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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S corporation status preserved after a trust failed QSST requirements
An S corporation shareholder transferred stock to a grantor trust and later died. After the two-year period in which the trust remained an eligible shareholder following the owner's death, the benefic…
Filmmaker fellowship grant procedures approved
A private foundation proposed a one-year fellowship program for filmmakers from a redacted ethnic community. The grants would support culturally significant documentary and narrative films, with recip…
Science fellowship and travel grant procedures approved
A private foundation proposed fellowship and travel awards for early-career scientists. Fellowship candidates would be ranked by a selection committee, with the board making final selections and host …
Five-year extension granted for pension funding amortization periods
A multiemployer pension plan requested an automatic extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities beginning with its 2023 plan year. The plan submitted an actuarial certification that withou…
Employee-dependent scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for dependent children of qualifying full-time employees of a company. An independent tax-exempt organization would manage the program, and an independent co…
Estate receives 120 days to make a portability election
An estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because of the represented value of the gross estate and taxable gifts. It nevertheless needed to file the return to elect portability, which woul…
Late opportunity fund self-certification treated as timely
A partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and hold an interest in an opportunity zone business. Its members mistakenly believed no first-year return was needed because the pa…
Oil and gas partnership receives more time to expense drilling costs
An oil and gas joint venture taxed as a partnership failed to timely elect to deduct intangible drilling and development costs for a tax year. Without that election, the regulations generally treat th…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A limited partnership failed to make a section 754 election for the tax year in which a partner died. The election allows partnership property basis adjustments after certain distributions or transfer…
Late REMIC elections for eight mortgage pools treated as timely
A sponsor established eight asset pools for a mortgage securitization program and intended each pool to elect real estate mortgage investment conduit status. The sponsor filed identification and infor…
Opportunity fund receives 60 days after its CPA omitted Form 8996
A partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund, and an investor reported a capital gain deferral based on an investment in it. The partnership's long-time CPA filed Form 1065 but …
Estate receives more time for QTIP and reverse QTIP elections
A decedent's revocable trust divided its marital share between an exempt marital trust and a non-exempt marital trust for the surviving spouse. The estate hired a law firm to prepare Form 706 and make…
Contract-paid life insurance advisory fees are not owner distributions
A life insurer proposed variable life insurance contracts designed for owners who receive ongoing advice about allocating contract value among investment options. Under a separate authorization, the i…
Contract-paid life insurance advisory fees are not owner distributions
A life insurer proposed variable life insurance contracts designed for owners who receive ongoing advice about allocating contract value among investment options. Under a separate authorization, the i…
LLC allowed to change from corporation to disregarded entity
A limited liability company had elected to be taxed as a corporation and later wanted to change to disregarded-entity status before the usual 60-month waiting period expired. A new owner had acquired …
Student-athlete scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed at least two one-time annual scholarships for graduating student athletes at a specified high school, one boy and one girl. Applicants would need college acceptance and a…
Ten-year substitute mortality table approval for a pension plan
A single-employer pension plan requested approval to use substitute mortality tables for male and female annuitants and nonannuitants, excluding disabled participants. The tables were based on a 2016 …
Five-year substitute mortality table approval after stability concerns
A single-employer pension plan requested permission to use substitute mortality tables for male and female annuitants and nonannuitants, excluding disabled participants. The plan originally requested …
Horse competition organization denied charitable status
An organization applied for section 501(c)(3) status to promote the breeding, development, training, and competition of purpose-bred event horses. It planned to collect entry fees, publicize contestan…
Charity revoked for insider benefits and inadequate grant records
The IRS revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) status after examining its grants and governance. The organization had no active board oversight, and one officer controlled operations and disburse…
Charity status revoked after failure to provide audit records
The IRS revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) status after it failed to respond to repeated audit letters and telephone calls. The organization did not provide records of its receipts, expenditu…
Consolidated group received 75 days to waive a loss carryback
The common parent of a consolidated corporate group failed to file a valid election to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss. The group represented that it had not ca…
Estate received 120 days to make a late carryover-basis election
The executor of an estate for a person who died in 2010 missed the deadline to file Form 8939. That form would elect out of the estate-tax rules then reinstated for 2010 and instead apply section 1022…
Corporate separation qualified as a tax-free reorganization and distribution
A publicly traded corporation planned to separate one of two non-pharmaceutical businesses into a new publicly traded company. Both businesses had conducted regular operational and managerial activiti…
Partnership received 60 days to make a late opportunity fund election
A limited liability company treated as a partnership intended to become a qualified opportunity fund beginning in its formation month. Its two members had not previously formed such a fund and did not…
Late opportunity fund certification treated as timely
An LLC taxed as an S corporation was formed as a qualified opportunity fund and invested a shareholder's eligible gains in a partnership intended to hold opportunity-zone property. A financial advisor…
REIT received 90 days to make a late taxable-subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust formed an indirect subsidiary to hold assets connected with a real estate portfolio acquisition. The governing agreement called for the subsidiary to be taxed as a corpo…
Missed trust elections did not end S corporation status
An S corporation had two trust shareholders whose required elections were not timely filed. One trust remained a shareholder after its two-year post-death eligibility period ended, but its beneficiary…
LLC received 120 days for two missed tax elections
A single-member LLC owned by a tax-exempt organization served as the general partner of a partnership formed for a low-income housing tax-credit project. The LLC intended to elect corporate tax classi…
Trust split caused an inadvertent S corporation termination
An S corporation shareholder was a qualified subchapter S trust whose income beneficiary died. Until the trust formally divided, it maintained three separate shares for three successor beneficiaries, …
Trust split caused an inadvertent S corporation termination
An S corporation shareholder was a qualified subchapter S trust whose income beneficiary died. Until the trust formally divided, it maintained three separate shares for three successor beneficiaries, …
Fund's seven late first-year elections were treated as timely
A newly formed investment fund intended to make seven elections on its first regulated investment company return. The elections covered RIC status, deferral of late-year losses, post-year distribution…
Partnership received 60 days to elect out of bonus depreciation
A partnership intended to elect out of additional first-year depreciation for every class of qualified property it placed in service during the relevant year. Its timely filed return and Form 4562 con…
Missed trust election caused an inadvertent S corporation termination
An estate transferred S corporation stock to a trust under a will. The trust was an eligible shareholder for two years after the transfer, and it met the requirements for electing small business trust…
Partnership received 60 days to elect out of bonus depreciation
A partnership intended to elect out of additional first-year depreciation for every class of qualified property placed in service during the relevant year. Its timely filed return and Form 4562 consis…
Substitute interest qualified for a RIC's interest-related dividends
A sponsor asked whether substitute interest received by its exchange-traded regulated investment companies in securities lending and sale-repurchase transactions would count as qualified interest inco…
S corporation received relief for a late QSST election
An S corporation lost its status after a grantor trust shareholder's deemed owner died and the trust's income beneficiary failed to make a timely qualified subchapter S trust election. The trust becam…
Fuel card issuer could not claim refunds for a blood collector's fuel
A registered fuel credit card issuer asked to claim refunds or payments for federal fuel tax included in gasoline and diesel sold to a qualified blood collector organization. The issuer proposed billi…
Performing-artist grant procedures approved
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve procedures for grants supporting mid-career performing artists. The program would use nominations, eligibility screening, expert review, interviews, and f…
Commercial certification and consulting model denied exemption
An organization sought section 501(c)(3) status for a program promoting a redacted philosophy and movement. It planned to certify businesses, provide consulting, license a label, promote subscribers t…
Failure to provide records and state dissolution led to revocation
The IRS revoked a charity's section 501(c)(3) status after it failed to respond to repeated requests for books, financial records, board minutes, and information about its activities. Without those re…
Charity lost exemption after ignoring audit record requests
The IRS revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) status after it failed to provide records requested during an examination. The organization had received exemption through Form 1023-EZ and later fi…
IRS revokes a 501(c)(3)'s exemption on three grounds, including a court-ordered dissolution for fraud
This final IRS letter revokes a charity's 501(c)(3) exemption on three separate grounds. First, the operational test: after the IRS opened an audit and asked for standard financial records, the organi…
IRS revokes a 501(c)(3)'s exemption for ignoring an audit
This final IRS letter revokes a small charity's 501(c)(3) exemption because it would not cooperate with an audit. The organization had used the streamlined Form 1023-EZ to attest that it was organized…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) status to a member-artist cooperative gallery that serves its artists' private interests
This is a final IRS letter denying an organization's application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The applicant runs an art gallery that exhibits and sells the work of its own member artists. Members …
IRS denies 501(c)(3) status to a business association that serves its members' private interests
This is a final IRS letter denying an organization's application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The applicant is a business association that represents companies of a particular nationality across e…
IRS denies 501(c)(5) status to a group that just manages a subdivision's cattle-grazing lease
This is a final IRS letter denying an organization's application for tax-exempt status as an agricultural organization under Section 501(c)(5). The applicant's only activity is managing a cattle-grazi…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) exemption to a healing "church" whose ceremonies distribute a Schedule I hallucinogen
This is a final IRS letter denying an organization's application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The applicant described itself as a church built around an ancient religious practice: it holds plant-…
IRS revokes a 501(c)(3)'s exemption back to January 2021 for ignoring an audit
This final IRS letter revokes a small charity's 501(c)(3) exemption, effective January 1, 2021, because it would not cooperate with an audit. The organization was incorporated as a nonprofit with a pr…
IRS revokes a 501(c)(3)'s exemption for ignoring an audit of its records
This final IRS letter revokes a small charity's 501(c)(3) exemption on a single ground: it would not cooperate with an audit. The organization was incorporated as a nonprofit, recognized as a public c…
IRS revokes a 501(c)(3)'s exemption for ignoring an audit of its records
This final IRS letter revokes a small charity's 501(c)(3) exemption because it would not cooperate with an audit. The organization was incorporated as a nonprofit, recognized as a public charity, and …
IRS revokes a cancer-aid charity's exemption for a defective charter and for ignoring an audit
This final IRS letter revokes a small charity's 501(c)(3) exemption on two independent grounds. First, the organizational test: to be exempt, a nonprofit's articles of incorporation must limit its pur…
IRS revokes a 501(c)(3)'s exemption for ignoring an audit and being court-dissolved for charity-fraud, made retroactive to the dissolution date
This final IRS letter revokes a small charity's 501(c)(3) exemption on multiple grounds. The organization was incorporated as a nonprofit, recognized as a public charity, and filed Form 990-N (the e-p…
IRS revokes a 501(c)(3) charity's exemption after it ignored an audit of its records
This is a final IRS letter revoking a small charity's tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3). The organization was incorporated under a state Not-for-Profit Corporation Law, won recognition as a pu…
IRS revokes a charity's 501(c)(3) status on multiple grounds, a charter purpose broader than 501(c)(3) with no dissolution clause, failure to answer an audit, and court-ordered dissolution after a state attorney general's fraud suit
This is a final IRS determination revoking the federal tax-exempt status of an organization recognized as a 501(c)(3) public charity through the streamlined Form 1023-EZ application. The final letter …
IRS revokes a charity's 501(c)(3) status on two grounds, ignoring an audit and court-ordered dissolution after a state attorney general won summary judgment for charities-law and consumer-fraud violations, made retroactive to the dissolution date
This is a final IRS determination revoking the federal tax-exempt status of an organization recognized as a 501(c)(3) public charity on a Form 1023 application. The revocation rests on two independent…
IRS revokes a charity's 501(c)(3) status for not answering an audit and, in its final letter, adds that the state involuntarily dissolved the group for charitable-solicitation and consumer-protection violations
This is a final IRS determination revoking the federal tax-exempt status of an organization first recognized as a 501(c)(3) public charity on a full Form 1023 application. Its exemption was automatica…
IRS revokes a charity's 501(c)(3) status for not answering an audit; the group had been auto-revoked for nonfiling, later reinstated, then renamed, and used a commercial UPS-store mailbox while still active with the state
This is a final IRS determination revoking the federal tax-exempt status of an organization that had a complicated history with the IRS. It was first recognized as a 501(c)(3) public charity on a full…
IRS revokes a charity's 501(c)(3) status for not answering an audit; the organization and its managing director shared a commercial UPS-store mailbox, though the entity was still active with the state
This is a final IRS determination revoking the federal tax-exempt status of an organization that had been recognized as a 501(c)(3) public charity through the streamlined Form 1023-EZ application. The…
IRS revokes a charity's 501(c)(3) status on two grounds, failure to answer an audit and court-ordered dissolution after a state attorney general's fraud suit
This is a final IRS determination revoking the federal tax-exempt status of an organization that had been recognized as a 501(c)(3) public charity through the streamlined Form 1023-EZ application. The…
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.