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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Fund gets 60 more days to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund after its accountant left off Form 8996
An LLC taxed as a partnership was set up to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), the kind of investment vehicle created by the 2017 tax law that lets investors defer capital gains by reinvesting the…
A nonprofit cooperative's conversion to a for-profit corporation qualifies as an "F" reorganization, and redeemed capital credits are ordinary income
A nonprofit cooperative corporation (with members instead of shareholders, and "capital credit" accounts tracking each member's patronage) planned to convert into a for-profit corporation. The steps: …
Trust gets consent to make a late "qualified electing fund" election for its foreign fund investment
A domestic trust held an interest in a foreign company that is a passive foreign investment company (PFIC). U.S. owners of a PFIC can elect to treat it as a "qualified electing fund" (QEF) under secti…
Buyers and seller of an S corporation get 75 more days to elect to treat the stock sale as an asset sale
Two individuals bought all the stock of an S corporation from its shareholder, acquiring it through disregarded entities. When a stock purchase qualifies as a "qualified stock disposition," a section …
Corporate parent gets 75 more days to elect to file a consolidated return after its tax pro missed the deadline
A parent corporation heading an affiliated group of companies wanted the group to file a single consolidated federal income tax return, with the parent as the common parent, for a particular year. Tha…
Tax-free spin-off of one business line, funded by a debt-for-equity exchange with investment banks
A publicly traded parent company (Distributing) wanted to separate one of its four business lines into a new standalone public company (Controlled) without triggering corporate or shareholder-level ta…
LLC gets 120 more days to elect corporation treatment after missing the Form 8832 deadline
A limited liability company wanted to be treated as a corporation for federal tax purposes. Under the "check-the-box" rules in Treasury Regulation section 301.7701-3, an eligible entity makes that cho…
IRS pre-approves a foundation's bank-administered college scholarship program
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, the way it plans to award college scholarships. This step matters because grants a private foundation makes to individuals for study are norm…
IRS denies a multiemployer pension plan permission to add a one-time "13th check" while under an amortization extension
A collectively bargained multiemployer defined-benefit pension plan was operating under an approved extension of its amortization period under section 431(d). While such an extension is in place, sect…
IRS pre-approves a foundation's grants covering conference travel for those who cannot afford it
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, how it will award grants that cover travel and lodging so people who cannot afford it can attend the foundation's financial-education confere…
IRS pre-approves a foundation's fellowship grant procedures for financial-education scholars
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, the way it plans to award educational grants. This step matters because grants a private foundation makes to individuals for study or similar…
Corporation gets 60 more days to elect out of tax-exempt-controlled-entity status after its firm forgot the election
A corporation was majority-owned by a section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, which made it a "tax-exempt controlled entity" under section 168(h). That status can force slower depreciation (the alt…
Extra 60 days granted to a corporation to elect out of bonus depreciation after its preparer omitted the required statement
A C corporation that files a consolidated return decided to opt out of the additional first year (bonus) depreciation deduction under section 168(k) for all classes of property it placed in service in…
IRS denies a late mark-to-market election because the trader used hindsight
An individual securities trader asked the IRS for extra time to make a late "mark-to-market" election under section 475(f)(1). That election lets a trader treat securities gains and losses as ordinary…
REIT gets more time to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary treatment after a law firm dropped the ball
A real estate investment trust (REIT) and its wholly owned subsidiary wanted the subsidiary treated as a "taxable REIT subsidiary" (TRS), a taxable corporation a REIT can own to hold assets or earn in…
REIT gets more time to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary treatment after a law firm dropped the ball
A real estate investment trust (REIT) and its wholly owned subsidiary wanted the subsidiary treated as a "taxable REIT subsidiary" (TRS), a taxable corporation a REIT can own to hold assets or earn in…
Late Form 8996 opportunity-fund self-certification treated as timely after CPA's filing mistake
A newly formed LLC, taxed as a partnership, was set up to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), an investment vehicle that offers capital-gains tax breaks for putting money into designated low-income…
S corporation status restored after four trusts forgot to file their ESBT elections
A company had elected to be taxed as an S corporation, a pass-through structure that limits who may own the stock. Four trusts later acquired shares. Each trust could have qualified as an eligible own…
Estate gets more time to elect alternate valuation after its preparer never mentioned the option
When someone dies, their estate may value the assets either as of the date of death or six months later. That six-month option, the alternate valuation election under section 2032, can cut the estate …
IRS approves a private foundation's scholarship procedures under section 4945(g)(1)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve in advance its procedures for awarding scholarships. Under section 4945, a private foundation's grants to individuals for study count as taxable expenditu…
IRS approves a private foundation's educational-grant procedures under section 4945(g)(3)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve in advance its procedures for making educational grants to individuals. Private foundations normally owe an excise tax under section 4945 on grants to ind…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) charity status to a recreational soccer-league organization
An organization that runs youth and adult soccer leagues, already tax-exempt as a 501(c)(7) social club, applied to be recognized as a 501(c)(3) charity, a status that would let donors deduct their gi…
Late Form 1128 to change a corporation's tax year treated as filed on time
A corporation wanted to change its tax year from a December 31 year-end to a June 30 year-end. To do that automatically, it had to file Form 1128 by the due date (including extensions) of the short-pe…
Tax-free split of two insurance businesses through a "D" reorganization and a chain of section 355 spin-offs
A foreign-owned insurance group wanted to separate two insurance businesses, called Business A and Business B, into different branches of its corporate family tree. The plan moved Business B's insuran…
Private foundation gets five more years to shed excess business holdings in a complex family company
A private foundation, funded by a trust that a now-deceased business owner set up, received a large block of stock (about 12 percent) in a closely held family holding company as part of a bequest. Pri…
Extra 60 days granted to elect out of bonus depreciation after a preparer left off the required statement
A partnership decided to opt out of the additional first year (bonus) depreciation deduction under section 168(k) for all classes of property it placed in service in a given year. Making that election…
Extra 60 days granted to elect out of bonus depreciation after a preparer left off the required statement
A partnership decided to opt out of the additional first year (bonus) depreciation deduction under section 168(k) for all classes of property it placed in service in a given year. Making that election…
Extra 60 days granted to elect out of bonus depreciation after a preparer left off the required statement
A partnership decided to opt out of the additional first year (bonus) depreciation deduction under section 168(k) for all classes of property it placed in service in a given year. Making that election…
Extra 60 days granted to elect out of bonus depreciation after a preparer left off the required statement
A partnership decided to opt out of the additional first year (bonus) depreciation deduction under section 168(k) for all classes of property it placed in service in a given year. To make that electio…
Partnership received 60 days to elect out of bonus depreciation
A partnership intended to elect out of the additional first-year depreciation deduction for every class of qualified property it placed in service during a tax year. Its return preparer calculated tax…
Partnership obtained relief for a missing bonus depreciation election statement
A partnership decided not to claim additional first-year depreciation for any class of qualified property placed in service during a tax year. Its return preparer reflected that decision in the partne…
Late election relief preserved a partnership's bonus depreciation opt-out
A partnership intended to forgo additional first-year depreciation for all classes of qualified property placed in service during a tax year. The preparer computed taxable income to reflect that choic…
Partnership received an extension to elect out of bonus depreciation
A partnership planned to elect out of additional first-year depreciation for all classes of qualified property placed in service during a tax year. Its return preparer calculated the timely filed retu…
Missing statement did not prevent late bonus depreciation relief
A partnership wanted to elect out of the additional first-year depreciation deduction for every class of qualified property placed in service during a tax year. Its preparer reflected that choice in t…
Partnership gained 60 days to complete its depreciation election
A partnership intended to decline additional first-year depreciation for all classes of qualified property placed in service during a tax year. Although its preparer calculated the return to match tha…
Partnership could make its missed bonus depreciation election late
A partnership chose not to deduct additional first-year depreciation for all classes of qualified property placed in service during a tax year. The return preparer followed that choice when calculatin…
Three late opportunity fund self-certifications were treated as timely
A partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and told its longtime accountant of that intent. The accountant prepared three years of partnership returns but did not attach Form …
Private foundation could transfer all assets to a commonly controlled foundation
Two private foundations controlled by the same trustees planned to consolidate by having one foundation transfer all of its assets to the other without consideration. The IRS ruled that the transfer q…
Foundation could transfer all assets and terminate without excise tax
A private foundation planned to consolidate with another foundation controlled by the same trustees by transferring all of its assets without receiving consideration. The IRS ruled that the transfer w…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late Section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership intended to make a Section 754 election after one partner acquired portions of another partner's interest in two transactions. The partnership timely…
Foreign entity received 120 days to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity wanted to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes from its formation date but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the entity met the require…
Corporate group received 75 days to make a late consolidated return election
A corporation was the common parent of an affiliated group but did not timely make the election to file a consolidated federal income tax return for the group. The parent showed that it reasonably rel…
Need-based scholarship procedures received advance approval
A private foundation proposed need-based scholarships for students from underserved communities attending college, university, community college, or a post-high-school trade school. Eligibility consid…
Exemption was revoked after incomplete records prevented verification
A Section 501(c)(3) organization recognized through Form 1023-EZ was selected for examination. State records showed involuntary dissolution, and the articles supplied during the audit lacked the requi…
Fundraising for one person's medical bills served a private interest
An organization applied for Section 501(c)(3) status with the stated purpose of raising money to pay one named person's breast cancer treatment expenses. Its planned activities were a local benefit an…
Missing records and articles led to retroactive revocation
A Section 501(c)(3) organization was examined to determine whether its activities and finances remained consistent with exempt status. It provided descriptions of activities, revenue material, and som…
Neighborhood property services did not qualify as a social club
A neighborhood property-owners association applied for exemption as a Section 501(c)(7) social club. It maintained privately owned residential streets, boat docks, boat ramps, and common areas, and it…
One nonmember-heavy annual event did not sustain social-club exemption
A social club's principal activity was one annual food, drink, raffle, and fellowship event, with only two board meetings at other times. Members and guests paid the same amount, members could invite …
Mixed design purposes may still satisfy the research-credit experimentation test
An apparel retailer claimed research credits for activities used to develop a new or revised business component. Examination disallowed the claim in part because it viewed the development work as dire…
RSU income for foreign transferees has different FITW and FICA treatment
A U.S. corporation granted restricted stock units to employees who later transferred to controlled foreign corporations before the awards vested. The IRS advised that the entire RSU income was wages f…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return failed to timely elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. Because the filing deadlin…
Seven foreign entities receive 120 days for late disregarded-entity elections
Seven foreign eligible entities failed to timely file Forms 8832 electing disregarded-entity status. Based solely on the submitted facts and representations, the IRS concluded that each entity met the…
Seven foreign entities receive 120 days for late disregarded-entity elections
Seven foreign eligible entities failed to timely file Forms 8832 electing disregarded-entity status. Based solely on the submitted facts and representations, the IRS concluded that each entity met the…
Seven foreign entities receive 120 days for late disregarded-entity elections
Seven foreign eligible entities failed to timely file Forms 8832 electing disregarded-entity status. Based solely on the submitted facts and representations, the IRS concluded that each entity met the…
Seven foreign entities receive 120 days for late disregarded-entity elections
Seven foreign eligible entities failed to timely file Forms 8832 electing disregarded-entity status. Based solely on the submitted facts and representations, the IRS concluded that each entity met the…
Seven foreign entities receive 120 days for late disregarded-entity elections
Seven foreign eligible entities failed to timely file Forms 8832 electing disregarded-entity status. Based solely on the submitted facts and representations, the IRS concluded that each entity met the…
Seven foreign entities receive 120 days for late disregarded-entity elections
Seven foreign eligible entities failed to timely file Forms 8832 electing disregarded-entity status. Based solely on the submitted facts and representations, the IRS concluded that each entity met the…
Seven foreign entities receive 120 days for late disregarded-entity elections
Seven foreign eligible entities failed to timely file Forms 8832 electing disregarded-entity status. Based solely on the submitted facts and representations, the IRS concluded that each entity met the…
Partnership receives 60 days to make a late QOF self-certification
A partnership formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property did not file its first Form 1065 or the attached Form 8996 needed to self-certify as a qualified opportunity fund. Its members did…
Partnership interests in a mortgage-loan pool qualify as similar pooled-fund interests
A limited partnership planned to use investor capital principally to acquire beneficial interests in a trust holding U.S. real-estate loans. The trust interests were represented to be registered-form …
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.