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 success-fee election statement received 60 days for correction
A corporation acquired a target in a taxable stock purchase and paid a contingent advisory fee. Its return deducted 70 percent and capitalized 30 percent under Revenue Procedure 2011-29, and it…
A success-fee election statement received 60 days for correction
A corporate group acquired a target through a disregarded subsidiary and paid a contingent advisory fee. Its consolidated return deducted 70 percent and capitalized 30 percent under Revenue…
A success-fee election statement received 60 days for correction
A corporation bought an S corporation's stock and joined the seller in a section 338(h)(10) election. Its consolidated return deducted 70 percent and capitalized 30 percent of a contingent advisory…
A foreign entity received 120 days for a partnership election
A foreign entity with two owners intended to be classified as a partnership from its formation date but failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found the section 301.9100-3 relief standards…
A technically terminated partnership received late section 754 relief
An unrelated buyer acquired more than half of a partnership's interests, causing a technical termination under former section 708(b)(1)(B). The partnership intended to attach a section 754 election…
An estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate filed Form 706 after the deadline for electing portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that its value, including…
Late commodities mark-to-market elections received relief
An entity had long used section 475 mark-to-market accounting for commodities while treated as disregarded. A retroactive entity-classification election made it a new corporate taxpayer, but its…
Late partnership-classification election received relief
A foreign eligible entity with two owners intended to elect partnership classification for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded from the submitted information…
Estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The decedent's gross estate, including taxable…
Estate granted 120-day portability-election extension
An estate failed to file Form 706 by the deadline for electing portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion. The estate represented that the gross estate was below the basic…
QDOT trustee received more time to report spouse's citizenship
A surviving spouse who was not a U.S. citizen received property through a qualified domestic trust and later became a citizen. The U.S. co-trustee did not learn of the citizenship change in time to…
Estate received 120-day extension to elect portability
A surviving spouse serving as executrix missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion. She represented that the decedent's gross…
Estate granted more time for 2010 carryover-basis election
The estate of a nonresident alien who died in 2010 failed to file Form 8939 by the deadline. That form would elect out of the reinstated estate tax and instead apply the modified carryover-basis…
Corporation received 60 days to make IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed solely to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation. Its accounting and law firms each believed the other had filed Form 4876-A, so the…
QDOT trustee granted late citizenship-notice relief
A qualified domestic trust was established for a surviving spouse who was not a U.S. citizen when the decedent died. The spouse later became a citizen after continuously residing in the United…
Dormant LLC's corporate election treated as initial classification
A limited liability company remained dormant after formation, with no assets, income, liabilities, bank accounts, operations, or board meetings. Before it acquired property and began business, it…
Parties granted late section 336(e) election relief
A purchaser acquired at least 80 percent of an S corporation's stock through a disregarded LLC. The purchaser, seller, and target intended to elect under IRC § 336(e) to treat the qualified stock…
Foreign entity granted late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes. It failed to file Form 8832 on time for the desired effective date. The entity requested…
Foreign company received late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes. It did not timely file Form 8832 for the intended effective date. The entity asked the IRS…
Foreign entity allowed a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity planned to be treated as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes. It failed to submit Form 8832 by the deadline for its intended effective date. The entity…
Estates granted relief for GST elections and trust severances
A tax professional mistakenly reported gifts to two trusts as outright gifts to the donors' children, causing the married donors to miss elections out of automatic generation-skipping transfer…
Partnership received 120 days to make section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership redeemed ownership interests but inadvertently failed to make a timely IRC § 754 election. That election permits partnership-property basis…
Executor granted 120 days to elect portability
A surviving spouse serving as executor failed to file Form 706 by the deadline for electing portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion. The executor represented that the estate…
Estate received relief for GST allocations and election-outs
A married donor funded five trusts for grandchildren and elected gift splitting with the donor's spouse. Their first tax preparer failed to allocate the spouse's generation-skipping transfer…
Donor receives extra time for GST exemption allocations and an election out of automatic allocation
A donor created five trusts for grandchildren and made later direct-skip gifts. Tax professionals prepared the donor’s gift tax returns but failed to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect corporate classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a corporation for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It asked the IRS for additional time to make the entity-classification…
Corporation receives late safe-harbor election for acquisition success fees
A corporation paid success-based fees for two acquisitions and deducted the entire amount after relying on two accounting firms. A later auditor determined that the fees should have been…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse’s unused exclusion amount. The estate represented that the decedent’s gross estate was below the basic…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse’s unused exclusion amount. The estate represented that the decedent’s gross estate was below the basic…
Estate receives another 120 days after an incomplete portability filing
An estate missed the original portability election deadline and later filed Form 706 under Revenue Procedure 2014-18, but that filing omitted required information. The estate represented that the…
Corporation receives 60 days to file omitted Form 3115
A corporate group intended to make automatic accounting-method changes for repairs, units of property, and materials and supplies. Its tax preparer completed Form 3115 and timely sent the duplicate…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It requested additional time to make the entity-classification…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It requested additional time to make the entity-classification…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership for an earlier period but did not timely file Form 8832. It also represented that it later became eligible to be disregarded from…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It requested additional time to make the entity-classification…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It requested additional time to make the entity-classification…
IRS grants extra time to waive a consolidated net operating loss carryback
A parent corporation intended to elect out of the entire carryback period for its consolidated group's net operating loss, and the group filed its returns consistently with that intent. The required…
IRS grants 120 days for a late estate-tax portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion to the surviving spouse. The estate represented that its gross value,…
IRS grants 90 days for a late partnership-classification election
A domestic limited liability company intended to elect partnership treatment for federal tax purposes, effective on a redacted date, but did not timely file Form 8832. Entity-classification…
IRS grants 120 days for a late partnership basis-adjustment election
Two partnerships made liquidating distributions, but their tax advisers did not inform them that an IRC § 754 election was available. After one partnership merged into the other, the surviving…
IRS grants surviving partnership 120 days for a late section 754 election
Two partnerships made liquidating distributions, but their tax advisers did not tell them about the IRC § 754 election. After one partnership merged into the other, the surviving partnership…
Investment funds receive relief for elections on late-filed returns
Four regulated investment company funds timely extended their returns, but the employees who coordinated filing at the adviser and custodian both left before the extended due date. The unfiled…
Estate receives 120 days to make late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate was…
Corporation receives 60 days to file late IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation intended to elect interest charge domestic international sales corporation status from its formation. It represented that it mailed a completed Form 4876-A after following an…
Estate receives 120 days to make late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate,…
Estate receives 120 days to make late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The surviving spouse, acting as personal representative,…
Estate receives 120 days to make late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate was…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign entity wholly owned by a resident alien missed the deadline to file Form 8832 electing to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes. The entity had acquired real property…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign entity's indirect owner intended the entity to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from its formation date, but the entity inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS…
Taxpayer receives 60 days to undo an unintended Roth conversion
A taxpayer instructed a financial institution to place an after-tax contribution in a new traditional IRA and later move only that amount to a Roth IRA. The institution instead deposited the…
Estate receives extension to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion. The decedent's gross estate, including lifetime taxable gifts, was…
IRS cannot accept late election to waive NOL carryback
The IRS considered whether it could accept an election under section 172(b)(3) after the extended due date for the return reporting a net operating loss. It advised that the election deadline is…
Partnership receives extension for housing credit election
A partnership placed a low-income housing building in service but inadvertently failed to make a timely section 42(f)(1) election to begin the building's credit period that year. The IRS concluded…
Consolidated group receives extension to waive NOL carryback
A consolidated group intended to waive the carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss, and its other returns were consistent with that intent, but it failed to file a valid election with…
Success-fee safe-harbor election gets 60-day extension
A taxpayer properly deducted 70 percent of a success-based acquisition fee and capitalized 30 percent under the safe harbor in Rev. Proc. 2011-29, but its tax department omitted the required…
Late portability election treated as timely
An estate below the estate-tax filing threshold missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate later filed Form 706 and…
Estate receives 120 days for portability election
An estate below the estate-tax filing threshold failed to file Form 706 by the deadline for electing portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount. Because the estate was not otherwise…
Housing authority gets 45 days for volume-cap election
A public housing authority received private activity bond volume cap for a qualified residential rental project but failed to file Form 8328 to carry the unused allocation forward. Responsibility…
REIT gets 90 days for two subsidiary elections
A REIT intended two corporations in its investment structure to be taxable REIT subsidiaries, but outside advisers failed to coordinate the required joint Form 8875 elections. The entities had no…
Spouses get 120 days to complete GST allocations
A married couple made split gifts to two irrevocable trusts with generation-skipping transfer tax potential. Their Forms 709 reported amounts of GST exemption, but the accountant failed to attach…
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.