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.
No determinations match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Family genealogy group denied section 501(c)(3) status
An organization sought recognition as a tax-exempt educational organization under section 501(c)(3). It researched and shared the genealogy of one individual and that person's descendants, communicate…
Private lake association denied section 501(c)(3) status
A lake association sought recognition as a charitable organization under section 501(c)(3). Its organizing document said it existed to promote fellowship among cottage owners and residents, regulate u…
Late taxable REIT subsidiary election received a 90-day extension
A taxpayer planning to elect real estate investment trust status and its wholly owned subsidiary intended to elect jointly for the subsidiary to be treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary. Their fund's c…
Consolidated group received 75 days to make a late CNOL carryback waiver
The common parent of a consolidated group failed to make a valid election to give up the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss. The group represented that it had not carried an…
Qualified opportunity fund received 60 days to file late self-certification
A partnership intended to operate as a qualified opportunity fund beginning in its first tax year. Its accounting firm mistakenly believed the partnership had no filing obligation for that year becaus…
Multi-step product-line separation qualified for tax-free distribution treatment
A foreign corporate group planned to separate an established product line from an earlier-stage product line that needed substantial capital. The plan moved the development assets and cash into a new …
IC-DISC received 90 days to file its late election
A newly formed domestic corporation intended to elect interest charge domestic international sales corporation status for its first tax year. Its tax consultant prepared Form 4876-A and delivered it t…
Late-filed qualified opportunity fund self-certification treated as timely
A partnership was formed to qualify as a qualified opportunity fund and invest indirectly in qualified opportunity zone property. Its managing member hired a law firm to form the entity but mistakenly…
Late trust elections did not end S corporation status
An S corporation's shareholder died, and shares passed under the will to three trusts. Two trusts made qualified subchapter S trust elections even though they did not meet the QSST requirements, then …
Late ESBT election did not end S corporation status
Shares of an S corporation passed under a shareholder's will to a trust for one income beneficiary, who elected qualified subchapter S trust treatment. When the beneficiary died, the trust stopped qua…
S corporation received relief for a trust's late ESBT election
An S corporation shareholder left stock to a trust for a sole income beneficiary, who elected qualified subchapter S trust treatment. When that beneficiary died, the trust ceased to be a QSST but coul…
Target company received 60 days to make a late success-fee safe-harbor election
A privately held corporation was acquired through a taxable stock purchase and paid a financial adviser's contingent fee after the merger closed. Revenue Procedure 2011-29 offers a safe harbor that tr…
Opportunity fund received 60 days after its Form 8996 was filed with the wrong entity
A partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and received capital from multiple investors in its first year. Its accounting firm prepared returns for the partnership and another…
Late qualified opportunity fund self-certification treated as timely
A partnership was organized to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and invest in qualified opportunity zone property. It relied on an accountant to prepare and file its first Form 1065 and Form 89…
Omitted subsidiary treated as joining consolidated return
A parent corporation acquired two wholly owned subsidiaries and filed an initial consolidated return that included only one of them. Because of a mistake about the legal requirement to include every m…
Subsidiary deemed to join consolidated returns despite missing forms
A holding company and its wholly owned subsidiary intended to report their federal income taxes on a consolidated basis. Their accounting firm prepared standalone returns for the holding company that …
Teacher-renewal fellowship grant procedures approved
A private foundation proposed a fellowship program to address a school district's teacher shortage by supporting educators' renewal projects. Eligible applicants had to be experienced public-school te…
Tax-exempt status revoked for failing the operational test
The IRS revoked an organization's recognition as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3). The final determination states that the organization failed the operational test because it could not show that it …
Family reunion and genealogy organization denied exemption
An organization sought recognition as a charitable organization under section 501(c)(3) for activities centered on a twice-yearly family reunion. It presented one family's history, updated the family …
Partnership received 60 days to opt out of bonus depreciation for 15-year property
A partnership wanted to preserve eligibility for a federal tax credit by declining additional first-year depreciation on all qualified property placed in service during a tax year. Its return preparer…
Surviving spouse may roll a trust's inherited IRA distribution into a personal IRA
A deceased IRA owner's estate transferred four traditional IRAs into an inherited IRA for a trust, and the surviving spouse was entitled to a redacted percentage of a specified trust residue. The spou…
Limited partnership received 120 days to make a late corporate classification election
A limited partnership intended to elect treatment as an association taxable as a corporation but did not timely file Form 8832. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and that late …
Late accounting-method change forms did not qualify for an extension
An S corporation intended to make two automatic accounting-method changes involving sections 263A and 472. Its return preparer did not timely file the return or the original and signed duplicate Forms…
Partnership ownership caused an inadvertent S corporation termination
An S corporation's shares were acquired by a limited liability company classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes. Because a partnership is not an eligible S corporation shareholder, the acq…
Pension surplus transfers qualified for the replacement-plan exception
A public company terminated two defined benefit pension plans and proposed transferring all surplus assets to two corresponding defined contribution profit-sharing plans. At least 95 percent of active…
Late qualified opportunity fund election treated as timely
A partnership was formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property and serve as a qualified opportunity fund. Its members relied on an accountant to prepare the first Form 1065 and attach Form …
Corporation received 120 days to file a late S election
A corporation's shareholders intended the company to be an S corporation from a specified effective date, but the company inadvertently failed to file Form 2553 on time. Section 1362(b)(5) allows the …
Real estate partnership received 60 days to make a late section 163(j) election
A partnership owning and operating a real estate project intended to elect out of the section 163(j) business-interest limitation as an electing real property trade or business. Its operating agreemen…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A general partnership failed to file a section 754 election for the year in which one of its partners died. The election allows partnership-property basis adjustments after certain distributions or tr…
Litigation-related contingent set-asides approved
A testamentary private foundation trust was required to distribute income to a charitable recipient. After that recipient sold its assets and stopped regular operations, state-law proceedings addresse…
Member-benefit organization denied section 501(c)(3) status
An organization sought recognition as a charitable organization under section 501(c)(3). Its activities included paying members' work-related legal fees, helping members with funeral costs for immedia…
Commercial fitness gym denied section 501(c)(3) status
An organization planned to operate fitness gyms and use profits to support humanitarian and poverty-relief work. The gyms would be open to the public, employ paid managers and trainers, and charge mon…
Real estate trade association denied section 501(c)(4) status
A real estate trade association sought reinstatement as a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization after its self-declared section 501(c)(6) status had been automatically revoked. Its bylaws focu…
Inactive school's section 501(c)(3) status revoked
The IRS revoked the section 501(c)(3) status of an organization that had previously been classified as a school under section 170(b)(1)(A)(ii). The organization stopped operating during the COVID-19 p…
Extension granted to request revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedules
A corporation owned interests in two nuclear power plants and maintained qualified nuclear decommissioning funds under section 468A. After the Nuclear Regulatory Commission extended both plants' opera…
Extension granted for nuclear decommissioning fund schedule request
A corporation owned an interest in a nuclear power plant and maintained a qualified nuclear decommissioning fund under section 468A. When the Nuclear Regulatory Commission extended the plant's operati…
Extension granted for late entity classification election
An eligible domestic entity intended to elect corporate tax treatment but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It asked the IRS for an extension under Treasury Regulations sections 301.9100…
Extension granted for late section 336(e) election
An individual purchased all the stock of an S corporation, and the parties intended to treat the transaction as an asset sale under section 336(e). They did not timely enter the required written agree…
Tax-free treatment approved for internal and external spin-off distributions
A multinational corporate group proposed separating one business from its two remaining businesses through three internal stock distributions followed by a pro rata distribution to the parent's public…
Extension granted to complete IC-DISC election
A newly formed domestic corporation intended to elect interest charge domestic international sales corporation status for its first tax year. Its president timely filed Form 4876-A but signed only as …
No investment credit recapture for intragroup partnership transfers
A member of a consolidated corporate group held interests in partnerships that owned renewable energy projects generating section 48 tax credits. The group proposed moving those partnership interests …
Extension granted for late section 754 election
A partnership failed to make a timely section 754 election for the year in which a new partner purchased an interest from existing partners. It represented that the failure was inadvertent, that it ac…
Extension granted for foreign entity's disregarded status election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the standards fo…
Inadvertent S corporation election defects excused
A limited liability company elected S corporation status, but its election was ineffective from the start for two reasons. A corporate owner was treated as holding an interest on the effective date, a…
Inadvertent S corporation termination excused after ownership change
An S corporation's shares were held through a disregarded limited liability company owned by two grantor trusts. When the grantor died, the limited liability company became a partnership and therefore…
Tax-free treatment approved for multinational business spin-off
A foreign public company proposed separating one business into a new publicly traded company. Before the pro rata spin-off, U.S. group members would move specified operating assets into a U.S. subsidi…
Extension granted to correct missing IC-DISC shareholder signature
A domestic corporation timely filed Form 4876-A to elect IC-DISC treatment but omitted one shareholder's consent signature. The corporation believed the election was effective and consistently filed I…
Expanded clergy benefits continue to advance religion
A section 501(c)(3) organization has supported the widows and children of deceased clergy for more than 200 years through grants, stipends, and death benefits. It proposed increasing annual stipend pa…
Mortgage certificate exchange trust qualifies as fixed investment trust
A mortgage-backed securities sponsor proposed exchange trusts that would hold one class of REMIC or grantor trust certificates. Investors could exchange those certificates for matching classes with fi…
Employer-related scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed a scholarship program for children of employees of related organizations. An independent organization and selection committee would choose recipients using academic perfo…
Expanded professional fellowship procedures approved
A private foundation operated a two-phase educational program designed to prepare students for professional service in a specified community. It proposed expanding the graduate fellowship phase to app…
IRS revokes a recreational club's 501(c)(3) status for operating as a business
This final IRS letter revokes the 501(c)(3) exemption of a recreational sporting club (its grounds include trap clubs). The club had been recognized years earlier as a public charity under Section 509…
Tax exemption denied for member health care sharing program
An organization sought section 501(c)(3) status for a faith-based health care sharing program. Members would pay monthly fees, and the organization would use subscription revenue to help pay participa…
IRS revokes a dormant self-declared church's 501(c)(3) status
This final IRS letter revokes the 501(c)(3) status of an organization that had held itself out as a church. Churches are exempt automatically and do not file Form 1023, so this organization had never …
Exempt status revoked for failure to provide records
The IRS selected a section 501(c)(3) public charity's filing for examination and repeatedly requested financial, organizational, and operational records. The organization did not respond to mailed req…
Farmers market association denied business league exemption
An unincorporated association operated two farmers markets where members paid fees to sell their products. The association managed the venues, provided insurance, advertised individual vendors and the…
Exempt status revoked after years of inactivity
A section 501(c)(3) public charity had been dormant and out of operation for several years. Its current and prior Forms 990-EZ reported no income, expenses, assets, or liabilities for the periods desc…
Disaster relief postpones assessment deadline to end of relief period
Chief Counsel advised that section 7508A postpones covered deadlines that fall within a designated disaster postponement period. Notice 2023-71 established a postponement period from October 7, 2023, …
Partnership representative files Tax Court petition for partnership
Chief Counsel addressed whether the partnership representative or the partnership is the petitioner in a case challenging a final partnership adjustment. Section 6234 says the partnership may file the…
Partner credits applied after additional reporting year tax calculation
Chief Counsel explained how a partner calculates tax after receiving a section 6226 push-out statement. The additional reporting year tax is an adjustment to the partner's chapter 1 tax for the report…
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.