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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Estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return missed the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. The election was needed…
Estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return missed the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. The election was needed…
Estate received relief for a late alternate-valuation election
An executor hired an attorney to administer an estate and an accountant to prepare Form 706. Neither adviser told the executor to make the Section 2032 alternate-valuation election, so the timely…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return did not timely elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. Based on the submitted…
Estate received 120 days to divide a reverse-QTIP trust for GST purposes
A decedent's estate made both a QTIP election and a reverse-QTIP election for an entire marital trust. A later transitional regulation allowed certain pre-1995 reverse-QTIP trusts with allocated GST…
Estate received 120 days to make a portability election
An estate that was not otherwise required to file Form 706 missed the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. The estate requested discretionary…
Estate gets 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate was not otherwise required to file a federal estate tax return because of the value of the decedent’s gross estate and adjusted taxable gifts. The estate nevertheless needed to file Form…
Estate granted 120 days to make QTIP election
A decedent's revocable trust became irrevocable at death and divided into marital and family trusts. The marital trust required income distributions to the surviving spouse and permitted principal…
Estate received more time to elect QTIP treatment for two marital trusts
An estate timely filed Form 706 after both the decedent and surviving spouse had died, but the return omitted two marital trusts from Schedule M and did not make qualified terminable interest…
Estate received 120 days to make a portability election
An estate represented that it was not otherwise required to file Form 706 but had failed to timely file the return needed to transfer the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion to the…
Estate received more time to elect portability
An estate was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return because of the value of the decedent's gross estate and taxable gifts. It nevertheless needed to file Form 706 to elect portability,…
Estate gets more time to elect portability of a late spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused part of their federal estate-tax exclusion can be passed to a surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) so the spouse can use it later. But…
Estate receives more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because the decedent's gross estate and taxable gifts were below the section 6018 filing threshold. The decedent left a surviving spouse and had…
Estate receives 120 days to make a portability election
An estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because of the represented value of the gross estate and taxable gifts. It nevertheless needed to file the return to elect portability, which…
Estate receives more time for QTIP and reverse QTIP elections
A decedent's revocable trust divided its marital share between an exempt marital trust and a non-exempt marital trust for the surviving spouse. The estate hired a law firm to prepare Form 706 and…
How a surviving spouse's renunciation of her QTIP marital-trust interest is taxed as a gift, with net-gift and estate-inclusion consequences
When a spouse dies, property left in a "QTIP" marital trust escapes estate tax at the first death but is taxed later, either in the surviving spouse's estate when she dies or as a gift if she gives…
IRS grants a surviving spouse's estate more time to make a late portability election for the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused part of their federal estate-tax exclusion can be passed to their surviving spouse through a "portability" election, letting the survivor shelter more from estate and…
IRS grants a surviving spouse's estate more time to make a late portability election for the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused part of their federal estate-tax exclusion can be passed to their surviving spouse through a "portability" election, letting the survivor shelter more from estate and…
IRS grants a QDOT trustee extra time to certify that the surviving spouse became a U.S. citizen
When someone dies leaving property to a non-citizen spouse, the estate can still claim the marital deduction only if the property goes into a qualified domestic trust (QDOT), which keeps a special…
IRS grants a small estate extra time to make a portability election for the unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused part of their estate-tax exclusion can be passed to their surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a "portability" election, but only…
IRS grants extra time to make a late QTIP marital-deduction election on an estate return
When one spouse dies, the estate can defer estate tax on property left to the surviving spouse by making a "qualified terminable interest property" (QTIP) election on the estate tax return (Form…
IRS grants an estate 120 days to make a late § 2010(c)(5)(A) portability election
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate-and-gift tax exemption can be passed to a surviving spouse, but only if the estate makes a "portability" election on a timely filed…
IRS waives the requirement that assets be formally conveyed to a qualified domestic trust for the estate marital deduction
When a surviving spouse is not a U.S. citizen, property left to that spouse does not qualify for the estate tax marital deduction unless it passes through a qualified domestic trust (QDOT), which…
IRS grants a late estate 120 more days to make a portability election for the deceased spouse's unused exclusion
When someone dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exclusion, the surviving spouse can inherit the unused portion (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a…
Estate gets more time to elect alternate valuation after its preparer never mentioned the option
When someone dies, their estate may value the assets either as of the date of death or six months later. That six-month option, the alternate valuation election under section 2032, can cut the…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return failed to timely elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. Because the filing…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return failed to timely elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. Because the filing…
Estate gets 120 days to make late portability election
An estate below the normal estate-tax filing threshold failed to file Form 706 on time to transfer the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. Because the estate…
Splitting a GST-grandfathered trust into four equal trusts is tax-free across income, gift, estate, and GST tax
A trust created long ago (irrevocable before September 25, 1985, so it is "grandfathered" and exempt from the generation-skipping transfer, or GST, tax) held everything in a single share for one…
Estate gets extra time to make a late portability election
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate tax exemption, the leftover amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) can be passed to the surviving spouse. But this…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent left a surviving spouse and an unused portion of the federal estate and gift tax exclusion. The estate represented that it was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because of the…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent left a surviving spouse and an unused portion of the federal estate and gift tax exclusion, but the estate did not timely file Form 706 to elect portability. The estate represented that…
Estate gets extra time to make a late portability election for the surviving spouse
When one spouse dies, the estate can make a "portability" election so the surviving spouse can use the deceased spouse's unused estate-and-gift-tax exclusion (the DSUE amount). That election is made…
Late portability election allowed, estate gets 120 more days to claim a deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When a married person dies without using up their federal estate-tax exclusion (the amount that can pass tax-free, roughly $13 million in recent years), the leftover, called the DSUE amount, can be…
Estate gets more time to make a late "portability" election so the surviving spouse can use the decedent's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies without using up their federal estate-tax exclusion, their estate can elect "portability" so the surviving spouse can add the leftover (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or…
Splitting a GST-grandfathered trust into five family trusts triggers no tax
A family asked the IRS how dividing one irrevocable trust into five separate trusts, one for each branch of the family, would be taxed. The original trust was created before the generation-skipping…
Splitting a GST-grandfathered trust into five family trusts triggers no tax
A family asked the IRS how dividing one irrevocable trust into five separate trusts, one for each branch of the family, would be taxed. The original trust was created before the generation-skipping…
Splitting a GST-grandfathered trust into five family trusts triggers no tax
A family asked the IRS how dividing one irrevocable trust into five separate trusts, one for each branch of the family, would be taxed. The original trust was created before the generation-skipping…
Pro rata division into five family trusts produced no income, estate, gift, or GST tax
A trust created before September 25, 1985, benefited one grandchild and that grandchild's descendants. Because the five children had different circumstances, the trustees obtained court approval to…
Pro rata division into five family trusts produced no income, estate, gift, or GST tax
A trust created before September 25, 1985, benefited one grandchild and that grandchild's descendants. Because the five children had different circumstances, the trustees obtained court approval to…
Pro rata division into five family trusts produced no income, estate, gift, or GST tax
A trust created before September 25, 1985, benefited one grandchild and that grandchild's descendants. Because the five children had different circumstances, the trustees obtained court approval to…
Pro rata division into five family trusts produced no income, estate, gift, or GST tax
A trust created before September 25, 1985, benefited one grandchild and that grandchild's descendants. Because the five children had different circumstances, the trustees obtained court approval to…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because the decedent's gross estate and adjusted taxable gifts were below the filing threshold. The estate nevertheless needed a timely return…
Estate received 120 days to make a late QTIP election
A decedent's trust divided at death into a family trust and a marital trust intended to qualify as qualified terminable interest property. The marital trust required all income to be paid to the…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent’s estate was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return but needed Form 706 to elect portability of the deceased spouse’s unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The…
Estate receives more time for QTIP and reverse QTIP elections
A decedent’s revocable trust divided at death into a bypass trust and a marital trust for the surviving spouse. The marital trust was to be divided into generation-skipping transfer tax exempt and…
Late portability election allowed so a surviving spouse can use the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate-tax exclusion can be passed to a surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a "portability" election.…
Widowed spouse gets 120 more days to make a missed QTIP election after the estate's accountant failed to advise it
A married person set up a revocable trust and left their whole estate to it. When they died, the trust became irrevocable and was designed to pay all its income to the surviving spouse for life, the…
Trustee gets 120 more days to certify that a non-citizen surviving spouse became a U.S. citizen, ending the special estate tax on a QDOT
When someone dies leaving property to a surviving spouse who is not a U.S. citizen, the estate normally cannot claim the unlimited marital deduction unless the property goes into a "qualified…
Estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return missed the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate requested regulatory…
Estate that didn't have to file an estate tax return gets extra time to make a "portability" election so the surviving spouse can use the unused exclusion
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate/gift tax exclusion can be transferred to their surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a…
Estate gets extra time to make QTIP and "reverse" QTIP elections its attorney botched on the estate tax return
When a married person dies, an estate can defer estate tax on assets left in trust for the surviving spouse by making a "QTIP" election (qualified terminable interest property) under section…
Estate gets extra time to elect estate-tax "portability" for a surviving spouse
When one spouse dies without using up their federal estate-tax exemption, the estate can elect "portability" to pass the unused amount (the DSUE) to the surviving spouse. That election is normally…
120-day extension granted for a surviving spouse's estate to make a portability (DSUE) election
A surviving spouse's representative asked the IRS for more time to make a "portability" election under section 2010(c)(5)(A), which lets a surviving spouse use the deceased spouse's unused…
120-day extension granted for an estate to make a portability (DSUE) election
A deceased person's estate asked the IRS for more time to make a "portability" election under section 2010(c)(5)(A), which lets a surviving spouse use the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax…
120-day extension to make a late estate-tax portability (DSUE) election
When someone dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exclusion, the surviving spouse can inherit the unused amount, called the deceased spousal unused exclusion (DSUE), but only…
120-day extension to make a late estate-tax portability (DSUE) election
When someone dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exclusion, the surviving spouse can inherit the unused amount, called the deceased spousal unused exclusion (DSUE), but only…
120-day extension to make a late estate-tax portability (DSUE) election
When someone dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exclusion, the surviving spouse can inherit the unused amount, called the deceased spousal unused exclusion (DSUE), but only…
Estate gets more time to fix a botched QTIP marital-deduction election
A "QTIP" election under § 2056(b)(7) lets an estate claim the unlimited marital deduction for property left in trust for a surviving spouse, so no estate tax is due at the first spouse's death. Here…
Estate gets extra time to make a portability election for the surviving spouse
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate-tax exemption, the leftover amount (the "DSUE" amount) can pass to the surviving spouse, but only if the executor makes a "portability"…
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.