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 grants a 9100 extension of time to make a REIT election under section 856(c)(1) after a mailed extension form was lost
A limited partnership that elected to be taxed as a corporation intended to elect to be a real estate investment trust (REIT) by filing Form 1120-REIT for its first tax year. To buy time, its tax…
Fiber-optic capacity payments qualify as REIT rents from real property
A corporation intending to elect REIT status leased capacity in permanently affixed fiber-optic and coaxial cables, conduit, and distributed antenna systems under six types of long-term agreements.…
Fiber optic capacity payments qualify as REIT rents from real property
A company intending to elect REIT status leased capacity on permanently affixed fiber optic and coaxial cable systems under six kinds of agreements. Tenants paid fixed amounts for dedicated…
IRS accepts late taxable REIT subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust and an indirectly owned subsidiary intended the subsidiary to be a taxable REIT subsidiary effective when its corporate tax classification began. They missed the Form…
IRS accepts late taxable REIT subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust and an indirectly owned subsidiary intended the subsidiary to be a taxable REIT subsidiary from its formation date. They missed the Form 8875 deadline because the…
Fund receives relief for two elections on a late-filed return
A regulated investment company prepared a return containing two elections: one to treat certain later distributions as paid during the prior tax year, and another to accrue market discount using a…
Fund receives relief for three elections on a late-filed return
A fund prepared its first regulated investment company return with three elections: to be treated as a RIC, to treat certain later distributions as paid during the prior tax year, and to accrue…
IRS allows correction of a taxable REIT subsidiary election date
A real estate investment trust acquired an indirect interest in a corporation and intended that corporation to become its taxable REIT subsidiary on the acquisition date. The law firm filing their…
Late-filed REIT return is treated as a timely election
A newly taxable corporation intended to elect real estate investment trust status for its first short tax year. Its governing documents repeatedly stated that intent, and its manager relied on an…
IRS grants extension for late REIT election
A limited liability company elected corporate status and intended to elect real estate investment trust treatment for its first short tax year. A miscommunication between its manager and tax…
Unmailed return receives late REIT election relief
A company intended to elect real estate investment trust treatment and relied on a tax firm to timely file its first Form 1120-REIT. During a change in the firm's paper-filing process, a temporary…
REIT receives more time for taxable subsidiary election
A property company intended to elect REIT status after it ceased being closely held and wanted its wholly owned service subsidiary treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary from the same date. Its…
REIT and subsidiary receive 90 days to file a late taxable REIT subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust and an indirectly owned limited liability company intended to jointly elect taxable REIT subsidiary (TRS) treatment under IRC § 856(l). The subsidiary first needed…
REIT and two subsidiaries receive more time for taxable REIT subsidiary elections
A real estate investment trust and two indirectly owned limited liability companies intended to jointly elect taxable REIT subsidiary (TRS) treatment under IRC § 856(l). The companies also needed…
IRS grants late taxable REIT subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust owned a hotel through disregarded entities and leased the hotel to a corporate tenant that was intended to be its taxable REIT subsidiary. The lease required the joint…
IRS grants late taxable REIT subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust acquired an ownership interest in a subsidiary that leased facilities from the REIT, and both entities intended to elect taxable REIT subsidiary treatment. Their…
IRS grants extra time for a taxable REIT subsidiary election
A company intending to qualify as a real estate investment trust acquired an indirect interest in a subsidiary and planned to elect taxable REIT subsidiary status for that entity. The election was…
A REIT's share of self-charged management fees is left out of the gross-income tests
A real estate investment trust (REIT) plans to restructure so that it indirectly owns a slice of the outside manager that runs its real estate portfolio. Because the REIT would then be a partner in…
REIT received 90 days to make late taxable-subsidiary elections
A company intending to qualify as a real estate investment trust acquired a predecessor's properties and subsidiaries in a transaction represented to be an F reorganization. Its former law firm…
Late-election relief for a fund to defer a post-October capital loss under § 852(b)(8)
A regulated investment company (a business development company taxed as a RIC) intended to elect under § 852(b)(8)(A) to defer a "post-October capital loss," treating it as arising on the first day…
IRS treats a delayed taxable REIT subsidiary election as timely despite COVID-19 filing obstacles
A publicly traded REIT indirectly acquired part of a foreign corporation and intended to elect for that corporation to be a taxable REIT subsidiary from the acquisition date. COVID-19 closures…
IRS grants retroactive taxable REIT subsidiary status after foreign anti-hybrid rules changed the needed structure
A REIT operated foreign data-center investments through a company that had elected to be disregarded for U.S. tax purposes. After foreign anti-hybrid rules took effect, the REIT learned that…
IRS grants late taxable REIT subsidiary election relief after an adviser missed Form 8875
A newly formed REIT owned senior-housing facilities and formed a corporate subsidiary that held an interest in the operating partnership leasing those facilities. The REIT intended to elect taxable…
A REIT's billboard advertising income still counts as "rents from real property" despite short-term and TRS leases
A real estate investment trust (REIT) owns buildings with large billboard signs attached, and it leases the advertising space on those signs to tenants. It has elected to treat the signs as real…
REIT gets 90 days to file three missed taxable-subsidiary elections
A hotel REIT and three operating subsidiaries intended to make taxable REIT subsidiary elections when the REIT acquired interests in the subsidiaries. The company's tracking spreadsheet showed that…
State-required license holders do not disrupt a REIT's health-care-property leasing structure
A publicly traded health-care REIT wanted to use the statutory structure that permits a taxable REIT subsidiary to lease qualified health-care property when an eligible independent contractor…
IRS treats a late initial REIT return as a timely REIT election
An LLC elected corporate status and intended to elect real estate investment trust treatment beginning on the same effective date. Its accounting firm filed an extension for the LLC's parent fund,…
Fees a fiber-network REIT charges wireless carriers to use its systems are "rents from real property"
A company that plans to elect REIT status builds and owns telecommunications infrastructure, mainly fiber optic cable systems, and lets wireless carriers use dedicated capacity under long-term…
IRS grants an LLC extra time to elect REIT status after its accountants missed the filing deadline
An LLC intended to be taxed as a corporation and to elect real estate investment trust (REIT) status by filing a Form 1120-REIT for its first year. A REIT election is made simply by filing that…
A class-action settlement paid by a REMIC trustee to investors doesn't run through the REMICs, so it triggers no REMIC penalty taxes
A trustee for a group of mortgage securitizations (REMICs) was sued by investors who held "regular interests" in those deals. The investors claimed the trustee breached its duties by failing to…
IRS treats a regulated investment company's late dividend election as timely
A regulated investment company prepared and signed its Form 1120-RIC with an election under IRC § 855(a) to treat qualifying dividends as paid during the prior tax year. Its fund administrator…
IRS treats marina docks and storage rents as qualifying REIT property and income
A real estate investment trust planned to acquire interests in marina properties containing floating docks, dry-dock storage, and short-stay cabins. The floating docks were permanently attached by…
REIT subsidiary does not operate health care facilities managed by an independent operator
A real estate investment trust's taxable REIT subsidiary planned to acquire indirect majority interests in foreign partnerships that owned senior housing and health care communities. The local…
REIT accounting adjustments are excluded from income tests and support dividend E&P
A real estate investment trust changed its depreciation and amortization methods for communications-site assets it represented were real property or interests in real property. The changes produced…
A new fund's late RIC and dividends-paid elections are treated as timely
A new series of an investment company intended to qualify as a regulated investment company and to make a section 855 election for dividends declared and distributed after year-end. The company…
A fund's late RIC and dividends-paid elections are treated as timely
A new series of an investment company intended to qualify as a regulated investment company and make a section 855 election for dividends declared and distributed after year-end. The company…
Independent senior living facilities are not health care facilities under REIT rules
A real estate investment trust owned unlicensed independent retirement living facilities whose residents were responsible for their own personal and health care needs. The facilities supplied meals,…
Investment company receives 90 days for a foreign-tax pass-through election
A regulated investment company intended to elect under section 853 to pass through foreign taxes to its shareholders. Its timely Form 1120-RIC consistently reflected that election, but the…
Late REIT election treated as timely
A single-member limited liability company intended to elect real estate investment trust status for its first taxable year as a corporation. Its tax firm mistakenly omitted the company's Form 7004…
Connected parking-garage revenue qualifies as REIT rent
Two REIT-owned parking garages in a mixed-use project had to be physically connected and jointly operated, making it impractical to identify which garage held each public customer’s car. The REITs…
Connected parking-garage revenue qualifies as REIT rent
Two REIT-owned parking garages in a mixed-use project had to be physically connected and jointly operated, making it impractical to identify which garage held each public customer’s car. The REITs…
Ground-lease rights are REIT real estate assets
A REIT acquired fee owners’ rights under ground leases covering land, rooftops, and other real property, together with successor leases or options allowing replacement leasing after existing tenants…
Warehouse storage payments qualify as REIT rents
A proposed REIT group stored customer pallets in specialized warehouses and separated real-property charges from handling and other services performed by taxable REIT subsidiaries or independent…
City reimbursements qualify for a REIT's 95 percent income test
A real estate investment trust indirectly owned a mixed-use project and acquired rights under an economic development agreement to receive city reimbursements for public improvements. The…
Environmental remediation tax credits count as qualifying REIT income
A real estate investment trust indirectly owned a partnership developing a mixed-use project on a contaminated site in an economically distressed area. A state program awarded transferable tax…
Environmental remediation tax credits count as qualifying REIT income
A real estate investment trust indirectly owned a partnership developing a mixed-use project on a contaminated site in an economically distressed area. A state program awarded transferable tax…
Affiliated hotel manager can remain an eligible independent contractor
A hotel REIT asked whether a hotel manager would remain an eligible independent contractor after being acquired by a company affiliated with the REIT's investment advisor. The advisor also provided…
Affiliated luxury-hotel manager can remain an eligible independent contractor
A luxury-hotel REIT asked whether a hotel manager would remain an eligible independent contractor after being acquired by a company affiliated with the REIT's investment advisor. The advisor also…
REIT receives 90-day extension for taxable-subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust and a subsidiary intended to elect taxable REIT subsidiary status effective from the subsidiary's formation. Their outside law firm believed the accounting firm would…
REIT receives 90-day extension for taxable-subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust and a subsidiary intended the subsidiary to be a taxable REIT subsidiary from its formation. An outside firm recommended filing Forms 8832 and 8875 but believed the…
Carbon-offset credits count as qualifying REIT income
A timberland REIT's partnership expected to earn state cap-and-trade credits by committing forestland to long-term carbon-sequestration restrictions, monitoring, inventories, and independent…
Carbon credits from two programs qualify as REIT income
A timberland REIT indirectly participated in two carbon-offset programs: a state cap-and-trade system for U.S. forest projects and a voluntary program for foreign timberland protected from…
Carbon credits earned through partnerships qualify as REIT income
A timberland REIT indirectly owned interests in six partnerships developing forest carbon-offset projects under a state cap-and-trade program. The projects required long-term land-use restrictions,…
Development tax credits treated as qualifying REIT income
A real estate investment trust indirectly invested in a partnership developing rental real estate in a designated economic-development area. State law awarded transferable tax credits based on the…
Marina slip and storage rents qualified as REIT rents from real property
A real estate investment trust planned to lease boat slips and shore-based storage spaces at a redeveloped marina. The IRS treated the boat slips as water space above land and the storage spaces as…
REIT may measure partnership interests by hypothetical liquidation shares
A company planning to elect REIT status intended to acquire economic interests in ten partnerships that leased and operated U.S. rental properties. Some partnerships did not maintain regulatory…
Marina docks and storage qualified for REIT treatment
A taxpayer planning to elect real estate investment trust status indirectly owned marinas with floating docks, dry dock storage, and, at one property, short-stay cabins. The floating docks were…
Development grant counted as qualifying REIT income
A real estate investment trust indirectly owned joint ventures redeveloping a regional shopping center on city-owned land. A state economic development program reimbursed the property owners for…
Shopping-center grant qualified for the REIT income tests
A real estate investment trust held an interest in joint ventures redeveloping a regional shopping center on land leased from a city. A state program reimbursed the property owners through a city…
Farm-credit patronage dividends excluded from REIT income tests
A limited liability company planning to elect REIT status borrowed from a regulated farm cooperative to acquire timberlands. As an equity holder and borrower, it was entitled to patronage dividends…
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.