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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Determination 1025079: IRS denied exemption to an online bartering marketplace
The IRS denied an organization's application for recognition under IRC § 501(c)(3). The organization proposed an online marketplace where registered users could exchange goods and services, with the…
Determination 1025078: IRS denied exemption to a wine-making club operated as a commercial business
The IRS denied exemption under IRC § 501(c)(7) to a proposed wine-making club. The organization advertised wine-making services and products to the public, treated customers as members without…
Determination 1025077: IRS denied exemption to an insurer that lacked sufficient risk distribution
The IRS denied exemption under IRC § 501(c)(15) to an insurance company that primarily insured a related corporation. The determination found that the organization had too few insureds and too much…
IRS advised on signing Form 872-P for a corporate tax matters partner
The IRS advised that only the general partner could serve as the tax matters partner under section 6231(a)(7). It further advised that the corporate general partner should sign Form 872-P through an…
IRS advised on extending the statute for converted items
The IRS advised that the preferred form for extending the statute of limitations on converted items was the new Form 872, which specifically references converted items. It also noted that section…
IRS advised on at-risk and outside-basis limits for partnership losses
The IRS advised that an at-risk limitation under section 465 is determined at the partner’s return level, after taking partnership items into account unless they are adjusted in a TEFRA partnership…
IRS explained disclosure rules for partnership returns and audits
The IRS explained that a partner’s request for a complete return, including all Schedule K-1 forms, for reasons unrelated to tax administration is governed by section 6103(e). It stated that…
IRS transfer-pricing slides address intangible buy-ins and cost-sharing arrangements
This CCA contains presentation slides about transfer pricing for offshore transfers of intangible value and cost-sharing arrangements. The slides discuss buy-in or platform contribution transaction…
IRS advised on disclosure of tax information to local law enforcement
The IRS advised that IRC § 6103(i) does not provide a mechanism for disclosing tax information to local law-enforcement officials. It noted that those officials might instead obtain some or all of…
IRS advised on TEFRA consents for a subsidiary partner that is not the tax matters partner
The IRS advised that both a consolidated group’s common parent and a subsidiary that is a partner in a TEFRA partnership should execute the partner-level consent when the subsidiary is not the tax…
IRS advised on statute extensions for partnership withholding returns
The IRS advised that filing Form 8804 starts the statute of limitations period for partnership withholding tax. It stated that if a partnership has not filed Form 8804, there is no need to obtain…
IRS advised on NOL carryback refunds and suspended assessment periods
The IRS advised that a timely tentative refund claim under IRC § 6411 is governed by the net operating loss year, not the carryback year. It stated that a tentative refund under section 6411 is not…
IRS advised on extending assessment periods for partnership withholding
The IRS advised that withholding under IRC §§ 1441 through 1446 is a partnership item when it is more appropriately determined at the partnership level. It stated that the partnership entity is the…
IRS advised on Form 872-P signatures by corporate and LLC tax matters partners
The IRS advised that a new Form 872-P could be obtained for open years when a corporation was the tax matters partner, with an individual signing under state-law authority as the corporation’s CFO.…
IRS advised on who may sign Form 872-P for an entity tax matters partner
The IRS advised that when a tax matters partner is an entity, a person with state-law authority to bind that entity is the appropriate signer of Form 872-P. It applied that rule to an LLC and a…
IRS advised on TEFRA procedures for a return showing one partner
The IRS advised that both TEFRA and non-TEFRA procedures should be followed when an adjustment exists. It stated that TEFRA does not apply when a return showing only one partner is not a partnership…
IRS explained the 35 percent employee rule for renewal community businesses
The IRS advised that at least 35 percent of a renewal community business's employees must live in a renewal community. It explained that the renewal community capital gain exclusion applies to…
IRS addressed a refund claim involving a transferred tax credit
The IRS advised that a credit transferred out of a taxpayer's account should reduce the gross amount treated as paid within the two-year lookback period for a refund claim. It reasoned that counting…
IRS advised that a closing conference is not legally required before an FPAA
The IRS advised that there is no legal requirement to grant a closing conference. It stated that the IRS could proceed directly to issuing an FPAA when the applicable statute of limitations was…
IRS explained who is bound by a partnership settlement agreement
The IRS advised that under IRC § 6224(c)(1), a pass-through partner can sign a settlement agreement that binds indirect partners. A trust can therefore sign through its trustee, making the agreement…
IRS identified the applicable treaty article for a described arrangement
The IRS advised that a list in a new treaty protocol applied only to rules concerning contributions and undistributed earnings. It did not apply to rules concerning distributions. Based on the…
IRS addressed the timeliness of a refund claim without reaching its merits
The IRS advised that, for limitations purposes, the taxpayer was entitled to make a refund claim for the redacted amount. It expressly stated that the advice did not address whether the claim had merit.
IRS addressed when a refund may be issued after a partner's statute expires
The IRS advised that IRC § 6230(d)(1) generally prohibits issuing a refund after the period under IRC § 6229 has expired. It identified exceptions for the periods described in § 6230(d)(2), (3), or…
IRS explained the FICA consequences of deferred compensation paid on distribution
The IRS advised that the nonduplication rule can impose an additional FICA cost when a taxpayer fails to comply with IRC § 3121(v)(2). If FICA is paid when compensation is deferred, the employee…
IRS discussed FICA timing and a possible statute-of-limitations issue
The IRS advised that FICA is due upon distribution when amounts were not properly taken into account upon deferral under IRC § 3121(v)(2). The memo noted a risk that the Service may discover a…
IRS explained when it may issue an FPAA to an indirect partner
The IRS advised that IRC § 6223(c)(3) permits it to issue an FPAA to an indirect partner identified under Treas. Reg. § 301.6223(c)-1. It explained that a subsection of that regulation allows the…
IRS discussed correcting FICA failures under a nonqualified deferred compensation plan
The IRS advised that when amounts deferred under a nonqualified deferred compensation plan were not treated as FICA wages at deferral, the deferred amounts and related income are subject to FICA…
IRS advised that TEFRA adjustments may be disclosed to an indirect partner
The IRS advised that TEFRA adjustments may be disclosed to an indirect partner under IRC § 6103(h)(4)(A). It also cited Abelein v. U.S. from the Ninth Circuit as supporting authority. The short memo…
IRS advised that a partner's unextended assessment period may support a converted item notice
The IRS advised that the Service may rely on a partner's unextended three-year period under IRC § 6501 to issue a converted item notice of deficiency. The advice states that IRC § 6229 does not…
IRS supplied Miller Act background on government claims against bond proceeds
The memo addressed a request about collecting Miller Act performance bonds, surety bonds, and bail bonds. The author said they did not know the specific answer and provided an excerpt from IRS…
Equipment held primarily for sale was denied depreciation and like-kind exchange treatment
The IRS considered whether a company could depreciate equipment under IRC § 167 and use § 1031 like-kind exchange treatment when it rented some equipment but also held the equipment for sale. The…
Wastewater equalization and neutralization facility qualified as a sewage facility
The IRS considered whether a pharmaceutical company's wastewater equalization and neutralization facility qualified as a sewage facility for exempt facility bond purposes. The facility collected,…
Cash settlement did not turn forward-contract issuance costs into an abandonment loss
The IRS considered whether a corporation could deduct as a § 165 loss issuance costs allocated to forward contracts on its own stock. The corporation argued that the contracts had been abandoned…
Loss from an intercompany stock sale remained deferred after liquidation
The IRS considered whether a parent could recognize a loss from selling part of a subsidiary's stock to a foreign affiliate when the subsidiary later liquidated. The parent and the foreign affiliate…
Preferred interests of a regulated investment company treated as equity
The IRS ruled that two proposed series of mandatory-redemption preferred interests issued by a closed-end regulated investment company would be treated as equity for federal income tax purposes. The…
Extension granted to make a late consolidated-return election
The IRS granted a parent company and related subsidiaries 45 days to make a late election to file a consolidated federal income tax return. The taxpayers showed that they reasonably relied on a…
Sixty-day extension granted for a late IC-DISC election
The IRS granted a domestic corporation 60 days to file a late Form 4876-A election to be treated as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation. The corporation had filed the form 92…
IRS granted relief for a late S corporation election
The IRS considered a corporation that intended to be an S corporation from its date of incorporation but did not timely file Form 2553. The corporation requested relief under IRC § 1362(b)(5). The…
Rental income from actively managed homes is not passive investment income
The IRS considered an S corporation that owned, leased, and managed single-family residential properties. The corporation performed leasing, tenant, repair, maintenance, and administrative work, and…
Rental income from actively managed homes is not passive investment income
The IRS considered an S corporation that owned, leased, and managed single-family residential properties. The corporation performed leasing, tenant, repair, maintenance, and administrative work, and…
IRS granted extra time for a late IC-DISC election
The IRS considered a domestic corporation that wanted to elect IC-DISC status for its first taxable year but filed Form 4876-A after the applicable 90-day deadline. The delay followed an address…
Line-of-duty disability benefits were excluded, but a supplemental benefit was taxable
The IRS considered disability and supplemental benefits paid under a state retirement system for police officers and firefighters. It ruled that lifetime line-of-duty disability benefits, including…
Marine services for an LNG terminal produced qualifying income
The IRS considered a publicly traded partnership that indirectly owned an LNG receiving terminal and provided marine services for LNG tankers using the terminal. The services included escorting…
IRS granted extra time for a GST exemption election
The IRS considered a taxpayer who transferred property to a grantor retained annuity trust and failed to elect out of the automatic allocation of generation-skipping transfer tax exemption on a…
IRS granted extra time for general asset account elections
The IRS considered affiliated taxpayers that had consistently accounted for certain depreciable assets in general asset accounts but inadvertently failed to make the required elections. The IRS…
IRS granted more time to elect U.S. tax deferral for a Canadian retirement plan
The IRS granted a U.S. resident 60 more days to elect to defer U.S. federal income taxation on income accrued in a Canadian Registered Retirement Savings Plan. The taxpayer had not known that an…
IRS restored S corporation status after an inadvertent termination
The IRS ruled that a corporation's S corporation election was inadvertently terminated after the corporation had accumulated earnings and profits and more than 25 percent of its gross receipts came…
IRS extended time to make a Canadian RRSP tax election
The IRS granted a taxpayer 60 days from the ruling date to make an election under Rev. Proc. 2002-23 to defer U.S. federal income taxation on income accrued in a Canadian Registered Retirement…
IRS approved qualifying income from commodity-linked notes and a CFC
The IRS ruled that income and gain from specified commodities-linked notes would be qualifying income for a regulated investment company under IRC § 851(b)(2). The IRS also ruled that the fund's…
IRS approved conversion of an income trust to a unitrust
The IRS ruled that converting an irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985, from an income-only trust to a total return trust under state law would not cause the trust to lose its…
IRS granted late partnership classification election
The IRS granted a foreign eligible entity 60 more days to file Form 8832 and elect partnership classification for federal tax purposes. The entity had intended to be treated as a partnership but…
IRS granted late disregarded-entity classification election
The IRS granted a foreign eligible entity 60 more days to file Form 8832 and elect to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes. The entity had intended to use that classification…
IRS excluded wrongful death settlement from gross income
The IRS ruled that a payment received by an estate under a legislative settlement for the wrongful death of the decedent would be excluded from the estate's gross income under IRC § 104(a)(2). The…
IRS approved mergers of pre-1985 and later trusts without added GST tax
The IRS ruled that proposed mergers of four trusts into three successive merged trusts would not cause the trusts to lose their applicable generation-skipping transfer tax status. Two trusts were…
IRS approved a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC
The IRS granted a taxpayer consent to make a retroactive qualified electing fund election for a passive foreign investment company. The taxpayer had indirectly invested in the foreign corporation…
IRS approved affiliated-group ownership under security agreements
The IRS ruled that a parent’s ownership of a subsidiary’s stock would constitute beneficial and direct ownership for purposes of IRC § 1504 while a special security agreement was in place. It also…
IRS granted late S corporation election relief
The IRS granted a corporation relief for failing to timely file Form 2553 to elect S corporation status. The corporation had intended for its election to be effective on its formation date, but the…
IRS granted late partnership classification election
The IRS granted a limited liability company 60 more days to file an entity classification election and be treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes. The company had two members who intended…
PLR 1025021: IRS granted more time to make a QTIP election for a trust
The IRS granted a taxpayer 60 days to make a late qualified terminable interest property (QTIP) election for a stock transfer to a trust benefiting the taxpayer's spouse. The taxpayer had timely…
PLR 1025020: IRS allowed a late mark-to-market election for PFIC stock
The IRS granted a common trust fund 60 days to make late mark-to-market elections for stock in four passive foreign investment companies (PFICs). The fund's prior return did not include the required…
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.