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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Company received 120 days for late foreign disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its sole owner but inadvertently missed the deadline for filing Form 8832. The entity represented that it acted reasonably and in g…
Foreign company received 120 days to file Form 8832
A foreign company intended to elect disregarded-entity treatment from a specified date but failed to file Form 8832 on time. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and that granting…
Utility's decoupled attrition method violated normalization rules
A regulated utility's three-year rate plan used activity from the first year as a proxy for parts of the third-year rate base. That method produced depreciation-reserve and deferred-tax-reserve amount…
Amended Form 8996 was treated as a timely QOF election
A partnership formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property timely filed Form 1065 but omitted Form 8996. Neither the partnership representative nor the experienced CPA who prepared the retu…
Scholarship procedures for veterans' and first responders' children approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for children of veterans and first responders in a defined geographic area. The awards would support two-year or four-year undergraduate study or qualifying …
Foundation's building-renovation set-aside was approved
A private foundation that supports criminal-justice and youth-justice reform asked to set aside funds for a long-term renovation of its headquarters. The building housed foundation staff and also prov…
Multiemployer plan received five-year amortization extensions
A multiemployer pension plan requested automatic extensions for amortizing specified unfunded-liability charge bases as of July 1, 2022. The plan actuary certified that without relief the plan would h…
Toxicology research and training grant procedures approved
A private foundation proposed grants for toxicology research and for health workers to attend seminars, conferences, and training related to poison control. Nurses, physicians, public-health workers, …
NIL collective was denied charitable exemption
An organization collected donations and entered name, image, and likeness agreements with university student-athletes. The athletes performed community-service hours with local charities and promoted …
Homebuyer counseling and realtor referral group was denied exemption
An organization offered free budgeting, credit-review, financial-literacy, and mortgage-readiness services to prospective home buyers. After a client chose to lease or buy, the client could work with …
Housing project received 120 days to make omitted average-income elections
The owner of a multi-building low-income housing project intended to elect the average-income minimum set-aside under Section 42(g)(1)(C). Contemporaneous records showed that intent, but the owner ina…
Trust termination did not defeat beneficiary's Section 1031 holding purpose
A testamentary trust held real property for investment and began negotiating its disposition before the death that required the trust to terminate. Under a proposed court-approved termination plan, th…
Partnership received 120 days to make late Section 754 election
A limited partnership failed to file a Section 754 election for the tax year in which a partner died while owning an interest through a grantor trust. The partnership represented that it had relied on…
Partnership received conditional relief for late Section 754 election
A limited liability limited partnership intended to make a Section 754 election for the year a partner died, but its qualified tax professional neither made nor advised it to make the election. Based …
Borough's deferred compensation plan qualified under Section 457(b)
A political subdivision adopted a nonqualified deferred compensation plan and related trust for its employees and beneficiaries. The plan allowed timely compensation-deferral elections, designated Rot…
Foreign entity received 120 days for late corporate classification election
A foreign eligible entity intended to elect association status, making it taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal tax purposes, but failed to file Form 8832 for the intended effective date. Based so…
Taxpayer received 60 days for late success-based fee election
A consolidated group's subsidiary paid a success-based financial-adviser fee in connection with acquiring one business and selling another. The taxpayer intended to elect the Revenue Procedure 2011-29…
LLC received conditional relief for late Section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership inadvertently failed to make a Section 754 election for the year one of two spouses holding an interest as community property died. Based solely on t…
LLC received inadvertent S corporation election relief
An LLC's operating agreement gave owners nonidentical distribution and liquidation rights, creating a second class of stock that made its S corporation election ineffective. The LLC also made dispropo…
Late QSST election did not terminate S corporation status
An S corporation's stock was held by a grantor trust until the grantor died. The trust agreement then required separate shares, including one for an individual beneficiary that qualified as a separate…
Foreign entity received relief for late partnership election
A foreign eligible entity intended to elect partnership classification but inadvertently failed to timely file Form 8832. After a member died and the estate was administered, the entity became single-…
Indexed structured-settlement annuity qualified under Section 130
A structured-settlement assignment company proposed buying an indexed annuity from a related life insurer to fund periodic payments for a physically injured claimant. The contract guarantees a minimum…
Indexed structured-settlement annuity met Section 130 requirements
A structured-settlement assignment company proposed buying an indexed annuity from a related life insurer to fund periodic payments for a physically injured claimant. The contract guarantees a minimum…
Artist scholarship and educational grant procedures were approved
A private foundation proposed scholarship and educational grant programs for working artists. Scholarships would support undergraduate or graduate study, use objective and nondiscriminatory criteria, …
Trading firm received 30 days for late mixed-straddle election
A proprietary trading firm moved a strategy involving offsetting Section 1256 and non-Section 1256 positions from a partnership to its disregarded broker-dealer entity. Although predecessor entities h…
Industry standards certification income was not unrelated business income
A Section 501(c)(6) industry association developed safety and environmental management standards and also certified facilities to comparable standards created by an unrelated international standards b…
Corporation received 120 days to file late S election
A corporation's four shareholders intended S corporation treatment from a specified effective date, but the corporation inadvertently failed to timely file Form 2553. Based solely on the submitted fac…
REIT's independent-living communities received different health-facility classifications
A REIT owned independent retirement living communities that provided meals, transportation, social activities, emergency pendants, utilities, housekeeping, and wellness programming. At the managed com…
Employer-related scholarship procedures were approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for local residents attending vocational, undergraduate, or graduate programs, with preferences for current or retired employees of a food distributor and th…
Renewable county scholarship procedures were approved
A private foundation proposed need- and achievement-based scholarships for students from specified counties attending four-year colleges or technical schools. Awards would be paid directly to the scho…
Trust lost exemption after failing to provide examination records
A trust recognized as a Section 501(c)(3) non-functionally integrated supporting organization was selected for examination. The IRS repeatedly requested records through an appointment letter, extensio…
Private-road homeowners association was denied exemption
A mutual-benefit road association owned and maintained a private roadway serving the residential lots of its members. The road was the members' sole ingress and egress to a public road, was marked as …
Homeowners association was denied charitable exemption
A homeowners association applied for Section 501(c)(3) status on Form 1023-EZ while identifying itself as an unincorporated association. State records instead showed that it was a corporation whose ar…
NIL collective was denied charitable exemption
A nonprofit proposed to pay student athletes from one university for personal appearances and social media posts promoting nearby charities. It argued that the arrangement would expand the charities' …
Trust was reclassified as a private foundation
A charitable trust had been classified as a Type III functionally integrated supporting organization under Section 509(a)(3). After regulatory changes, it reported that it did not provide required ann…
Local business association was denied charitable exemption
A member-supported association sought Section 501(c)(3) status while promoting small businesses in a rural community. Its activities included vendor events, parades, business awards and publicity, net…
REIT received 90 days to make a late taxable-subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust intended for a service-provider subsidiary to be treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary effective when the subsidiary began operations. Outside counsel formed the entity a…
Estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 but needed an estate tax return to transfer the decedent's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The estate did not timely file the ret…
Parties received relief for a late Section 336(e) election
A purchaser acquired all stock of an S corporation, and the parties intended to elect under Section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as an asset sale. They relied on a qualified tax professional who fai…
Corporation received relief for an inadvertent S election termination
Two trusts acquired stock in an S corporation but their trustee failed to make timely electing small business trust elections. Because the trusts were then ineligible shareholders, the corporation's S…
Scholarship and educational grant procedures were approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for higher education and educational grants to help individuals improve career skills in nursing, medicine, health services, aviation, and related fields. Ap…
Aviation scholarship procedures were approved
A private foundation proposed four scholarship and grant programs for aviation, aeronautics, aircraft mechanics, engineering, and other STEM education. The programs would support undergraduate and gra…
Sports festival was denied charitable exemption
An organization sought Section 501(c)(3) status for an annual festival featuring trail and mountain-bike races, children's events, clinics, and other activities. It said the festival promoted physical…
Private social club was denied charitable exemption
An organization sought recognition as a tax-exempt charity under Section 501(c)(3). Its articles described it as a private social club, and its activities included weddings, showers, reunions, festiva…
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 s…
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 s…
Public agency captive insurer's income was excluded
A public agency whose participants were public charter schools formed a captive insurance company to provide the agency with reinsurance. The captive's income came from premiums paid by the agency and…
LLC could change early to disregarded entity status
A limited liability company had elected to be taxed as a corporation and wanted to change to disregarded entity status less than 60 months later. A new owner had acquired more than 50 percent of the c…
LLC received relief for late corporate classification election
A single-owner limited liability company intended to be taxed as a corporation from its formation date but did not timely file Form 8832. Without the election, the company was disregarded as separate …
Missed ESBT elections caused an inadvertent S corporation termination
Shares of an S corporation were held through two trusts after an individual shareholder died. The trusts met the requirements for electing small business trusts, but their trustees did not timely make…
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 s…
Outdoor industrial storage fees qualified as REIT rents
A company planning to elect REIT status intended to operate outdoor industrial storage properties and charge tenants fixed fees for reserved storage space. The properties would offer customary service…
Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule was approved
A utility that owned a qualifying interest in a nuclear power plant requested a mandatory revised schedule of deductible contributions to its nuclear decommissioning fund. The proposed schedule used a…
Retroactive QEF election was allowed
A U.S. person owned a minority interest in a foreign corporation that became a passive foreign investment company. The taxpayer relied on a qualified tax adviser who did not identify the corporation's…
Retroactive QEF election was allowed
A U.S. person owned a minority interest in a foreign corporation that became a passive foreign investment company. The taxpayer relied on a qualified tax adviser who did not identify the corporation's…
Supporting organization was reclassified as a private foundation
A tax-exempt charitable trust had been classified as a supporting organization under Section 509(a)(3). The IRS found that the supported charity did not appoint or share the trust's governing body, ha…
Charity lost exemption after failing to provide records
A charitable organization under examination did not provide the organizational and financial records requested by the IRS, including records of its receipts, expenditures, and activities. Its represen…
Deferred gain was excluded and downstream merger met continuity test
A consolidated corporate group completed a sale, internal distributions, an F reorganization, and a downstream merger into a disregarded entity owned by a partly public subsidiary. An earlier stock di…
Opportunity fund received more time to file self-certification
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to serve as a qualified opportunity fund. It expected an experienced accounting firm to file its first tax return and Form 8996, but a mis…
Opportunity fund received 60 days to make its election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was created to invest in opportunity-zone property and operate as a qualified opportunity fund. The company and its advisers expected an experienced …
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.