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 confirms a governmental-unit affiliate need not file Form 990
Tax-exempt organizations generally must file a yearly Form 990 information return, but the IRS can excuse some of them. A group asked to be relieved from that duty. This letter is the IRS's favorable …
IRS confirms a church-affiliated school need not file Form 990, but must still certify nondiscrimination
A below-college-level school affiliated with a church asked to be excused from filing the yearly Form 990 information return. This letter is the IRS's favorable determination. Under Treasury Regulatio…
IRS approves a foundation's scholarship procedures under § 4945(g)(1)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, how it selects and awards scholarships. Private foundations owe an excise tax under IRC § 4945 on grants to individuals for study unless the …
IRS approves a foundation's multi-year fellowship for bereaved students under § 4945(g)(1)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, how it awards a multi-year college fellowship. Private foundations owe an excise tax under IRC § 4945 on grants to individuals for study unle…
IRS confirms a governmental-unit affiliate need not file Form 990
Tax-exempt organizations generally must file a yearly Form 990 information return, but the IRS can excuse some of them. A group asked to be relieved from that duty. This letter is the IRS's favorable …
IRS denies § 501(c)(3) exemption to an office healthy-snack sale
A group applied (using the short Form 1023-EZ) to be recognized as a tax-exempt charity under IRC § 501(c)(3). Its only activity was running a healthy-snack stand in an office, selling snacks to co-wo…
§ 9100 extension to make a late election out of tax-exempt controlled entity status under § 168(h)(6)(F)(ii)
Depreciation on property used by a tax-exempt entity is slowed down: it must use the alternative depreciation system rather than the faster normal rules. A corporation that is at least half-owned by t…
§ 9100 extension to make a late § 754 election to adjust partnership basis
A partnership can elect under IRC § 754 to adjust the tax basis of its assets when a partner's interest changes hands or when property is distributed, so the inside basis better matches what the partn…
§ 9100 extension to make a late Qualified Opportunity Fund self-certification under § 1400Z-2
A Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) is an investment vehicle that gets capital-gains tax breaks for investing in designated low-income Opportunity Zones under IRC § 1400Z-2. To be a QOF, an entity has …
§ 9100 extension to make a late Qualified Opportunity Fund self-certification under § 1400Z-2
A Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) gets capital-gains tax breaks for investing in designated low-income Opportunity Zones under IRC § 1400Z-2. To be a QOF, an entity must self-certify each year by att…
§ 9100 extension to make a late check-the-box election to be taxed as a corporation
Under the "check-the-box" rules, a limited liability company can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. By default a multi-member LLC is treated as a partnership, but it can elect to be treated i…
IRS approves a foundation's school-district scholarship and teacher-grant procedures under § 4945(g)(1)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, how it selects and awards two education programs tied to one school district. Private foundations normally owe an excise tax under IRC § 4945…
IRS approves a foundation's scholarship procedures for employees' children under § 4945(g)(1)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, how it selects and awards scholarships. Private foundations normally owe an excise tax under IRC § 4945 on grants to individuals for study, b…
IRS approves a foundation's environmental-fellowship grant procedures under § 4945(g)(3)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, how it selects and awards grants. Private foundations normally owe an excise tax under IRC § 4945 on grants to individuals for study or simil…
IRS denies 501(c)(7) social-club exemption to a group that funds a baseball team's players
An organization applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt social club under IRC § 501(c)(7), the category for clubs run for the pleasure and recreation of their members. The IRS denied it. The group wa…
IRS revokes a charity's 501(c)(3) exemption for going inactive and ignoring an audit
The IRS revoked an organization's tax-exempt status under IRC § 501(c)(3). The group had been recognized as a charity after filing a streamlined Form 1023-EZ application, but it later stopped filing i…
IRS revokes a social club's 501(c)(7) exemption for excessive rental and billboard income
The IRS revoked a social club's tax-exempt status under IRC § 501(c)(7). Social clubs, like this cultural-gathering organization, get their exemption only if they run substantially on member dues and …
IRS denies 501(c)(3) exemption to a Christian-advocacy group that planned to back political candidates
An organization applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt charity under IRC § 501(c)(3), and the IRS denied it. The group described its mission as promoting Christian values in public culture. Two prob…
How to compute the accuracy-related penalty on a BBA partnership imputed underpayment
This is an internal IRS Chief Counsel email answering a question about the centralized partnership audit regime created by the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA). When the IRS audits a partnership under that…
Whether adequately disclosed but omitted income counts in the § 6501(e) 25% denominator
This is an internal IRS Chief Counsel email about the six-year statute of limitations in IRC § 6501(e)(1)(A). Normally the IRS has three years to assess tax, but that stretches to six years when a tax…
Whether Fast Track Settlement statements are shielded by 5 U.S.C. § 574 or FRE 408
This is an internal IRS Chief Counsel email about whether things a taxpayer says during Fast Track Settlement (FTS), a mediation-style program to resolve disputes with the IRS, can later be used again…
9100 extension to make a late IC-DISC election (Form 4876-A) under § 992
A newly formed corporation wanted to be treated as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation (IC-DISC), a special export-tax structure, for its first tax year. To elect that status, …
9100 extension to make a late estate-tax portability election under § 2010(c)(5)(A)
When someone dies without using up their full federal estate-tax exemption, the leftover amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) can be passed to the surviving spouse, but only if th…
Inadvertent S corporation termination relief under § 1362(f) (missed ESBT election)
A corporation ("X") elected to be taxed as an S corporation, a pass-through structure with strict rules about who may own the stock. All of X's stock was held by a trust. A trust can be an eligible S …
9100 extension to make a late check-the-box election to be taxed as a corporation (301.7701-3)
A limited liability company wanted to be taxed as a corporation for federal tax purposes. Under the "check-the-box" rules (Treas. Reg. § 301.7701-3), an LLC can choose that treatment by filing Form 88…
IRS grants extra time to allocate GST exemption after a donor accidentally opted out of automatic allocation
A donor set up an irrevocable trust for a child and the child's descendants and made gifts to it. She wanted her generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax exemption applied to those gifts so the trust co…
IRS grants an LLC late relief to be taxed as a corporation and elect S-corp status
A single-owner limited liability company meant to be treated as a corporation and to elect S corporation status (which lets income pass through to the owner without a separate corporate-level tax) eff…
IRS grants an estate extra time to make a missed QTIP marital-deduction election
A married couple had a revocable trust. When the first spouse died, part of the trust became irrevocable and funded a marital trust for the surviving spouse, with the remainder eventually passing to t…
IRS rules a foreign bank's trading records count toward its U.S. booked liabilities for interest allocation
A foreign bank, organized and regulated in another country, runs part of its lending and trading business through a U.S. permanent establishment operated from representative offices. Income from that …
IRS rules stock sales tied to a family foundation are not self-dealing until the trustee irrevocably names the foundation
A family controls a closely held corporation and also funds a private foundation. Each family member has a revocable trust that, at death, could direct company stock to the foundation, but only if the…
IRS rules stock sales tied to a family foundation are not self-dealing until the trustee irrevocably names the foundation
A family controls a closely held corporation and also funds a private foundation. Each family member has a revocable trust that, at death, could direct company stock to the foundation, but only if the…
IRS rules stock sales tied to a family foundation are not self-dealing until the trustee irrevocably names the foundation
A family controls a closely held corporation and also funds a private foundation. Each family member has a revocable trust that, at death, could direct company stock to the foundation, but only if the…
IRS rules stock sales tied to a family foundation are not self-dealing until the trustee irrevocably names the foundation
A family controls a closely held corporation and also funds a private foundation. Each family member has a revocable trust that, at death, could direct company stock to the foundation, but only if the…
IRS rules stock sales tied to a family foundation are not self-dealing until the trustee irrevocably names the foundation
A family controls a closely held corporation and also funds a private foundation. Each family member has a revocable trust that, at death, could direct company stock to the foundation, but only if the…
IRS blesses a publicly traded foreign parent's redomiciliation to a new country as a tax-free "F" reorganization
A publicly traded corporation organized in one country wanted to change its place of incorporation to a second country (a "redomiciliation"). To do it, the group planned to form a new parent company i…
IRS grants extra time to make a late GST-exemption allocation after the accountant failed to advise it
A married couple set up an irrevocable trust for their children and grandchildren that could trigger generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax down the line. They funded it before 2001 and split the gift…
IRS rules a gas-station chain's fair-value hedge accounting on gasoline inventory does not break the LIFO conformity rule
An S corporation that runs convenience stores and gas stations values its inventory (food, beverages, and gasoline) using the last-in, first-out (LIFO) method for both tax and financial reporting. To …
IRS rules a utility's customer "Fee" for energy infrastructure is taxable income, not a tax-free contribution to capital
A regulated electric utility collects a special state-authorized "Fee" from its retail customers to fund energy infrastructure and public-purpose projects, including certain costs tied to a plant it o…
IRS rules a combined universal-life policy and its annuity rider are separate contracts for tax purposes
A life insurance company plans to sell a single product that bundles a universal life insurance policy (the "Base Contract") with a single-premium immediate annuity attached as a rider (the "Annuity R…
IRS rules a combined universal-life policy and its annuity rider are separate contracts for tax purposes
A life insurance company plans to sell a single product that bundles a universal life insurance policy (the "Base Contract") with a single-premium immediate annuity attached as a rider (the "Annuity R…
IRS grants extra time to make a late GST-exemption allocation after the accountant failed to advise it
A married couple set up an irrevocable trust for their children and grandchildren that could trigger generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax down the line. They funded it before 2001 and split the gift…
IRS grants advance approval of a private foundation's scholarship-award procedures under 4945(g)(1)
A private foundation asked the IRS to pre-approve the procedures it uses to award scholarships to individual students, which IRC § 4945(g)(1) requires. Without advance approval, grants a private found…
Church integrated auxiliary is not required to file Form 990
An exempt organization asked the IRS to be excused from filing Form 990, the annual information return most tax-exempt organizations must submit. The IRS determined the organization qualifies as an "i…
Social club denied 501(c)(7) exemption for excess nonmember income
An equine and rodeo club applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt social club under IRC § 501(c)(7). Social clubs get that exemption only if they are supported substantially by member dues and do not …
120-day extension to make a late § 754 partnership basis-adjustment election
A state limited partnership meant to make a § 754 election but missed the deadline. A § 754 election lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets when a partner's interest transfers (here, a …
Inadvertent-ineffectiveness relief for a bad S-corp and QSub election
An LLC that had elected to be taxed as an S corporation discovered, while preparing to be sold, that its election was never valid. Its operating agreement and profits-interest awards gave it more than…
Consent to aggregate nonoperating mineral (royalty) interests as single properties
A U.S. corporation that owns mineral, oil, and gas royalties (but does not drill or operate anything) asked the IRS for permission to combine many separate royalty interests into two larger "propertie…
120-day extension to make a late QSub election for a subsidiary
An S corporation owns a subsidiary and meant to elect to treat that subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub), which makes the subsidiary invisible for tax purposes and folds its income…
9100 relief for a late bonus-depreciation opt-out and § 174 method-change Form 3115
A corporate group meant to make two tax choices on its return: an election under § 168(k)(7) to opt out of bonus (additional first-year) depreciation for all qualified property, and an accounting-meth…
Government-beneficiary settlement trust is a QSF with income excluded under § 115
A statutory trust was set up under a court-approved bankruptcy plan to resolve mass claims (public nuisance, consumer-protection, fraud, and similar claims) against companies over a product tied to a …
Estate-beneficiary IRA may be split into separate inherited IRAs, tax-free
A person died owning a traditional IRA, but the custodian had no beneficiary designation on file, so the decedent's estate is treated as the IRA's sole beneficiary. The decedent's will left the residu…
60-day IRA rollover deadline waived for a fraud-scheme victim
A taxpayer withdrew money from a traditional IRA and normally would have 60 days to roll it into another IRA to avoid tax. Before completing the rollover, the taxpayer fell victim to a fraud scheme: s…
Large one-time foundation grant treated as an excludable "unusual grant"
A public charity (classified under IRC § 509(a)(2)) expected to receive a large one-time cash grant from a foundation, prompted by the loss of federal funding it had previously received. A grant that …
Advance approval of a foundation's healthcare-scholarship procedures
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, the procedures it uses to award scholarships. This approval matters because private foundations owe an excise tax on "taxable expenditures," …
Set-aside approved for a matching grant to restore a historic property
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve a "set-aside" under IRC § 4942(g)(2). Private foundations must pay out a minimum amount each year, but a set-aside lets a foundation earmark money now for…
501(c)(3) exemption denied to a member-funded cooperative water system
An organization that runs a cooperative water system applied for charity status under Section 501(c)(3) using the streamlined Form 1023-EZ. It maintains an iron pipeline from a spring to a set of home…
501(c)(3) denied to a nonprofit LLC that failed the organizational test
A nonprofit limited liability company (LLC) applied for charity status under Section 501(c)(3) on Form 1023. Its actual work, running an online guide of educational resources and research for health p…
9100 extension to make a late election to file a consolidated return (§ 1.1502-75)
A corporate parent asked the IRS for more time to make a late election to file a consolidated federal income tax return for its affiliated group. The election under Treasury Regulation § 1.1502-75(a)(…
9100 extension to make a late election to file a consolidated return (§ 1.1502-75)
A corporate parent asked the IRS for more time to make a late election to file a consolidated federal income tax return for its affiliated group. The election under Treasury Regulation § 1.1502-75(a)(…
Permission to revoke an inadvertent election out of the installment method (§ 453(d))
A married couple sold their business and a separately owned asset, taking part of the price for that asset as an installment note payable over several years. Normally the installment method lets a sel…
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.