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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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…
Affiliated group gets 90 days to make a late consolidated-return election
A domestic parent corporation and its affiliated group failed to make a valid election to file a consolidated federal income tax return by the parent's filing deadline. The relevant assessment…
Estate gets 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent's estate was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return based on the represented gross estate and taxable gifts. The estate nevertheless needed a timely Form 706 to elect…
Taxpayer gets 45 days to make a late success-based-fee election
A U.S. holding company incurred a success-based advisory fee when it acquired stock in a taxable transaction. Its newly formed, high-turnover tax department was unaware of the fee and did not elect…
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…
IRS grants more time for stock-sale asset-treatment election
A partnership bought all the stock of an S corporation, and the parties intended to treat the stock sale as an asset sale under Section 336(e). They failed to file the required election statement on…
Foreign entity receives time to elect disregarded status
A foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 to elect treatment as an entity disregarded from its owner. The IRS found that the regulatory-election relief requirements were satisfied…
Partnership receives extension for Section 754 election
A partnership interest purchase caused a technical termination under the law then in effect, and the transaction documents showed that the parties intended the partnership to make a Section 754…
IRS grants S corporation and QSub election relief
A corporation intended to be an S corporation and to treat its wholly owned subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. It failed to file the QSub election, and three shareholder trusts…
Estate receives extension for portability election
An estate was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return but failed to timely file Form 706 to elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The IRS…
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…
Trustee receives extension to end QDOT tax treatment
A noncitizen surviving spouse received property through a qualified domestic trust and later became a United States citizen after continuously residing in the country. No distributions had been made…
IRS grants estate more time to elect portability
An estate represented that it was below the threshold requiring an estate tax return but had not timely filed Form 706 to transfer the decedent's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse.…
Estate receives time to allocate GST exemption to family trust
A revocable trust divided at the first spouse's death, with part of the deceased spouse's property passing to a family trust that could later produce generation-skipping transfers. The executor…
S corporation stock-sale election receives filing extension
A partnership bought all the stock of an S corporation, and the parties had signed a binding agreement before the sale to elect asset-sale treatment under Section 336(e). They did not timely attach…
Late Section 336(e) election statement receives relief
A partnership acquired all the stock of an S corporation from its shareholders, and the parties intended the qualified stock disposition to be treated as an asset sale under Section 336(e). They…
Tax-exempt controlled corporation receives late depreciation election
A corporation wholly owned by a Section 501(c)(3) organization served as co-managing member of a partnership developing affordable housing. The operating agreement required the corporation to elect…
Taxpayers receive time for canceled real-property debt election
Two taxpayers indirectly owned partnerships whose debt for business real estate was forgiven. Their tax adviser intended to elect the qualified real property business indebtedness exclusion,…
Advice addresses BBA elections and partner-level consequences
This Chief Counsel email answers several questions about the centralized partnership audit regime, although most of the questions and part of the analysis are redacted. It explains that an election…
Convertible-note hedge identification receives extension
A corporate taxpayer issued convertible notes and bought call options as part of a hedge intended to raise the notes' effective conversion price. It intended to integrate the notes and call options…
Consolidated group receives extension to waive loss carryback
A consolidated group intended to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss, but its return did not include a valid election. The group filed consistently with that…
Consolidated group receives extension to waive loss carryback
A consolidated group intended to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss, but its return did not include a valid election. The group filed consistently with that…
Foreign entity receives late partnership election relief
A foreign eligible entity had two owners with limited liability, so its default federal tax classification was an association taxable as a corporation. It intended to be classified as a partnership…
Taxpayer may elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A taxpayer made transfers to trusts for two children and to three grantor retained annuity trusts whose remaining property later passed to those children's trusts. The taxpayer's attorney and…
Taxpayer may elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A taxpayer made transfers to trusts for two children and to three grantor retained annuity trusts whose remaining property later passed to those children's trusts. The taxpayer's attorney and…
Estate receives more time to allocate GST exemption
A decedent's revocable trust divided at death into a family trust and two marital trusts, all with generation-skipping transfer tax potential. The executor intended to allocate the decedent's…
Parent receives more time to reattribute subsidiary tax attributes
A consolidated group sold a subsidiary and its lower-tier subsidiaries to an unrelated buyer at a loss. The parent intended to elect under Treasury Regulation Section 1.1502-36(d)(6)(i)(B) to…
LLC receives late corporate classification and S election relief
A single-member limited liability company intended from its formation date to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation and to elect S corporation status. It failed to timely file…
Company receives late debt-and-hedge identification relief
A corporation issued convertible notes and simultaneously bought capped call options involving its stock. It was initially unaware that the notes and options could be integrated under Treasury…
Estate receives more time to allocate GST exemption to child trusts
A married couple's trust divided after the husband's death into survivor, credit-shelter, and marital trusts. The husband's estate made a QTIP election for the marital trust but did not make a…
Estate receives more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
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…
Taxpayer gets 45 days to attach missing accounting-method form
A corporation intended to change two subsidiaries' Section 263A accounting methods and timely sent a copy of Form 3115 to the IRS. Its accounting firm failed to attach the original form to the…
Estate gets 120 days to make omitted QTIP election
A decedent's revocable trust became a marital trust that paid all income to the surviving spouse for life. The spouse relied on tax professionals and was not initially advised to file an estate tax…
Estate gets 120 days to elect portability
A decedent's estate was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return, but it needed one to transfer the decedent's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. After the estate missed the…
REIT's late taxable-subsidiary election is treated as timely
A real estate investment trust financed loans through a wholly owned collateralized loan obligation. It intended to elect taxable REIT subsidiary treatment if the CLO generated excess inclusion…
Foreign entity gets 120 days for late partnership election
A foreign eligible entity failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect partnership classification. The IRS found that the regulatory-relief requirements were satisfied and granted 120 days to file the…
Parent gets 75 days for late Section 338(g) election
A consolidated group's foreign subsidiary acquired all the stock of another foreign corporation, but the parent failed to file the intended Section 338(g) election on time after relying on a…
Foreign entity gets 120 days for disregarded-entity election
A foreign limited company inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect treatment as an entity disregarded from its owner. The IRS found that the entity acted reasonably and in good faith…
Foreign entity gets 120 days for partnership election
A foreign limited company inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect partnership treatment. The IRS found that the entity acted reasonably and in good faith and that relief would not…
Foreign entity gets 120 days for disregarded-entity election
A foreign limited company inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect treatment as an entity disregarded from its owner. The IRS found that the entity acted reasonably and in good faith…
Partnership gets 120 days for late Section 754 election
A partnership relied on its tax adviser but failed to make a Section 754 election after two partners died. The IRS found reasonable conduct, good faith, no hindsight, and no government prejudice,…
Foreign entity gets 120 days for partnership election
A foreign limited company inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect partnership treatment. The IRS found that the entity acted reasonably and in good faith and that relief would not…
Foreign entity gets 120 days for disregarded-entity election
A foreign limited company inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect treatment as an entity disregarded from its owner. The IRS found that the entity acted reasonably and in good faith…
Foreign entity gets 120 days for partnership election
A foreign limited company inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect partnership treatment. The IRS found that the entity acted reasonably and in good faith and that relief would not…
Partnership gets 120 days for late Section 754 election
A partnership timely filed its return but omitted a Section 754 election after its tax preparers failed to advise it that an election was needed. The IRS found that the partnership acted reasonably…
Homeowners association receives more time for Section 528 elections
A homeowners association inadvertently failed to file Form 1120-H elections for several taxable years. The IRS found that the association satisfied the standards for discretionary filing relief…
Foreign entity receives more time for disregarded-entity election
A foreign entity wholly owned by a domestic corporation intended to be treated as a disregarded entity, and its owner consistently filed on that basis, but Form 8832 was not timely filed. The IRS…
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…
LLC receives 120 days to file a late corporate-classification election
A state-law limited liability company intended to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation from a specified date. It missed the Form 8832 filing deadline because of inadvertence and…
Parties receive extra time to elect asset-sale treatment for an S corporation stock purchase
An individual bought all the stock of an S corporation, and the buyer, target, and shareholders intended to treat the transaction as an asset sale under IRC § 336(e). Their tax professional failed…
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…
Supplemental ruling revises the facts of an earlier entity-classification ruling
This supplemental private letter ruling modifies the facts section of an earlier ruling and incorporates the rest of that ruling by reference. The revised facts describe a foreign corporation owned…
Successor LLC receives more time to file a late section 336(e) election
A partnership-taxed purchaser acquired all the stock of an S corporation through a disregarded entity. The parties intended to elect under IRC § 336(e) to treat the qualified stock disposition as an…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A limited partnership intended to elect under IRC § 754 to adjust partnership-property basis after distributions or transfers of partnership interests. It timely filed its partnership return but…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return based on the represented gross estate and taxable gifts. It nevertheless needed a timely Form 706 to elect portability of the…
IRS grants extra time for a Section 336(e) election
A purchaser acquired all the stock of an S corporation from a seller, and the parties intended to elect under IRC § 336(e) to treat the qualified stock disposition as an asset disposition. The…
IRS grants estate extra time to elect portability
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return failed to timely elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount. The estate asked for regulatory relief so…
IRS grants late election out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A taxpayer created a grantor retained annuity trust whose remaining property later passed to a family trust with generation-skipping transfer potential. The taxpayer's attorney failed to explain…
IRS grants late election out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A taxpayer created a grantor retained annuity trust whose remaining property later passed to a family trust with generation-skipping transfer potential. The taxpayer's attorney failed to explain…
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.