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 fewer or different words, check the spelling, or clear the filters to browse everything.
Foreign entity gets 120 days to elect partnership status
A foreign business entity with multiple owners intended from formation to be treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes. It failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect that classification…
Consolidated group gets 60 days to waive its loss carryback
A newly combined consolidated group intended to waive the carryback period for its consolidated net operating loss but failed to attach a valid election statement to its return. The group…
Consolidated group gets 60 days to waive its loss carryback
A consolidated group intended to waive the carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss but failed to attach a valid election statement to its return. Its prior and later returns were…
Estate gets 120 days to elect portability for surviving spouse
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused estate-and-gift-tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The surviving spouse, acting as personal…
Taxpayer gets 60 days to file omitted accounting-method form
A taxpayer changed its accounting for advance payments to the deferral method described in Rev. Proc. 2004-34. Its return reflected the change, and its accounting firm timely sent the duplicate Form…
Estate receives more time to make a QTIP election
A decedent's trust created a marital trust that paid all net income to the surviving spouse and allowed certain principal distributions. The spouse, acting as executor, hired a law firm to prepare…
Foreign entity receives late classification election relief
A single-owner foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation from its formation date but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS found that the entity…
Estate receives reverse QTIP and GST allocation relief
A decedent's estate made a QTIP election for marital-trust property but failed to show the trust's intended division, make a reverse QTIP election, or allocate the decedent's generation-skipping…
Donor and spouse may elect out of automatic GST allocation
A donor transferred cash and marketable securities to an irrevocable trust for descendants and intended to split the gift with his spouse without allocating generation-skipping transfer tax…
Estate receives late QTIP election relief
A decedent's revocable trust directed property to a QTIP trust for the surviving spouse, with all net income payable at least quarterly and principal available for specified needs. The spouse,…
Parent may make a late CNOL carryback waiver
A consolidated group incurred a consolidated net operating loss and intended to waive the entire carryback period, but it did not file a valid election with the loss-year return. The group filed its…
LLC may change classification and file a late election
A domestic limited liability company had elected corporate tax treatment and was later acquired entirely by an unrelated corporate owner. The acquisition changed more than 50 percent of the LLC's…
S corporation receives late section 336(e) election relief
A partnership acquired all the stock of an S corporation from its shareholders in a transaction represented to be a qualified stock disposition. The shareholders and target timely entered a binding…
Trust may make a late charitable-payment election
A trust made a charitable contribution in one tax year that could have been treated as paid in the preceding year under section 642(c)(1), but it failed to make the required election. The IRS found…
Trust may make a late charitable-payment election
A trust made a charitable contribution in one tax year that could have been treated as paid in the preceding year under section 642(c)(1), but it failed to make the required election. The IRS found…
Trust may make a late charitable-payment election
A trust made a charitable contribution in one tax year that could have been treated as paid in the preceding year under section 642(c)(1), but it failed to make the required election. The IRS found…
Trust may make a late charitable-payment election
A trust made a charitable contribution in one tax year that could have been treated as paid in the preceding year under section 642(c)(1), but it failed to make the required election. The IRS found…
Trust may make a late charitable-payment election
A trust made a charitable contribution in one tax year that could have been treated as paid in the preceding year under section 642(c)(1), but it failed to make the required election. The IRS found…
Trust may make a late charitable-payment election
A trust made a charitable contribution in one tax year that could have been treated as paid in the preceding year under section 642(c)(1), but it failed to make the required election. The IRS found…
Trust may make a late charitable-payment election
A trust made a charitable contribution in one tax year that could have been treated as paid in the preceding year under section 642(c)(1), but it failed to make the required election. The IRS found…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A taxpayer wholly owned a foreign eligible entity but mistakenly believed an S corporation subsidiary owned it. The foreign entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its formation date but…
IRS denies late Roth IRA recharacterization relief
A taxpayer converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA and later tried to recharacterize it after an adviser raised the conversion's cost. The financial institution did not complete the request, and…
Taxpayer gets extra time to elect out of automatic GST allocation
A taxpayer made two transfers to an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential. Her tax professional had elected out of automatic GST-exemption allocation for an earlier…
Corporation gets extra time to elect IC-DISC status
A corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation and relied on an accounting firm to prepare its Form 4876-A election. The firm mailed the completed…
Corporation receives more time to file its IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation failed to file Form 4876-A for its first taxable year. Its owners had relied on a law firm and…
Estate receives more time to make a qualified domestic trust election
An estate claimed a marital deduction for property passing to a surviving spouse who was not a U.S. citizen, but its accountant failed to make the qualified domestic trust election on Form 706. The…
Estate receives more time to elect portability
An estate below the estate-tax filing threshold failed to file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount. The IRS concluded that the estate…
Estate receives more time to elect portability after attorney error
An estate below the estate-tax filing threshold failed to file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount. The surviving spouse had relied on an…
Foreign entity receives more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity wholly owned by a U.S. corporation intended to be treated as a disregarded entity but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS found that the entity met the standards for…
LLC receives more time for corporate and S-corporation elections
A single-member LLC intended to be treated as a corporation and an S corporation from the same effective date, but the IRS had no record of timely receiving Forms 8832 and 2553. The IRS found that…
Subsidiary receives more time for corporate and QSub elections
An S corporation formed a wholly owned single-member LLC that it intended to classify as a corporation and elect as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. The parent did not timely file Forms 8832 and…
S corporation receives more time to file a QSub election
An S corporation intended to treat its wholly owned subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary but did not timely file Form 8869. The parent and subsidiary filed their returns consistently…
Corporation receives more time to file its IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation formed to serve as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation failed to file Form 4876-A for its first taxable year. Its accounting firm had agreed to prepare…
Foreign entity receives more time to elect partnership status
A foreign entity with multiple owners intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS found that the entity met the standards for…
Foreign entity receives more time to elect partnership status before acquisition
A foreign entity with several owners intended to elect partnership classification effective before its later acquisition by a corporate owner, but it did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS found…
Non-appointed executor receives more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse with possession of the estate property acted as the estate's non-appointed executor. The estate was below the estate-tax filing threshold and did not file Form 706 because the…
Foreign entity receives more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity with one corporate owner intended to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes, and its corporate group filed consolidated returns consistent with that treatment.…
Territory entity receives late disregarded-status election relief
An entity organized under the laws of a U.S. territory became wholly owned by one owner and intended to be treated as a disregarded entity from that date. It did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS…
Single-owner entity gets late disregarded-status election relief
An entity organized under the laws of a U.S. territory became wholly owned by one owner and intended to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from that date. The entity missed the deadline to file…
Foreign entity receives late corporate-classification election relief
A foreign eligible entity intended to elect association status and be taxed as a corporation from its formation date, but it did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the entity met the…
Estate may elect out of automatic GST exemption allocations late
A married couple split gifts to two grantor retained annuity trusts and did not want generation-skipping transfer tax exemption allocated to those transfers. Their accounting firm failed to advise…
S corporation stock sale receives late asset-sale election relief
A buyer acquired all stock of an S corporation for cash, and the parties intended to elect under IRC § 336(e) to treat the deal as an asset acquisition. They missed the election because they…
Estate receives more time to elect portability
An estate below the estate-tax filing threshold missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. Because the estate was…
Late portability election receives 120-day extension
An estate whose gross estate and lifetime taxable gifts were below the basic exclusion amount failed to timely file Form 706 to elect portability for the surviving spouse. Because the estate…
Estate unaware of portability filing receives extension
An estate below the basic exclusion amount, whose decedent made no taxable lifetime gifts, failed to file Form 706 because it was unaware that a return was needed to elect portability. The IRS…
Late-filed estate return receives portability relief
An estate filed Form 706 after its due date in an effort to transfer the decedent's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the gross estate, including lifetime…
Corporation receives more time to elect IC-DISC status
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation and hired an accounting firm to complete the election. The firm prepared Form 4876-A, but…
Spouse's estate may make late GST allocation opt-out
A married couple elected gift splitting when one spouse transferred stock to a grantor retained annuity trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential. Neither spouse wanted GST exemption…
Estate with no taxable gifts gets portability extension
An estate missed the Form 706 deadline for electing portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount. The estate represented that the gross estate was below the basic exclusion amount and that…
S corporation receives more time for QSub election
An S corporation acquired all stock of another S corporation and intended to treat the acquired company as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from the acquisition date. The subsidiary inadvertently…
Estate below filing threshold receives portability relief
An estate did not timely file Form 706 to elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. It represented that the gross estate, including taxable lifetime…
Estate may make late farmland special-use valuation election
An estate included farmland and timely filed Form 706, but its accountant did not advise the personal representative to elect special-use valuation under IRC § 2032A. After discovering the omission,…
Purchaser receives late section 338 election relief
A purchaser acquired all stock of a foreign target for cash and intended to elect under IRC § 338(g) to treat the stock purchase as an asset acquisition. The election was missed because the…
Estate unaware of portability election receives relief
An estate below the estate-tax filing threshold did not file Form 706 to elect portability for the surviving spouse. The estate discovered the missed election after the deadline and represented that…
Estate receives 120 days to elect portability
An estate below the estate-tax filing threshold failed to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate discovered the omission…
Foreign entity receives late partnership-classification relief
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership from its formation date but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the entity met the reasonable-cause standards…
Late portability election receives filing extension
An estate missed the Form 706 deadline for electing portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount. It represented that the gross estate, including taxable lifetime gifts, was below the basic…
Foreign entity receives extension for disregarded status election
A foreign eligible entity wholly owned by a U.S. citizen intended to be treated as a disregarded entity from its formation date. It failed to timely file Form 8832 to elect that classification. The…
Foreign entity receives conditional extension for disregarded status
A foreign eligible entity owned through foreign and domestic partnerships intended to be treated as a disregarded entity from its formation date. It failed to timely file Form 8832 to elect that…
Partnership receives extension for section 754 election
A partnership intended to make an IRC § 754 election for the year a member died and the member's partnership interest passed to another person. The partnership relied on an advisor, who failed to…
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.