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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A foreign entity may file its partnership classification election late
A fund held a foreign entity that was supposed to be treated as a partnership beginning when it was formed. The entity missed the deadline to file Form 8832. The IRS found that the entity met the…
A foreign entity got 120 days to elect partnership classification
A foreign entity held by a fund was intended to be a partnership for federal tax purposes from its formation date. It failed to timely file the Form 8832 needed for that classification. The IRS…
A foreign entity held by multiple funds received late partnership election relief
Multiple funds held a foreign entity that they intended to be treated as a partnership from the date it was formed. The entity failed to file Form 8832 on time. Based solely on the submitted facts…
A foreign entity received late filing relief for partnership classification
A fund intended its foreign entity to be treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes beginning on the formation date. The entity did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded from the…
A foreign entity may make its partnership election within 120 days
A fund intended a foreign entity it held to have partnership classification from the day the entity was formed. The entity failed to submit Form 8832 by the required deadline. The IRS determined,…
A taxpayer may revoke three elections treating capital gains as investment income
A taxpayer materially participated in a securities-trading partnership and received carried-interest income. The taxpayer's first accounting firm mistakenly reported partnership interest expense on…
A foreign unlimited liability company received late corporate election relief
A foreign unlimited liability company was intended by its owner to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation from the date it was formed. The company failed to timely file Form 8832,…
An oil and gas group received more time to amortize drilling costs
An affiliated oil and gas group intended to elect under section 59(e) to deduct intangible drilling and development costs ratably over 60 months. Its timely consolidated return did not include the…
An internal error qualified for late IC-DISC election relief
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation, or IC-DISC. Its accounting firm supplied Form 4876-A and filing instructions, but the…
Three foreign entities received late partnership election relief
Three foreign entities intended to be treated as partnerships for U.S. federal tax purposes but failed to file Forms 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entities met the standards for discretionary…
Disregarded entity relief preserved a subsidiary's S corporation status
An individual placed an interest in an S corporation into a wholly owned limited liability company. On an accountant's advice, that LLC then elected S corporation treatment, making it a corporation…
A parent received more time to make a consolidated return election
A subsidiary acquired the parent of an existing consolidated group, but the resulting return incorrectly identified the subsidiary rather than its own parent as the new common parent. The subsidiary…
An adviser miscommunication qualified for late IC-DISC election relief
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation, or IC-DISC. It relied on a law firm to complete the necessary elections, but the firm…
A foreign insurer received more time for domestic and small-company elections
A foreign property and casualty insurer intended to elect under section 953(d) to be treated as a domestic corporation and under section 831(b) to be taxed as a small insurance company. Its return…
Affiliated group received more time to elect out of bonus depreciation
A corporate parent asked for extra time to elect out of additional first-year depreciation for three classes of qualified property placed in service by its affiliated group. The group had claimed…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A limited partnership failed to include a section 754 election with its return for the year in which a partner died. That election allows partnership property basis adjustments after certain…
Foreign entity received 120 days to elect partnership treatment
A foreign eligible entity with limited-liability members failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect partnership treatment from its organization date. It represented that the failure was reasonable…
Employer received 60 days to file a late QSLOB notice
A company and an acquired business maintained separate operations and separate 401(k) plans but failed to file Form 5310-A notifying the IRS that they would be treated as qualified separate lines of…
Acquirer received 60 days to make a late success-fee safe-harbor election
A company paid a contingent transaction fee when it acquired another business. Its return treated 70 percent of the fee as nonfacilitative and capitalized the other 30 percent under the Revenue…
Donor received more time to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocations
A married couple treated annual gifts to generation-skipping trusts as made one-half by each spouse and reported the transfers on timely gift tax returns. The taxpayer intended to elect out of the…
Trust creator received late relief to preserve GST exemption
A taxpayer made annual gifts to a generation-skipping trust and later to its successor trust, with the taxpayer and spouse electing to split each gift equally. Timely gift tax returns were filed,…
Foreign entity received late partnership-classification relief
A foreign eligible entity with multiple limited-liability members intended to elect partnership treatment for U.S. federal tax purposes but did not file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the…
Housing project receives 120 days to correct low-income elections
A taxpayer that owned a multiple-building low-income housing project intended to elect the 40-60 minimum set-aside under section 42(g)(1)(B). Its Forms 8609 did not make timely, correct elections…
LLC receives 120 days for association election
A single-owner domestic limited liability company intended to be classified as an association for federal tax purposes from its formation date. Because of inadvertence, it did not file Form 8832 on…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign eligible entity was indirectly wholly owned by the parent of a consolidated corporate group and intended to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from its formation date. It failed to…
Partnership receives 120 days for section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership experienced a transfer of a partnership interest after a member died. Although the partnership timely filed its return for the transfer year, it…
Housing building receives 120 days to correct section 42 election
A taxpayer owned a single-building low-income housing project and intended to make a section 42(g)(1) minimum set-aside election. It inadvertently failed to make a timely, correct election, despite…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect disregarded status
A foreign eligible entity with one owner intended to be treated as disregarded for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. Its owner consistently filed U.S. tax returns reflecting…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect disregarded status
A foreign eligible entity with one owner intended to be treated as disregarded for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. Its owner consistently filed U.S. tax returns reflecting…
Corporate group receives 45 days for transaction-fee election
A consolidated corporate group incurred success-based fees when another company acquired its parent. Its accounting firm believed it had electronically filed a return extension, but the filing…
Subsidiary receives 75 days for tax-exempt entity election
A corporate subsidiary was indirectly owned by a tax-exempt organization and therefore was a tax-exempt controlled entity under section 168(h). It tried to elect out of that treatment on a timely…
Corporate group receives 75 days for consolidated return election
A parent corporation intended to file a consolidated return with two subsidiaries but did not timely make a valid consolidated return election and omitted one subsidiary from the return. The parent…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect disregarded status
A foreign eligible entity with one owner intended to be treated as disregarded for federal tax purposes but did not timely file a valid Form 8832. Its owner consistently filed U.S. tax returns…
Seller receives 60 days for transaction-fee safe harbor election
A corporation incurred a success-based financial advisory fee when its stock was sold. The purchase agreement required the corporation's return to make the Revenue Procedure 2011-29 safe harbor…
Retroactive accounting-method change relief denied
An accrual-method S corporation bought merchandise on credit from a related cash-method S corporation and deducted the purchases before the seller recognized corresponding income, a method the buyer…
Late section 336(e) election relief granted
A purchaser acquired all the stock of an unrelated S corporation through a disregarded subsidiary, and the parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as an asset…
Late QSub election relief granted
An S corporation acquired all the stock of a subsidiary but did not timely file Form 8869 to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary status. It represented that it intended QSub treatment and that…
Early entity-classification change and late filing allowed
A single-member limited liability company had elected corporate classification and was treated as a qualified REIT subsidiary through a chain of disregarded entities. After a taxable spin-off placed…
Early entity-classification change and late filing allowed
A single-member limited liability company had elected corporate classification and was treated as a qualified REIT subsidiary through a chain of disregarded entities. After a taxable spin-off placed…
Late QSub election relief granted
An S corporation formed a subsidiary and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary status from the formation date but did not timely file Form 8869. The parent represented that it had…
Late QSub election relief granted after stock acquisition
An S corporation acquired all the stock of another corporation and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary status from the acquisition date. It continued to own all the subsidiary's…
Retroactive cash-to-accrual method relief denied
A manufacturing S corporation using the cash method concluded that its business activities required an accrual method. After its founder's death and an ownership change, it sought extra time to file…
Three LLCs receive late partnership election relief
Three limited liability companies intended to elect partnership classification from the date they were formed but did not timely file Form 8832. Each company represented that it was eligible for…
Late section 336(e) election statement accepted
A partnership purchaser acquired all the stock of an S corporation through a disregarded entity, and the parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as an asset…
Late unified loss basis-reduction election granted
A consolidated group's parent sold all the stock of two subsidiaries at losses, ending their affiliation with the group. The parent intended to elect under the unified loss rules to reduce its stock…
Late section 336(e) agreement and election allowed
Two individuals bought all the stock of an S corporation for cash and a note, and the parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as an asset disposition. A qualified tax…
Late success-based transaction fee safe-harbor election granted
A limited liability company acquired all the stock of a target through a merger and paid a professional adviser a fee contingent on the transaction's successful closing. While preparing a late…
Spouses received extra time to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A married couple created an irrevocable trust that divided into separate trusts for their children, including two trusts with generation-skipping transfer tax potential. Their accounting firm…
Spouses received extra time to stop automatic GST exemption allocations
A married couple established an irrevocable trust with separate trusts for their children, including two intended to remain non-exempt from generation-skipping transfer tax. Their accounting firm…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A limited liability company classified as a partnership timely filed its federal tax return but inadvertently omitted a section 754 election. That election permits basis adjustments to partnership…
Corporate group received 60 days to make a late consolidated-return election
A newly formed parent corporation acquired a C corporation and an S corporation with qualified subchapter S subsidiaries. The resulting affiliated group intended to elect consolidated federal return…
Corporate group received extra time to elect an extended NOL carryback
A consolidated corporate group incurred a consolidated net operating loss for a qualifying tax year and wanted to carry it back beyond the ordinary two-year period. The group missed the election…
REIT and hotel company received 90 days to make a late TRS election
A real estate investment trust indirectly owned a single-member limited liability company that leased a hotel operated by an eligible independent contractor. The parties intended for the company to…
Purchaser received 45 days to make a late section 338 election
A corporation acquired all the stock of a foreign target that had been a controlled foreign corporation and represented that the acquisition was a qualified stock purchase. The purchaser intended to…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent's estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spousal unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The personal representative stated that the…
Grantor received extra time to stop automatic GST exemption allocations
A grantor and spouse created an irrevocable trust with three separate trusts for their children, each with generation-skipping transfer tax potential. An accounting firm prepared a gift tax return…
Grantor received extra time to prevent GST exemption allocations to two trusts
A taxpayer created a family trust for descendants and a grantor retained annuity trust whose remaining assets would pass to the family trust after the estate tax inclusion period ended. The taxpayer…
Estate received 120 days to elect portability for the surviving spouse
An estate failed to file Form 706 by the deadline needed to elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross…
Controlled corporation received relief for a late tax-exempt-entity election
A corporation wholly owned by a tax-exempt organization was a managing member in entities involved with rehabilitation and leasing of a historic commercial property. It needed to elect under section…
Grantor received 120 days to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A grantor created three trusts for the grantor's children and made gifts to those trusts. The grantor intended to elect out of the automatic allocation of generation-skipping transfer tax exemption…
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.