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 determination 200817064: Homeowners association loses social club exemption
The IRS retroactively revoked a homeowners association's exemption as a social club under § 501(c)(7). The association maintained a marina, tennis courts, gates, post boxes, and common areas, but…
IRS determination 200817063: Cancer awareness charity loses tax exemption
The IRS revoked a cancer awareness organization's exemption under § 501(c)(3). The founder said the organization had stopped operating after an expected grant fell through, and the IRS could not…
IRS determination 200817062: Missing returns and records lead to exemption revocation
The IRS revoked an organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption after it failed to respond to requests for Forms 990 and other information. The attached examination report says the organization did not file…
IRS determination 200817061: Missing Forms 990 lead to social welfare exemption revocation
The IRS revoked an organization's § 501(c)(4) exemption after it failed to file Forms 990 for two redacted tax periods or respond to IRS requests for them. Without the returns and records, the IRS…
IRS determination 200817060: Private foundation exemption revoked after incomplete filings
The IRS revoked a private foundation's § 501(c)(3) exemption after it failed to provide complete Forms 990-PF and records requested for an examination. The foundation supplied two incomplete returns…
PLR 200817059: Rollover deadline waiver denied after a tax withholding mistake
A surviving spouse received distributions from a qualified retirement plan and a § 403(b) annuity. He did not roll the money into an IRA within 60 days because he believed enough federal tax had…
IRS determination 200817058: Seller funded down payment program loses exemption
The IRS revoked a down payment assistance organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption. Home sellers paid the organization amounts tied to the assistance given to buyers, plus a service fee, and real estate…
IRS determination 200817057: Change to club purposes ends charitable exemption
The IRS retroactively revoked an organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption after it amended its articles of incorporation to pursue club and family benefit society purposes. The IRS found that the new…
IRS determination 200817056: Missing records and returns end charitable exemption
The IRS revoked an organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption after it did not respond to repeated requests for records needed to examine its Form 990. The final letter also says the organization failed…
IRS determination 200817055: Charity loses exemption after its funds return to a founder's business
The IRS revoked a supporting organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption because it operated as part of an offshore tax avoidance and asset protection plan for its founders. The founders claimed a…
IRS determination 200817054: Charity loses exemption after failing to provide records
The IRS revoked an organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption after it failed to respond to repeated requests for its financial books and records. Without those records, the IRS said it could not verify…
IRS determination 200817053: Unanswered record requests and missing returns end exemption
The IRS revoked an organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption after it failed to provide records for an examination of its Form 990 and failed to file that return for a redacted year. The first request…
IRS determination 200817052: Unanswered audit requests lead to loss of exemption
The IRS revoked an organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption after it failed to provide records requested for an examination. An IRS agent went to the listed address for an audit appointment and found…
IRS determination 200817051: Seller funded down payment assistance ends charity status
The IRS revoked the § 501(c)(3) exemption of an organization that provided down payment assistance to home buyers. The final letter says home sellers and related businesses funded the assistance and…
IRS determination 200817050: Missing charity and payroll returns accompany revocation
The IRS revoked an organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption after it failed to provide information about its receipts, spending, and activities. The attached final determination report says the…
IRS determination 200817049: Family use of supporting foundation funds leads to revocation
The IRS revoked a foundation's § 501(c)(3) exemption effective January 1 of a redacted year. The examination report says a trustee used foundation funds to pay one son's tuition and make loans to…
IRS determination 200817048: Foundation's private benefits lead to retroactive revocation
The IRS revoked a supporting foundation's § 501(c)(3) exemption effective October 15 of a redacted year. Its examination report says the founders used foundation funds to pay personal loans and…
IRS determination 200817047: Failure to supply examination records leads to revocation
The IRS revoked an organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption effective January 1 of a redacted year. The examination report says the IRS sent three requests for records needed to examine its Form 990,…
IRS determination 200817046: Unfiled returns and missing records lead to revocation
The IRS revoked an organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption effective January 1 of a redacted year. The final letter says the organization had performed no activities since inception and had supplied no…
IRS determination 200817045: Home school service group denied charitable exemption
An organization serving home schooling families sought exemption under § 501(c)(3) and classification as a school. It provided records, group activities, a school seal, and referrals to tutors,…
IRS determination 200817044: Inactive charity loses its exemption
The IRS revoked an organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption effective June 1 of a redacted year. The examination report says the organization had conducted no activities since incorporation, held no…
IRS determination 200817043: Commercial retreat center loses charitable exemption
The IRS revoked a retreat and conference center's § 501(c)(3) exemption, effective December 11 of a redacted year. Its examination report says the center rented its facilities to the public, earned…
IRS determination 200817042: Missing records and commercial project lead to revocation
The IRS revoked an organization's § 501(c)(3) exemption effective January 1 of a redacted year, a result the organization accepted on Form 6018. The organization was formed to educate people…
IRS determination 200817041: Trust loses exemption after benefiting founder's business
The IRS revoked a charitable trust's § 501(c)(3) exemption effective December 27 of a redacted year. The founder donated three vacation condominiums to the trust, then rented them through his own…
PLR 200817040: Community trust and related corporation treated as one entity
A community foundation organized as a trust created a nonprofit corporation to help administer charitable funds. The two organizations shared directors, purposes, and largely matching governing…
PLR 200817039: Early end to charitable remainder trust avoids two excise taxes
Two income beneficiaries and a public charity agreed to end a charitable remainder unitrust early and divide its assets according to the actuarial value of their interests. The IRS ruled that this…
PLR 200817038: Pooled investment units create no unrelated business income for trust
An educational charity served as trustee and remainder beneficiary of several charitable remainder trusts. It proposed giving those trusts contractual units tied to its investment pool, with…
TAM 200817037: Investment income excluded from treaty support test
A foreign private foundation sought a treaty exemption from the U.S. excise tax on its U.S. investment income. The treaty required it to receive substantially all its support from people who were…
CCA 200817036: Reissuing penalty notice does not restart protest deadline
The IRS mailed a Letter 1153 proposing a trust fund recovery penalty, then reissued it with a new date after the taxpayer's representative said an attachment was missing. Chief Counsel advised that…
CCA 200817035: Reclassified securities remain investment holdings
A securities dealer had identified part of its portfolio as held for investment, which kept those securities outside the dealer mark-to-market rule in § 475. It later reclassified many of them as…
PLR 200817034: Inadvertent preferred stock issue gets S corporation relief
An S corporation issued preferred stock with distribution rights different from its common stock. That created a second class of stock and terminated both its S election and its subsidiary's QSub…
PLR 200817033: Parent gets 30 days to file missing LIFO elections
A parent corporation had used the LIFO inventory method for two divisions of a subsidiary but failed to attach the required Forms 970 to its consolidated returns. The company found the omissions…
PLR 200817032: Late S corporation election granted with 60-day filing condition
A corporation intended to elect S corporation status but failed to file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the late election under § 1362(b)(5). It ruled that the election would…
PLR 200817031: REIT cash or stock dividend treated as property distribution
A publicly traded company that represented itself as a REIT planned a special dividend payable in cash, stock, or a mix, at each shareholder's election. It capped the total cash available but…
PLR 200817030: Extra time to send missing duplicate accounting form
A taxpayer timely attached the original Form 3115 to its consolidated return to request an automatic accounting method change. It failed to send a signed duplicate to the IRS national office as the…
PLR 200817029: Deferred advance payments need no earnings and profits adjustment
A corporation asked how to compute earnings and profits when it defers certain advance payments under an accepted accounting method. The IRS ruled that the corporation need not make a separate…
PLR 200817028: Three mortgage trusts receive late REMIC election relief
Three mortgage trusts missed their first-year Forms 1066 and REMIC elections after their former trustee misunderstood who would handle filing. An employee concealed the omission, and the successor…
PLR 200817027: Late fiscal-year election accepted for November year end
A taxpayer intended to file Form 8716 to keep a taxable year ending November 30, but the form was not filed on time. It had engaged a qualified tax professional, and the IRS found that the missed…
PLR 200817026: Partnership gets 60 days for late basis adjustment election
A limited liability company treated as a partnership did not make a § 754 election when a member died and its return was filed. Its accountant had failed to advise it to make the election. Based on…
PLR 200817025: Extra time to elect taxable REIT subsidiary status
A company that had elected REIT treatment and its wholly owned subsidiary prepared a joint Form 8875 to elect taxable REIT subsidiary status. Their secretary directed staff to mail it, but the IRS…
PLR 200817024: Late investment interest elections allowed for three years
A married couple requested more time to elect to include net capital gain in investment income when computing their investment interest deduction for three tax years. Their returns had been filed on…
PLR 200817023: Managed building rent excluded from S corporation passive income
An S corporation with accumulated earnings and profits owned, leased, and managed an office building and parking lot. Its employees handled repairs, tenant matters, leasing, safety, and other work,…
PLR 200817022: Late S election honored if Form 2553 is filed within 60 days
A corporation's two shareholders intended S corporation status from a stated effective date, but its Form 2553 was not filed on time. The corporation represented that it and the shareholders had…
PLR 200817021: Foreign subsidiary gets time for disregarded entity election
A foreign entity became wholly owned by a subsidiary of a parent company and intended to be disregarded as separate from its owner for U.S. tax purposes from the acquisition date. Its Form 8832…
PLR 200817020: Foreign entity gets late partnership classification election
A foreign entity intended to elect partnership treatment for U.S. tax purposes from the date it was formed, but inadvertently missed the election deadline. The IRS found the requirements for…
PLR 200817019: LLC gets time for late corporate classification election
A domestic limited liability company intended to be taxed as a corporation from the date it was formed, but did not file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the requirements for discretionary…
PLR 200817018: Chosen donation of cooperative rebates can be deductible
A cooperative member could redeem patronage dividends and credit card rebates in cash or merchandise, or direct the cooperative to send their cash value to a charity. The IRS ruled that choosing the…
PLR 200817017: Foreign entity gets late corporate classification election
A foreign entity represented that it was eligible to elect corporate tax classification from its formation date. It intended to make that election but inadvertently missed the Form 8832 deadline.…
PLR 200817016: Late S corporation election effective from incorporation
A corporation intended S corporation treatment from its incorporation date but did not file its election on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline and granted relief under §…
PLR 200817015: S status restored after corporate partner enters ownership
An S corporation converted to a limited partnership, and an ineligible corporate owner became its general partner, ending its S election. The conversion also may have created a second class of…
PLR 200817014: Water utility liquidation income excluded, recapture unresolved
A nonprofit water utility owned through a community facilities district planned to liquidate into a town so their separate water systems could be administered together. The IRS ruled that the…
PLR 200817013: S corporation kept its status despite shares held by IRAs
Six individual retirement accounts received shares of an S corporation even though they were ineligible shareholders. After discovering the problem, the company redeemed some shares and the…
PLR 200817012: Liquidating S corporation gains pass through to former grantor trust
A trust that had become irrevocable at its grantor's death owned all the shares of an S corporation that planned to sell some real estate and liquidate. The IRS ruled that, while the trust qualifies…
PLR 200817011: Spouses received more time to allocate GST exemption to trusts
A grantor funded two trusts for the grantor's sons, and the grantor and spouse elected to split the gifts. Their accountant timely filed gift tax returns but did not allocate either spouse's…
PLR 200817010: More time granted to document acquisition success fees
Two affiliated corporate groups incurred fees tied to a taxable stock acquisition. They expected an extension of their return filing deadline, but failed to file the extension form on time, so…
PLR 200817009: Moving a beneficiary's share to a new trust avoided gain and transfer taxes
The trustee of an irrevocable trust created by parents who were not U.S. citizens or residents proposed moving one daughter's share to a second trust for her and her descendants. The IRS ruled that…
PLR 200817008: Late S corporation election allowed from incorporation date
A corporation intended to be an S corporation from the day it was incorporated but did not file Form 2553 on time. The IRS found reasonable cause for the missed deadline. It ruled that the election…
PLR 200817007: Closely held company qualified for parachute-payment small business exception
A privately held corporation owned through family trusts had agreed to payments for employees that would otherwise be parachute payments under § 280G. It had never elected S corporation status, and…
PLR 200817006: Missed trust election did not end S corporation treatment
An S corporation shareholder had placed stock in a grantor trust. After the shareholder died, the trust could hold the stock as a permitted shareholder for two years, but its beneficiary did not…
PLR 200817005: Ineligible shareholder and missing consent did not defeat S elections
A company elected S corporation status and qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) treatment for three subsidiaries, but another S corporation held some of its stock and a shareholder with a…
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.