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 a 2014 annuity ruling but limits the revocation to future contracts
Back in 2014, an insurance company got a private letter ruling (PLR 201424014) that let it offer a new variable-payment annuity option and treat the owner as owing no income tax until amounts were act…
IRS approves an employer-related scholarship program for employees' children
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, an employer-related scholarship program that funds college for the children of a company's employees. Under Section 4945, a foundation's gran…
IRS approves a foundation's scholarship procedures for disadvantaged children abroad
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, how it will award scholarships. Under Section 4945, a foundation's grants to individuals for study are normally "taxable expenditures" that t…
IRS approves a foundation's grant procedures for funding underrepresented entrepreneurs
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, how it will pick and oversee grants to individuals. This matters because Section 4945 taxes a foundation's "taxable expenditures," and grants…
IRS revokes 501(c)(8) status of a fraternal society that stopped responding
The IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of a fraternal beneficiary society that had been exempt under Section 501(c)(8). To keep that status, a group must be a fraternal organization operated under the …
IRS revokes 501(c)(3) status of a charity that stopped responding and kept no records
The IRS revoked a public charity's tax-exempt status because it went dark during an audit. The organization had been recognized under Section 501(c)(3) with public charity status under Section 170(b)(…
IRS revokes 501(c)(3) status of an inactive Type III supporting organization
The IRS revoked a nonprofit's tax-exempt status. The organization had been recognized as a Section 509(a)(3) supporting organization, a public charity that exists to support another named charity. On …
501(c)(3) exemption revoked for failure to produce records
The IRS revoked a public charity's tax-exempt status. The organization was selected for examination, but it never answered the IRS's Information Document Request, its officers' phone numbers appeared …
Extra time granted to make an alternate valuation election after a CEO supplied false values
An estate normally values a deceased person's property as of the date of death, but Section 2032 lets the executor instead elect "alternate valuation," using values six months after death, when that w…
Extra time granted for an estate to make the portability election
When someone dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exemption, their surviving spouse can inherit the unused amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a "p…
Extra time granted for an estate to make the portability election
When someone dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exemption, their surviving spouse can inherit the unused amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a "p…
Extra time granted for a foreign entity to file its corporation (association) election
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A foreign entity here intended to be taxed as an association (that is, as a corporation) as…
Extra time granted for a foreign entity to file its corporation (association) election
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A foreign entity here intended to be taxed as an association (that is, as a corporation) as…
Extra time granted for a foreign entity to file its corporation (association) election
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A foreign entity here intended to be taxed as an association (that is, as a corporation) as…
Extra time granted to elect to capitalize interest to personal property under § 266
Section 266 lets a taxpayer choose to add certain carrying charges, such as interest on a loan used to buy personal property, to the property's cost (capitalize them) instead of deducting them right a…
Extra time granted to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation for a trust
The generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax applies when wealth passes to grandchildren or later generations. Each person has a GST exemption they can allocate to shield transfers from that tax. For ce…
Extra time granted to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation for a trust
The generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax applies when wealth passes to grandchildren or later generations. Each person has a GST exemption they can allocate to shield transfers from that tax. For ce…
Extra time granted for a foreign entity to elect corporation (association) status
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A foreign entity here had earlier elected to be disregarded (treated as if it did not exist…
Extra time granted for a foreign entity to elect corporation (association) status
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A foreign entity here had earlier elected to be disregarded (treated as if it did not exist…
Extending post-spinoff transition arrangements does not disturb a prior tax-free separation ruling
A corporation that had earlier spun off one of its businesses into a separate public company received a favorable IRS ruling in 2021 that the separation qualified as a tax-free distribution under Sect…
Advance approval of scholarship procedures for gifted, underprivileged students
A private foundation asked the IRS to pre-approve the way it will award college and graduate-school scholarships. Because a private foundation that makes grants to individuals for study normally owes …
Advance approval of a foundation's tuition scholarship procedures for students abroad
A private foundation asked the IRS to pre-approve how it will select and pay scholarships. A private foundation that gives individuals money for study normally owes an excise tax under Section 4945 un…
Advance approval of a private foundation's rural-focused scholarship procedures
A private foundation asked the IRS to pre-approve the way it will pick and pay scholarship recipients. This approval matters because a private foundation that makes grants to individuals for study nor…
Recreational adult golf league denied 501(c)(3) status
A women's nine-hole golf league applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt charity under Section 501(c)(3) using the streamlined Form 1023-EZ. The group plays golf weekly at a local course in warmer mon…
501(c)(3) exemption revoked for failure to keep and produce records
The IRS revoked a public charity's tax-exempt status. During an audit of the group's Form 990, the IRS repeatedly asked for the organization's books, bank statements, contracts, meeting minutes, and o…
Late § 336(e) election allowed so an S corporation stock sale can be treated as an asset sale
When buyers acquire at least 80% of an S corporation's stock, the seller and buyer can jointly elect under Section 336(e) to treat the sale as if the company had sold its assets, which often gives the…
LLC gets 60 more days to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund after its accountant wrongly said no return was due
An LLC (taxed as a partnership) was set up to invest in a qualified opportunity zone and to operate as a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), a structure that lets investors defer and reduce capital-gain…
Estate received more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The IRS…
Parties received more time to make a Section 336(e) election
A buyer acquired more than 80 percent of an S corporation's stock, and the parties intended to treat the stock sale as an asset sale under Section 336(e). They did not timely sign the required agreeme…
Estate received more time for QTIP and reverse QTIP elections
An estate timely filed Form 706, but its accountant did not advise the executor to make QTIP and reverse QTIP elections for a marital trust or include Schedule R. The trust required income distributio…
Estate received more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return did not timely make a portability election for the decedent's unused exclusion amount. The IRS concluded that the estate met the …
Estate received more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount. The IRS concluded that the estate satisfied t…
Partnership received more time to self-certify as an opportunity fund
A partnership formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property intended to operate as a qualified opportunity fund. Its accounting firm did not know of that intent and omitted Form 8996 from th…
Partnership received more time to self-certify as an opportunity fund
A partnership formed to invest in a qualified opportunity zone business intended to operate as a qualified opportunity fund. Its accounting firm filed an extension and the members' individual forms bu…
Loan-on-loan financing qualified as a REIT real estate asset
A REIT subsidiary made a loan to a lender that had originated a construction loan secured by real-property mortgages. The REIT subsidiary received a perfected collateral assignment of the construction…
Foreign entity received more time to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It represented that the failure did not result from tax avoidance or re…
Foreign entity received more time to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes but failed to timely file Form 8832. It represented that the failure was not motivated by tax avoidance or…
Foreign entity received more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes but failed to timely file Form 8832. It represented that the failure did not result from tax avo…
Foreign entity received more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign eligible entity intended to be disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes but failed to timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the entity met the standards for regulatory lat…
Corporation denied late tax-year change after missing 90-day limit
A domestic corporation instructed its accounting firm to change its tax year, but internal miscommunications caused the firm to miss the filings needed for a timely Form 1128. The error was discovered…
S corporation received more time for two QSub elections
An S corporation wholly owned two subsidiaries and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary status for both. Because of inadvertence, it did not timely file Form 8869 for either subsidiary.…
Corporate business separation qualified as a tax-free spin-off
A publicly traded corporation proposed separating one business into a newly formed controlled corporation while retaining its other businesses. The plan included asset contributions, external borrowin…
Opportunity fund received 21 more days to file Form 8996
This supplemental ruling modified an earlier private letter ruling concerning a qualified opportunity fund election. Because of events outside the taxpayer's control, the IRS granted 21 additional day…
Shareholder received consent for a retroactive QEF election
A United States shareholder owned less than 10 percent of a foreign corporation that later became a passive foreign investment company. The shareholder's qualified tax adviser did not timely identify …
Shareholder received consent for a retroactive QEF election
A United States shareholder owned less than 10 percent of a foreign corporation that became a passive foreign investment company. The shareholder's qualified tax adviser did not identify the PFIC stat…
Taxpayer denied waiver for retirement-plan rollover deadline
A taxpayer asked the IRS to waive the 60-day deadline for rolling a qualified-plan distribution into a traditional IRA. She said the financial institution instead deposited the amount into a Roth IRA …
Insurance subsidiary remained in consolidated group during receivership
A parent corporation wholly owned an insurance subsidiary that entered a court-ordered receivership and liquidation. The receiver obtained management authority and title to the subsidiary's property, …
Investment company allowed to revoke PFIC mark-to-market election
A regulated investment company made a mark-to-market election for stock in a passive foreign investment company because it did not know the foreign company would provide annual PFIC information statem…
Estate received more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
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. The IRS concluded that the estate met the regulatory …
REIT received more time to elect out of bonus depreciation
A real estate investment trust intended not to claim additional first-year depreciation for several classes of qualified property. Its return reflected no depreciation for that property, but the accou…
Limited partnership received more time to elect partnership status
A domestic limited partnership had previously elected corporate classification and later intended to change back to partnership status. It did not timely file Form 8832, although it and its owners rep…
Foreign entity received more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity with one shareholder intended to be disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the regulatory late-e…
Trust allowed charitable deduction for income set aside for foundation
A revocable trust became part of the decedent's estate under a Section 645 election, and a private foundation was its sole remaining beneficiary. The trust wholly owned an S corporation that planned t…
Opportunity fund received 21 more days to file Form 8996
This supplemental ruling modified an earlier private letter ruling concerning a qualified opportunity fund election. Because of events outside the taxpayer's control, the IRS granted 21 additional day…
Organization denied social club exemption
A nonprofit organization applied for exemption as a social club under Section 501(c)(7). Its principal activities included public bingo, food service, fundraising events, and renting its hall to membe…
AI competition organization denied charitable exemption
An organization formed to run open artificial-intelligence programming competitions applied for exemption under Section 501(c)(3). For-profit technology companies hosted and supported the competitions…
Dog training club denied charitable exemption
A volunteer dog club applied for exemption under Section 501(c)(3). It conducted public hunt tests and trials, offered training and seminars, held club meetings, and stated that its activities served …
Software user group denied business league exemption
An organization sought business league exemption for a user group limited to businesses in one industry that licensed a particular software product. Its activities promoted that product through traini…
Foreign micro-captive payments may face FDAP tax adjustment
Chief Counsel addressed abusive micro-captive arrangements involving a foreign entity that had elected domestic treatment under Section 953(d). If the arrangement was not insurance, the captive was no…
Seven foreign entities received more time to elect partnership status
Seven foreign eligible entities intended to be classified as partnerships for federal tax purposes but did not file Form 8832 for their intended effective dates. Each entity asked for an extension und…
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.