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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LLC interests in a mortgage-loan pool qualify as similar pooled-fund interests
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership planned to use investor capital principally to acquire beneficial interests in a trust holding U.S. real-estate loans. The trust interests were repre…
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…
LLC receives relief for late corporate-classification and S corporation elections
An LLC intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation and to elect S corporation status from the same effective date, but it filed neither Form 8832 nor Form 2553. Based on the s…
Emergency scholarship grant procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for a scholarship program serving current college, graduate, and other post-secondary students facing recent unexpected financial difficulties. Grants c…
Employer-related scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for dependent children of employees in several geographic employee groups. An independent third-party administrator would evaluate academic performance, lead…
Alumni educational-project grant procedures approved
A private foundation proposed one-time grants to alumni of three schools for innovative educational projects benefiting children, families, and communities. Applicants would submit a project descripti…
Record retailer denied Section 501(c)(3) status
An organization applied for Section 501(c)(3) status while operating retail record sales in person and online. It said its purpose included buying and selling records, conducting community events, pay…
Property-management club loses Section 501(c)(7) status
A social club owned and managed property containing a lodge and cottages used exclusively by certain members. Its meetings and activities focused on property maintenance and management, while many cot…
Fraternal membership group denied Section 501(c)(3) status
An unincorporated association affiliated with a fraternal organization applied for Section 501(c)(3) status. Its charter contained no stated corporate purpose, and the group described itself as a soci…
Debt-limit conversion of Demand Deposit SLGS preserves arbitrage treatment
During a federal debt-limit suspension, Treasury regulations converted outstanding Demand Deposit State and Local Government Series securities into special 90-day certificates of indebtedness. Issuers…
Federal credit unions qualify for ARP paid-leave credits but not FFCRA credits
Federal credit unions claimed refundable credits for paid sick and expanded family and medical leave provided during 2020 and 2021. The IRS concluded that federal credit unions are instrumentalities o…
Affiliated group receives 75 days for a late consolidated-return election
A corporate parent and its affiliated group failed to timely elect to file a consolidated federal income tax return. The request for relief was submitted before the IRS discovered the missed election,…
Taxpayer receives 120 days to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocations
A taxpayer created nine annuity trusts whose remainders passed to separate trusts for the taxpayer's children and descendants, and also made direct gifts to those children's trusts. The taxpayer and s…
Affiliated group receives 75 days for a late consolidated-return election
A corporate parent and its affiliated group failed to timely elect to file a consolidated federal income tax return. The request for relief was submitted before the IRS discovered the missed election,…
LLC receives 120 days for a late corporate-classification election
A limited liability company intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation from its requested effective date but failed to timely file Form 8832. Based solely on the submitted fa…
Foreign-owned LLC receives 120 days for a late corporate-classification election
A domestic LLC wholly owned by a foreign proprietary limited company intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation from its formation date. After converting between two states' …
Taxpayer receives 120 days to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocations
A taxpayer created five grantor retained annuity trusts whose remainders passed to separate trusts for the taxpayer's children, and also made direct gifts to those children's trusts. The taxpayer did …
Taxpayer receives 120 days to undo automatic GST exemption allocations
A married couple split gifts for federal gift-tax purposes involving nine irrevocable annuity trusts and separate trusts for their children. They intended not to allocate generation-skipping transfer …
Patron-use share of wireless divestiture income is patronage sourced
A taxable rural telephone cooperative used two consolidated subsidiaries to own a cellular partnership that served both patrons and nonpatron customers. The partnership and a subsidiary later sold sub…
Five partnerships receive 120 days for late section 754 elections
An upper-tier partnership and four lower-tier partnerships inadvertently failed to make section 754 elections for a tax year in which a partner died. A second partner died in a later year. Section 754…
Free charter-school meal program advances education
A section 501(c)(3) organization operated public charter schools and served as a state-certified School Food Authority. It expanded its meal program to help unrelated tax-exempt charter schools satisf…
Foreign entity receives 120 days for late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes but failed to file Form 8832 on time. It asked for relief under the regulatory-election extensio…
LLC receives 120 days for late corporate-classification election
A domestic limited liability company intended to elect association status so it would be taxed as a corporation from a specified date. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The company re…
Taxpayer receives 120 days to elect out of automatic GST allocation
A taxpayer created an irrevocable trust for family members, including the taxpayer's and spouse's children. The trust had generation-skipping transfer potential, so the automatic-allocation rules appl…
Missing ESBT elections do not invalidate S corporation status
A corporation filed an S corporation election while five trusts held its stock. The trusts qualified in substance as electing small business trusts, but their trustees did not timely file the required…
Government retiree health trust receives four favorable rulings
An association of state boards of education created a trust to fund medical, dental, and vision benefits for its retired employees. The IRS had previously ruled that the association performed essentia…
Entity receives late corporate and S corporation election relief
A domestic multi-member eligible entity intended to be treated as an S corporation from the date it was formed. It did not timely file either Form 8832 to elect association status or Form 2553 to elec…
Partnership receives 120 days for late section 754 election
A partnership timely filed its return for the year in which one of its partners died but omitted a section 754 election. That election would allow a basis adjustment to partnership property following …
IRS pre-approves a foundation's archery-tournament scholarship procedures under section 4945(g)
A private foundation asked the IRS to bless the way it hands out scholarships before it starts writing checks. This matters because section 4945 taxes a private foundation on grants it makes to indivi…
IRS revokes a nonprofit's 501(c)(3) status for private benefit from bargain-sale deals and the president's personal use of funds
The IRS revoked a small charity's tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3), effective January 1, 2018. On audit, the IRS found the organization spent much of its effort on real-estate "bargain sale" …
IRS revokes a small charity's 501(c)(3) status because vehicle expenses inured to its CEO
The IRS revoked a small nonprofit's tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3). The group had run a residential guidance home, then sold that property and shifted to outreach and education, and it larg…
IRS revokes a dormant private foundation's 501(c)(3) status for never operating for exempt purposes
The IRS revoked a private foundation's tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3). The foundation was set up by a declaration of trust and was recognized as exempt after filing a streamlined Form 1023-…
Worthless-stock losses in foreign subsidiaries did not "occur in" the COVID disaster area, so no section 165(i) disaster-loss election
A U.S. consolidated corporate group had a subsidiary that owned three foreign corporations (CFCs). Through entity-classification elections and a reorganization, each CFC was deemed to liquidate, and t…
IRS grants 120 extra days to make a late QSub election for a subsidiary the taxpayer forgot to elect
An S corporation (X) acquired a chain of companies. One of them (Sub 1) was itself an S corporation that owned a lower-tier company (Sub 2) treated as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary, or QSub. Whe…
IRS grants 60 more days to file a late Form 8996 self-certifying a partnership as a Qualified Opportunity Fund
A limited partnership was set up to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), a vehicle that lets investors defer and reduce tax on capital gains reinvested in designated low-income "opportunity zones." …
S-corporation status restored after two trusts missed their ESBT elections
A company (X) had elected to be taxed as an S corporation, which limits who can own its stock. Over time, two trusts came to hold X shares. Each trust qualified as an eligible S-corporation shareholde…
IRS denies a late mark-to-market (section 475(f)) election because the trader relied on hindsight
An individual who traded securities wanted to make a "mark-to-market" election under section 475(f)(1). That election lets a qualifying trader treat gains and losses as ordinary and value positions at…
IRS grants 60 days to file three years of late Forms 8996 self-certifying an LLC as a Qualified Opportunity Fund
An LLC taxed as a partnership was formed to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), the vehicle used to invest capital gains in designated opportunity zones for tax benefits. To be a QOF, the entity ha…
IRS grants 120 extra days to make a late QSub election for a wholly-owned subsidiary
An S corporation (X) owned all of the stock of a subsidiary (Sub) and meant to elect to treat Sub as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary, or QSub, as soon as X became an S corporation. A QSub is not t…
IRS pre-approves a foundation's scholarship procedures for local undergraduate students under section 4945(g)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, how it will award scholarships. This approval matters because section 4945 taxes a private foundation on grants it makes to individuals for s…
Exemption denied for commercial software development and private benefit
An organization sought section 501(c)(3) status for developing and supporting an open-source software platform, funding related research and applications, publishing educational materials, and making …
Exemption denied to an estate-planning member association
An association of estate-planning professionals applied for section 501(c)(3) status after filing Form 1023-EZ. Its activities included meetings with professional speakers, information about developme…
Purchaser received more time to file section 338 elections
A U.S. corporate purchaser acquired more than 80 percent of a foreign target and was treated as acquiring the target's foreign subsidiary, but valid section 338(g) elections were not filed on time. Th…
Parent received more time to file a section 338 election
A consolidated group's parent intended to make a section 338(g) election after a member acquired all the stock of an unrelated foreign target, but a valid election was not filed by the deadline. The p…
Qualified opportunity fund received 60 days to file Form 8996
A partnership formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property failed to file its first return, extension request, and Form 8996 on time. Its adviser contacted an accounting firm on the filing …
Late qualified opportunity fund certifications accepted for two years
A limited partnership formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property hired a long-time tax adviser to prepare its first two federal returns and the forms needed to self-certify as a qualified…
Amended Form 8996 treated as timely for a qualified opportunity fund
A partnership formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property intended to self-certify as a qualified opportunity fund, but its return preparer did not attach Form 8996 to the first-year retur…
Qualified opportunity fund received relief for a late Form 8996
A partnership formed to invest in a qualified opportunity zone asked the IRS to treat its late Form 8996 self-certification as timely. The partnership had hired a large accounting firm to prepare its …
Late qualified opportunity fund certifications accepted for three years
A partnership that owned an interest in real property located in an opportunity zone failed to complete its Form 8996 self-certifications for several years. After a manager hired a certified public ac…
Late taxable REIT subsidiary election treated as effective
A publicly traded REIT and its foreign corporate subsidiary intended to file Form 8875 so the subsidiary would be treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary from its formation date. The REIT's tax departmen…
LLC received 120 days to file a late corporate classification election
A single-owner limited liability company intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation from its formation date. Its default federal classification was a disregarded entity, but …
Late success-fee safe-harbor election denied after audit disallowance
A corporation paid an investment bank a success-based fee in connection with its acquisition and chose not to use Revenue Procedure 2011-29's safe harbor, which would have allowed a 70 percent deducti…
Scholarship and special-education grant procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for scholarships under section 4945(g)(1) and educational grants under section 4945(g)(3). Its program would support undergraduate and graduate study an…
Entrepreneurship scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for a scholarship and summer internship program for high school juniors and seniors interested in entrepreneurship. Participants would work with local b…
Employer-related scholarship procedures approved
A family foundation requested advance approval for scholarships publicized through a related employer and available to children or stepchildren of qualifying current or deceased employees. An independ…
Swim-team booster club denied social-club exemption
A voluntary association of parents and guardians of high school varsity swimmers and divers applied for exemption as a social club under section 501(c)(7). It raised funds through local business promo…
Private dock owners association denied social-welfare exemption
A dock owners association applied for exemption as a social-welfare organization under section 501(c)(4). Its members were owners of specified residential lots, and annual assessments funded maintenan…
Social-club exemption revoked for recurring public-use income
The IRS revoked a section 501(c)(7) social club's exemption after finding that it made its facilities available to the general public and repeatedly earned too much income from nonmembers. The club di…
Youth baseball LLC denied exemption under LLC organizational rules
The IRS denied section 501(c)(3) status to a limited liability company that planned to train youth for baseball competitions and teach discipline, sportsmanship, teamwork, respect, and integrity. The …
Exemption revoked after organization failed to produce audit records
The IRS revoked an organization's section 501(c)(3) exemption because it did not provide records requested during an examination. The IRS sent examination correspondence to several addresses and indiv…
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.