election failures
An S corporation's status terminated when three trusts that held its stock failed to make timely qualified subchapter S trust elections. The corporation and its shareholders had filed returns…
PLR 201217009: IRS grants S corporation relief for a possible second class of stock
An S corporation was concerned that stock issuances, disproportionate distributions, or a tax indemnification agreement might have created a second class of stock and terminated its S election. The…
PLR 201217008: IRS restores S corporation treatment after late QSST elections
A corporation asked whether it could keep S corporation status after two trusts held its shares without timely qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) elections. The IRS concluded that the S corporation…
PLR 201217007: IRS grants late-election relief for S corporation status
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status for its first tax year but did not timely file Form 2553. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late filing under section 1362(b)(5). It allowed…
PLR 201217006: IRS restores S corporation treatment after late QSST elections
A corporation's shares were held by two trusts that did not timely elect qualified subchapter S trust (QSST) treatment. The IRS concluded that the resulting termination of the corporation's S…
PLR 201217005: IRS approves a qualified matching service for partnership interests
A broker-dealer proposed two private online services to facilitate transfers of nonpublicly traded limited partnership interests. The IRS ruled that the qualifying service was not an established…
PLR 201217004: IRS permits partial revocation of inadvertent investment-income elections
A trust inadvertently elected to treat more capital gain and qualified dividend income as investment income than was needed to support its investment-interest deduction. The error resulted from a…
PLR 201217003: IRS permits partial revocation of an inadvertent investment-income election
A trust inadvertently elected to treat qualified dividend income and net capital gain as investment income, even though the amount exceeded its investment-interest expense. The error resulted from a…
PLR 201217002: IRS grants extra time to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the requirements for relief under the section 9100 regulations…
PLR 201217001: IRS requires Forms 1099-C for settlement-related debt write-offs
A financial institution settled a class action involving allegedly defective notices for collecting deficiency balances and agreed to write off certain debts. It asked whether the write-offs were…
PLR 201216050: IRS waives the 60-day IRA rollover deadline after serious medical problems
An individual withdrew an amount from an IRA and deposited it into another account, intending to move it into an IRA with a higher interest rate. The individual did not complete the rollover within…
PLR 201216049: IRS declines to waive the 60-day IRA rollover deadline after a calendar error
An individual withdrew money from an IRA to consolidate IRA accounts and obtain a higher rate of return. The individual said the rollover was late because the wrong date, relating to a distribution…
PLR 201216048: IRS approves a five-year extension to amortize unfunded plan liabilities
The IRS approved a request for a five-year automatic extension to amortize specified unfunded liabilities of a retirement plan. The extension applied to eligible amortization charge bases…
PLR 201216047: IRS waives the rollover deadline after a plan administrator omitted rollover information
The surviving spouse of a deceased plan participant received distributions from two qualified retirement plans. The plan administrator instructed the spouse to transfer the balances to a personal…
PLR 201216046: IRS approves a five-year extension to amortize unfunded plan liabilities
The IRS approved a request for a five-year automatic extension to amortize specified unfunded liabilities of a retirement plan. The extension applied to eligible amortization charge bases…
PLR 201216045: IRS approves variable ascending payments from a charitable lead annuity trust
An irrevocable testamentary charitable lead annuity trust asked whether a state-court construction of its trust agreement could permit annuity payments to rise each year over a 10-year term. The IRS…
PLR 201216044: IRS approves a private foundation's academic research grant program
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve its procedures for awarding grants to college and university professors for academic research on financial markets, futures, and derivatives. The…
PLR 201216043: IRS approves a private foundation's scholarship procedures
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve a scholarship program for needy students enrolled in schools in a redacted country. The foundation proposed objective and nondiscriminatory selection…
PLR 201216042: IRS approves an employer-related scholarship program
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve a scholarship program for current and future employees of a redacted employer and their dependents. The program would use an independent selection…
PLR 201216041: IRS approves a fellowship and grant program for education initiatives
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve a program that would fund fellowships and grants for recent college graduates working in low-income schools and related social enterprises in a redacted…
Determination 201216040: IRS denies exemption to a health-information technology organization
The IRS issued a final adverse determination denying an organization's application for exemption under IRC § 501(c)(3). The organization planned to implement a health-information exchange and…
CCA 201216039: Advice addresses an alter ego theory for federal tax liens
Chief Counsel advice discusses whether a federal tax lien dispute involving an alter ego theory presents fraud or injustice concerns. The message points to the two-factor federal common-law test…
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.