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.
Late opportunity fund election allowed after bad advice
A partnership formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property and operate as a qualified opportunity fund relied on its accounting firm for its first return. The firm incorrectly concluded tha…
International professional fellowship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed a fellowship program that would place experienced professionals with public institutions and nonprofit organizations in another country. Fellows would receive living stip…
Scholarship and talent-development grant procedures approved
A private foundation proposed two programs for people with financial need. One would pay tuition and related educational costs for students of any age attending accredited schools. The other would hel…
Social justice scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed a scholarship program for full-time students pursuing degrees related to law, social justice, criminal justice, and similar fields. A selection committee would consider c…
Social club denied reinstatement because outside income was too high
A social club sought reinstatement of its section 501(c)(7) tax exemption after an earlier automatic revocation for failing to file required returns. The club received substantial income from resident…
Songwriting and book-promotion organization denied section 501(c)(3) status
An organization applied for section 501(c)(3) status to provide free educational podcasts and online sessions about a program described in a book published by its sole director. It also created music …
Foreign-government investment partnership was not classified as a corporation
Two foreign-government controlled corporations formed a general partnership to pool investments, including possible investments in U.S. real property holding corporations. The partnership had at least…
Foreign-government limited partnership was not classified as a corporation
A foreign-government asset manager used a limited partnership to pool investments for several public-sector investors. The partnership had a general partner and four limited partners, had elected part…
Large foreign-government investment partnership was not a corporation
A foreign-government asset manager formed a limited partnership with a general partner and twelve limited partners to pool public-sector investments. Several investors were represented to be qualified…
Estate gets more time to elect portability of a late spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused part of their federal estate-tax exclusion can be passed to a surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) so the spouse can use it later. But that…
Affiliated group receives more time to elect consolidated return filing
The common parent of an affiliated corporate group missed the deadline to elect to file a consolidated federal income tax return for a taxable year. It requested relief under Treasury Regulation secti…
Housing project receives more time to make average-income election
A taxpayer owned a single-building low-income housing project and intended to make the average-income minimum set-aside election under section 42(g)(1)(C). Its contemporaneous records showed that inte…
Estate receives more time to allocate GST exemption to trust transfers
A donor transferred property to three trusts for descendants and elected with a spouse to treat the gifts as made one-half by each spouse. The donor relied on an accounting firm to prepare the gift ta…
Estate receives more time to make reverse QTIP election
A decedent's revocable trust created a marital trust for the surviving spouse and directed that trust to be divided into exempt and non-exempt portions if a reverse QTIP election was made. A co-execut…
Successor keeps acquired target's pre-2017 inversion date
A domestic corporate group proposed to acquire a foreign target that had become a surrogate foreign corporation before November 9, 2017. The buyer would acquire the target for cash, make section 338(g…
Estate receives more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because the decedent's gross estate and taxable gifts were below the section 6018 filing threshold. The decedent left a surviving spouse and had u…
Fund receives more time to self-certify as a qualified opportunity fund
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and invest in qualified opportunity zone property. It relied on a tax adviser to make the requi…
Corporate business separation qualifies for tax-free reorganization treatment
A publicly traded corporation proposed to separate one business into a newly formed controlled corporation while retaining its other businesses. The plan included asset and stock contributions, possib…
Successor corporation may make early S corporation election
A corporation became the successor to a limited liability company whose S corporation election terminated when the company became a disregarded subsidiary. The successor corporation's shareholders lat…
Late QOF self-certification treated as timely after filing misunderstanding
A partnership was formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property and operate as a qualified opportunity fund. Its members used an accountant who misunderstood the structure of two separate op…
Corporation receives inadvertent S election termination relief
An S corporation transferred shares to an individual who was a resident alien at the time. The shareholder later became a nonresident alien, making the shareholder ineligible and terminating the corpo…
Adult-adoption trust settlement preserves GST exemption and avoids gift tax
A family disputed whether three people adopted as adults qualified as descendants under a settlor's will and therefore shared in several family trusts. The trusts had become irrevocable before Septemb…
Family trust compromise keeps GST protection and creates no taxable gifts
Beneficiaries of several family trusts litigated whether three people adopted as adults counted as descendants under the settlor's will. The trusts were irrevocable before September 25, 1985, had no l…
Court settlement leaves grandfathered trusts GST-exempt and avoids gifts
Family members disputed whether three adults adopted by grandchildren were descendants entitled to share in trusts created under a settlor's will. The trusts were irrevocable before September 25, 1985…
Beneficiary settlement preserves GST grandfathering without gift tax
A dispute arose over whether three individuals adopted after reaching adulthood were descendants under a settlor's will and beneficiaries of multiple family trusts. Each trust was irrevocable before S…
Trust litigation settlement keeps GST exemption and causes no gifts
A trustee asked a state court to decide whether three adults adopted by the settlor's grandchildren qualified as descendants and remainder beneficiaries under the settlor's will. The affected trusts h…
Adult-adoptee compromise does not alter trusts' GST or gift tax treatment
Several beneficiaries contested whether adults adopted by members of the settlor's family were descendants under the settlor's will. The family trusts were irrevocable before September 25, 1985, and n…
Negotiated adult-adoption settlement preserves grandfathered tax status
The beneficiaries of several old family trusts disagreed about whether three adults adopted by grandchildren were descendants under the settlor's will. Because the trusts were irrevocable before Septe…
Reasonable trust compromise keeps GST exemption and avoids gifts
A long-running family dispute concerned whether three adult adoptees qualified as descendants and remainder beneficiaries under the settlor's will. The family trusts were irrevocable before September …
Family settlement does not disturb GST exemption or trigger gift tax
Family trust beneficiaries litigated whether three people adopted as adults qualified as descendants under a will and could share in the trust remainders. The trusts were protected from generation-ski…
Court-approved beneficiary compromise preserves old trusts' tax protection
A family disagreed over whether people adopted as adults were descendants for purposes of several trusts created under a will. The trusts were irrevocable before September 25, 1985, and had no later a…
Adult-adoptee trust settlement retains GST grandfather protection
The trustee and family beneficiaries disputed whether three individuals adopted as adults fit the will's definition of descendants. The family trusts were irrevocable before September 25, 1985, and ha…
Settlement of adoptee claims preserves trust tax grandfathering
A family trust dispute centered on whether three adults adopted by grandchildren were descendants under the settlor's will. The affected trusts were irrevocable before September 25, 1985, and had no l…
Beneficiary dispute settlement leaves grandfathered trusts unchanged for tax
A trustee sought a state-court ruling on whether three adults adopted by grandchildren qualified as descendants under a settlor's will. The family trusts were irrevocable before September 25, 1985, wi…
Adult-adoption settlement does not change grandfathered trust taxes
A trustee and family members disagreed about whether three adult adoptees qualified as descendants and remainder beneficiaries under a settlor's will. The affected trusts were irrevocable before Septe…
Family compromise preserves GST-exempt trusts without taxable gifts
Family members contested whether three people adopted as adults qualified as descendants under a will and could benefit from several family trusts. The trusts were irrevocable before September 25, 198…
Court compromise preserves family trusts' GST and gift tax treatment
Beneficiaries disputed whether three adults adopted by grandchildren fell within a will's definition of descendants. The family trusts involved were irrevocable before September 25, 1985, and had rece…
Adult-adoptee agreement preserves GST grandfathering and avoids gifts
A state-court dispute asked whether three adult adoptees qualified as descendants and potential remainder beneficiaries under a settlor's will. The family trusts at issue were irrevocable before Septe…
Foreign entity receives more time to elect partnership classification
A foreign entity represented that it was eligible to elect partnership treatment for federal tax purposes but failed to timely file Form 8832. It requested discretionary relief under Treasury Regulati…
Foreign pension and charity funds receive treaty and real-property tax exemptions
A foreign insurance and investment-management company proposed new segregated funds for tax-exempt pension plans and charitable organizations resident in a treaty country. Under local law, each fund w…
Late opportunity-fund certification accepted after adviser missed filing
A partnership with eighteen members was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and acquire qualified opportunity zone property. It hired a tax adviser to prepare the required filings, but t…
Missed extension does not prevent qualified opportunity fund election
A twelve-member partnership was organized to qualify as a qualified opportunity fund and invest in opportunity-zone property. It retained a tax adviser to handle the first-year filings, but the advise…
Foundation's educational research grant procedures approved
A private foundation proposed grants to individuals who would study issues affecting young people in a community and produce reports recommending possible solutions. The foundation planned public outr…
Commercial publishing and private benefits defeat section 501(c)(3) exemption
An organization formed to spread the teachings of a spiritual author merged with a for-profit publisher and continued selling, licensing, and subscribing readers to the author's books and other materi…
Foundation reclassified as a Type III functionally integrated supporting organization
A tax-exempt trust supported a named historical society by funding property maintenance, renovations, historical artifacts, equipment, and the operation of a museum and farm. Its earlier determination…
Exemption revoked for organizational and recordkeeping failures
The IRS revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption effective January 1, 2018. The organization's articles of incorporation did not satisfy the organizational test for tax-exempt status. Dur…
Data migration company was not a consulting business for qualified small business stock purposes
A shareholder asked whether a company that provides data migration and management services operated a qualified trade or business for the section 1202 exclusion for gain on qualified small business st…
Data migration company was not a consulting business for qualified small business stock purposes
A shareholder asked whether a company that provides data migration and management services operated a qualified trade or business for the section 1202 exclusion for gain on qualified small business st…
Data migration company was not a consulting business for qualified small business stock purposes
A shareholder asked whether a company that provides data migration and management services operated a qualified trade or business for the section 1202 exclusion for gain on qualified small business st…
Extension granted for a section 336(e) election statement
An S corporation's shareholders sold all of its stock to a purchaser, and the parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as an asset sale. They failed to file the required …
Extension granted to complete a section 336(e) election
An S corporation shareholder sold all of the corporation's stock to a purchaser, and the parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as an asset sale. They did not timely en…
Extension granted to elect ten-year amortization of research expenditures
A corporation developing automated driving solutions failed to make a timely election under section 59(e) for research and experimental expenditures. That election allows qualifying expenditures that …
Art lending collection treated as direct charitable use
A private foundation supported the arts through grants and planned to lend a donated and purchased collection of paintings and sculptures to public museums, galleries, schools, universities, and simil…
Extension granted to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A taxpayer created two trusts for the taxpayer's children and transferred cash to each trust. The taxpayer intended not to allocate generation-skipping transfer exemption to the transfers, but a CPA f…
Extension granted to elect out of bankruptcy ownership-change relief
A parent corporation and its consolidated group underwent an ownership change while the parent and two subsidiaries were under bankruptcy court jurisdiction. The group missed the deadline to elect out…
Extension granted for a partnership to self-certify as an opportunity fund
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and bought property in a qualified opportunity zone. Its members failed to file the partnership…
Extension granted to self-certify as an opportunity fund for two years
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to qualify as a qualified opportunity fund. Its tax adviser timely filed partnership returns for two years but failed to attach the requir…
Extension granted after an accountant omitted an opportunity fund form
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to qualify as a qualified opportunity fund. It relied on an accounting firm to file its first-year partnership return and all required for…
Extension granted after an adviser omitted an opportunity fund form
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property as a qualified opportunity fund. The partnership retained an adviser to handle its tax ma…
Foundation receives five more years to sell excess business holdings
A private foundation received a 50 percent membership interest in a health care holding company from a disqualified person. The unusually large gift created excess business holdings, and the company h…
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.