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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Employer-related scholarship procedures receive advance approval
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve an employer-related scholarship program for children of an employer's workers. Applicants must satisfy employment, enrollment, academic, and prior-award…
Farmers’ market denied exemption for commercial activity and vendor benefit
An organization applied for section 501(c)(3) status to operate a farmers’ market offering stalls to local farmers, artisans, food vendors, clubs, and other organizations. Vendors paid weekly or…
Proportionate stock surrenders avoid income, distribution, and gift treatment
An executive and several trusts proposed surrendering the same percentage of two classes of common shares to a corporation without receiving consideration. The corporation would retire those shares…
Proportionate stock surrenders avoid income, distribution, and gift treatment
An executive and several trusts proposed surrendering the same percentage of two classes of common shares to a corporation without receiving consideration. The corporation would retire those shares…
Proportionate stock surrenders avoid income, distribution, and gift treatment
An executive and several trusts proposed surrendering the same percentage of two classes of common shares to a corporation without receiving consideration. The corporation would retire those shares…
Proportionate stock surrenders avoid income, distribution, and gift treatment
An executive and several trusts proposed surrendering the same percentage of two classes of common shares to a corporation without receiving consideration. The corporation would retire those shares…
Proportionate stock surrenders avoid income, distribution, and gift treatment
An executive and several trusts proposed surrendering the same percentage of two classes of common shares to a corporation without receiving consideration. The corporation would retire those shares…
Proportionate stock surrenders avoid income, distribution, and gift treatment
An executive and several trusts proposed surrendering the same percentage of two classes of common shares to a corporation without receiving consideration. The corporation would retire those shares…
Proportionate stock surrenders avoid income, distribution, and gift treatment
An executive and several trusts proposed surrendering the same percentage of two classes of common shares to a corporation without receiving consideration. The corporation would retire those shares…
Proportionate stock surrenders avoid income, distribution, and gift treatment
An executive and several trusts proposed surrendering the same percentage of two classes of common shares to a corporation without receiving consideration. The corporation would retire those shares…
Proportionate stock surrenders avoid income, distribution, and gift treatment
An executive and several trusts proposed surrendering the same percentage of two classes of common shares to a corporation without receiving consideration. The corporation would retire those shares…
Corporate group receives 75 days to make late consolidated-return election
A parent corporation and five subsidiaries intended to elect to file a consolidated federal income tax return but did not make a valid election by the deadline. The return later filed for the group…
Opportunity fund receives 45 days to file late self-certification
A partnership organized as a limited liability company intended to qualify as a qualified opportunity fund from the month it was formed. Its first tax adviser failed to tell it that it needed to…
Proportionate stock surrenders avoid income, distribution, and gift treatment
An executive and several trusts proposed surrendering the same percentage of two classes of common shares to a corporation without receiving consideration. The corporation would retire those shares…
Proportionate stock surrenders avoid income, distribution, and gift treatment
An executive and several trusts proposed surrendering the same percentage of two classes of common shares to a corporation without receiving consideration. The corporation would retire those shares…
Charitable trust may set aside income while beneficiary litigation continues
A nonexempt charitable trust held testamentary income for a hospital that had historically been exempt under section 501(c)(3). After the hospital system sold its operating assets, competing…
Scholarship program for low-income students receives advance approval
A private foundation proposed scholarships for graduating high school seniors from identified low-income communities. Eligible students must attend qualifying in-state colleges or technical schools…
Special-needs student and teacher grant procedures receive approval
A private foundation proposed two educational grant programs tied to special education. One will help students with disabilities obtain specialized educational or therapeutic services at a named…
Farmers’ market denied agricultural-organization exemption
An organization sought section 501(c)(5) status for operating a farmers’ market that charged farmers and vendors to sell directly to consumers. It also ran a winter market for crafts, furniture, and…
Organization loses exemption after refusing examination requests
The IRS revoked an organization’s section 501(c)(3) status after it failed to cooperate with an examination. The examination file describes repeated letters, delinquency notices, telephone calls,…
Open-source software group denied charitable exemption
An unincorporated association sought section 501(c)(3) status to finance and coordinate development of an open-source operating system. A related for-profit company owned the copyrights, while the…
Supporting organization lost exemption after scholarship activity stopped
A tax-exempt supporting organization existed to fund scholarships for students connected with a supported public charity. It had not awarded scholarships or otherwise distributed funds for the…
Inactive nonprofit lost exemption after incomplete dissolution
A supporting organization told the IRS that it had ended operations, filed a final Form 990-EZ, and distributed its remaining assets to another section 501(c)(3) organization. It relied on a state…
Shopping-center association denied business-league exemption
A commercial condominium association sought exemption as a business league under section 501(c)(6). Its member merchants paid fees and assessments that funded maintenance, repairs, landscaping,…
Hereditary-society umbrella group denied charitable exemption
An association sought section 501(c)(3) status for helping founders create hereditary and lineage societies. It advised new groups about bylaws, officer duties, fees, insignia, applications, bank…
Rural business group denied charitable exemption
An unincorporated, member-driven organization sought section 501(c)(3) status while supporting businesses in a small rural community. Its activities included vendor fundraisers, holiday events,…
Counseling subsidy group denied reinstatement
An organization whose exemption had been automatically revoked sought reinstatement under section 501(c)(3). It raised donations to subsidize counseling and coaching supplied by a particular life…
Cook-off fundraising group denied charitable exemption
A group sought section 501(c)(3) status for raising money through cooking competitions and related fundraising. Donations and sponsorships paid entry fees, food, beverages, cooking supplies, and…
Related exam teams may share return information when tax duties require it
Chief Counsel advised that IRS examination teams may share third-party return information internally under section 6103(h)(1) when the receiving employees have a tax-administration need to know it.…
Estate received 120 days to make a portability election
An estate that was not otherwise required to file Form 706 missed the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. The estate requested discretionary…
S corporation received relief for QSST distribution failures
Two trusts holding stock in an S corporation converted from electing small business trusts to qualified subchapter S trusts. Their trustees later failed to distribute all trust income currently,…
Territory-funded trust income excluded under section 115
A United States territory created and exclusively funded a trust to hold assets for benefits the territory owed to recipients. The trust could distribute money only to the territory for those…
REIT bond and development-incentive income qualified under income tests
A hotel REIT received local-government development incentives connected with two properties. One incentive consisted of special obligation bonds paid from incremental property and occupancy taxes,…
Charity reclassified after it stopped operating a hospital
A section 501(c)(3) organization had been classified as a hospital under section 170(b)(1)(A)(iii). After it sold the hospital, its remaining operations were a home health service and a skilled…
Foreign-support charity reclassified as publicly supported
A section 501(c)(3) organization had been classified as a Type III functionally integrated supporting organization while supporting an organization formed outside the United States. Treasury…
Exemption revoked after organization ignored examination requests
A section 501(c)(3) organization did not respond to repeated IRS requests for records during an examination. The IRS sent certified and ordinary mail, checked the address with the Postal Service,…
School-support group reclassified as publicly supported
A volunteer organization supported a public school community through teacher grants, school events, family assistance, and improvement projects. It had been classified as a Type III non-functionally…
Exemption revoked over tax-preparation business and private benefit
A section 501(c)(3) organization shared bank accounts and operations with a for-profit tax-return preparation business owned and operated by insiders. Bank records showed individual tax refunds and…
Cross-border business separation qualifies as two tax-free reorganizations
A publicly traded foreign parent planned to separate two business lines from two others through a series of foreign and domestic transactions. The plan included a Country B “butterfly” transaction…
Estate gets 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate was not otherwise required to file a federal estate tax return because of the value of the decedent’s gross estate and adjusted taxable gifts. The estate nevertheless needed to file Form…
Surviving spouse may roll trust-held inherited IRA into own IRA
A decedent’s IRA was paid to an inherited IRA established for a trust rather than directly to the surviving spouse. After the trust was restated, the spouse became its sole trustee and had authority…
LLC gets 120 days to file late corporate classification election
A limited liability company intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation from a specified effective date. It failed to timely file Form 8832 to make that election and…
Opportunity fund gets 60 days to file late self-certification
A partnership formed to be a qualified opportunity fund received capital contributions but had no income, deduction, gain, or loss in its first year. Its accountant incorrectly advised that no…
Private foundation scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed annual scholarships for qualifying high school graduates who planned to attend four-year colleges or universities in the United States. Applicants would submit academic…
Need-based college scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed nonrenewable scholarships for full-time students in four-year college programs who met location, citizenship or residency, ancestry, and minimum-grade requirements.…
Business membership group denied charitable exemption
An organization applied for section 501(c)(3) status with a mission of promoting the future growth of a defined business community. Its activities included business workshops, member meetings and…
Exemption revoked for missing records and apparent inurement
A section 501(c)(3) organization gave inconsistent accounts of its fundraising events, income, and expenses and did not provide adequate records for many bank transactions. The IRS found numerous…
Educational group denied social-club exemption
An organization applied for exemption as a social club under section 501(c)(7), but its main activity was holding educational events about a particular philosophy for members and the public. It…
Family reunion group denied charitable exemption
An organization applied for section 501(c)(3) status to organize recurring family reunions with meals at a hotel. Participation was limited to family members and friends, and fees were based on…
Community business group denied charitable exemption
An organization applied for recognition under section 501(c)(3) while operating much like a local chamber of commerce. Its charter promoted the civic, commercial, industrial, and agricultural…
Online matchmaking service denied social-club exemption
An organization sought section 501(c)(7) social-club status for an online dating and matchmaking service. Subscribers created accounts, answered survey questions, received recommended matches, and…
Hunting and fishing group denied charitable exemption
An organization applied for section 501(c)(3) status with purposes that included protecting wildlife, enhancing hunting and fishing, and uniting sportsmen. It gave members and their immediate…
Timely revocation of section 83(b) election approved
A service provider received restricted class A units subject to a risk of forfeiture and filed an election under section 83(b). The taxpayer then asked the IRS for permission to revoke the election…
Estate granted 120 days to make QTIP election
A decedent's revocable trust became irrevocable at death and divided into marital and family trusts. The marital trust required income distributions to the surviving spouse and permitted principal…
Late section 336(e) election relief granted
A partnership-classified buyer acquired all the stock of an S corporation through a disregarded entity. The parties intended the stock sale to be treated as an asset sale under section 336(e), but…
Spouse granted time to elect out of automatic GST allocation
A taxpayer funded a three-year grantor retained annuity trust whose remainder would pass to a separate trust for descendants. The taxpayer and spouse elected gift splitting, so each was treated as…
Taxpayer granted time to elect out of automatic GST allocation
A taxpayer funded a three-year grantor retained annuity trust whose remainder would pass to a separate trust for descendants. The taxpayer and spouse elected gift splitting, so each was treated as…
Late section 336(e) election statement relief granted
A purchaser acquired all the stock of an S corporation, and the parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock disposition as an asset disposition. They did not timely attach the…
Late mark-to-market election denied for hindsight and prejudice
An individual who actively traded securities sought permission to make a late section 475(f)(1) mark-to-market election. The taxpayer had not known about the election when trading began and later…
LLC granted late partnership-classification election relief
A limited liability company elected S corporation status when it was formed, which caused it to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation. It later intended to change its…
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.