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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Mortgage settlement payments preserve REMIC treatment
Residential mortgage securitization trusts expected shares of a settlement resolving claims that mortgages had breached customary representations and warranties. The IRS ruled that entering the…
Mortgage settlement payments preserve REMIC treatment
Residential mortgage securitization trusts expected shares of a settlement resolving claims that mortgages had breached customary representations and warranties. The trusts used a separate trustee…
Integrated senior communities qualify as health care property
A real estate investment trust owned two integrated senior living communities containing independent-living and licensed assisted-living units. Residents could move to higher levels of care as their…
RIC distribution routing does not produce foreign-dividend deduction
A consolidated corporate group routed investment funds and returns from a domestic regulated investment company through a controlled foreign corporation. The structure was designed to convert…
REIT liquidation sales are not prohibited transactions
A real estate investment trust considered selling its portfolio under a complete liquidation plan after reviewing alternatives for increasing shareholder value. It represented that it had acquired…
REIT and subsidiary receive more time for TRS election
A company intended to elect REIT status and to treat a hotel-operating subsidiary as a taxable REIT subsidiary from the start of operations. Its investment adviser believed outside tax professionals…
REIT and subsidiary receive more time for TRS election
A parent intended to elect REIT status and have a subsidiary that provided parking services treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary from the subsidiary's formation. The parent believed its tax adviser…
REIT and hotel subsidiary receive more time for TRS election
A newly formed parent intended to elect REIT status and treat a wholly owned subsidiary as a taxable REIT subsidiary from formation so the structure could comply with the lodging exception for rents…
Investment fund receives more time to make foreign-tax election
A regulated investment company intended to elect under IRC § 853 so its shareholders would be treated as paying their shares of foreign taxes withheld from the fund's dividends. Its adviser resigned…
Parking-garage income qualifies as rent from real property
A real estate investment trust planned for a partnership it partly owned to acquire a parking garage next to an office building. The garage primarily served the office park's tenants, employees,…
Parking-garage income qualifies as rent from real property
A real estate investment trust planned for a partnership it partly owned to acquire a parking garage next to an office building. The garage primarily served the office park's tenants, employees,…
Permanently moored casino facilities qualify as real property
A gaming company planned a transaction in which casino real estate would be owned by a real estate investment trust and leased to an operating company. Several casino facilities were built on barges…
Replacement plant preserved foreclosure-property status
A REMIC acquired a shopping-mall property through foreclosure after the mortgage default became imminent. The property's aging wastewater treatment system was already undergoing a multiyear…
REIT may exclude its indirect share of related management fees from income tests
A real estate investment trust held mortgage and foreclosed-property investments through an operating partnership. After a restructuring, the operating partnership would own part of the manager that…
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…
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…
REIT and subsidiary receive 90 days for a late TRS election
A real estate investment trust and its wholly owned subsidiary intended to file Form 8875 so the subsidiary would be treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary for an acquired hotel property. Their tax…
REIT portfolio exchanges and captive-REIT distributions receive favorable safe-harbor treatment
A REIT planned to realign its real-estate portfolio through like-kind exchanges, sales by captive REITs, and possible captive-REIT liquidations. The IRS ruled that a qualifying section 1031 exchange…
REIT liquidation sales avoided prohibited-transaction tax
A real estate investment trust planned to sell all of its residential rental properties under a plan of liquidation. It asked whether the sales would be prohibited transactions subject to the 100…
Foreign inclusions qualify for REIT income test and currency gains are excluded
A timberland REIT operated abroad through foreign subsidiaries, including controlled foreign corporations and passive foreign investment companies. It expected subpart F, qualified electing fund,…
Patronage dividends are excluded from REIT income tests
A timberland REIT borrowed under a credit agreement from cooperative lenders and received annual patronage dividends based on its borrowing activity. Those dividends were includible in the REIT's…
Mortgage settlement payments preserve REMIC status and interest classifications
A trustee for numerous residential mortgage REMICs entered a court-approved settlement over alleged breaches of loan representations, warranties, and servicing duties. The settlement allocated…
REIT subsidiary's late taxable election is treated as timely
A real estate investment trust and its subsidiary intended to elect taxable REIT subsidiary status from the date the subsidiary began operating a facility. Their accounting firm did not obtain the…
Ski lift towers qualify as real property for REIT rules
A publicly traded real estate investment trust planned to acquire ski resort assets and lease them to operators. It asked whether the concrete foundations, steel towers, tower head assemblies, and…
REIT receives extension for taxable subsidiary elections
A company preparing to elect REIT status placed nonqualifying operations in two corporate subsidiaries. Its law and accounting firms each believed the other would file the required taxable REIT…
Company receives 90 days to make late REIT election
A corporation formed to own and lease healthcare properties intended to elect real estate investment trust status for its first taxable year. Its chief financial officer inadvertently failed to file…
Ground-lease income qualifies for publicly traded partnership treatment
A publicly traded partnership acquired leases of raw land and building rooftops used by tenants for cellular towers, broadband installations, billboards, wind turbines, and solar arrays. It…
Fund’s four late tax elections are treated as timely
A series of a registered investment company prepared a timely return containing elections to be treated as a regulated investment company, carry certain late-year losses forward, treat declared…
Late REIT election granted after missed extension filing
A limited liability company intended to elect real estate investment trust status on its first Form 1120-REIT. Its tax adviser prepared Form 7004, but administrative burdens during a high-volume…
Late taxable-REIT-subsidiary election granted
A REIT indirectly owned a subsidiary connected with a qualified lodging facility and intended to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary status. A group within the tax adviser learned of the property…
Data-center REIT receives rulings on property, income, distributions, and hedges
A publicly traded data-center company planned to reorganize and elect real estate investment trust status. The IRS ruled that its buildings, integrated building components, and specified…
TRS investment did not amount to operating a lodging facility
A real estate investment trust's taxable REIT subsidiary proposed buying a nonmanaging interest in an LLC that leased a building from the REIT's operating partnership and planned to convert it into…
Late REIT election received a 90-day extension
An LLC intended to elect real estate investment trust status on its first eligible Form 1120-REIT. Its advisor prepared both the return and an extension request, but the Form 7004 did not reach the…
Missing mailing proof justified late TRS election
A corporation intending to elect REIT status and an indirectly owned subsidiary planned to file Form 8875 so the subsidiary would be treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary. Their adviser prepared and…
REIT liquidating distribution may purge inherited non-REIT earnings
A real estate investment trust revoked a subsidiary's taxable REIT subsidiary status, causing the subsidiary to become disregarded and liquidate into the REIT. The REIT succeeded to the subsidiary's…
Late regulated investment company dividend election treated as timely
A regulated investment company declared and paid dividends after year-end and intended to elect under section 855(a) to treat them as paid during the prior tax year. A new return reviewer mailed the…
REIT and subsidiary receive 90 days for late taxable-subsidiary election
A subsidiary had elected taxable REIT subsidiary status with its former REIT owner. After a new REIT acquired the subsidiary, the parties intended that status to continue but their tax adviser…
REIT receives more time for taxable subsidiary election
A corporation intending to elect REIT status and its indirectly owned subsidiary intended to file Form 8875 so the subsidiary would be treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary. Their adviser prepared…
Mortgage REIT may exclude hedge income from income tests
A residential mortgage REIT financed fixed-rate mortgage assets with short-term or floating-rate borrowing. It used interest-rate swaps, swaptions, and similar instruments to manage that financing…
Mortgage REIT may exclude hedge income from income tests
A residential mortgage REIT financed fixed-rate mortgage assets with short-term or floating-rate borrowing. It used interest-rate swaps, swaptions, and similar instruments to manage that financing…
Inflation-swap income qualified for RIC income test
Three regulated investment companies proposed using swaps tied to the Consumer Price Index to reduce inflation risk in portfolios of municipal bonds or preferred securities. They represented that…
Farm Credit patronage dividends excluded from REIT income tests
A timberlands company taxed as a real estate investment trust borrowed from Farm Credit cooperatives and expected to receive patronage dividends based on its borrowing activity. The dividends would…
Mistaken REIT filing did not start or terminate election
A real estate company intended to postpone its REIT election until a later year because it could not qualify in its first year. Miscommunication among its outside tax consultant, securities counsel,…
REIT billboard rentals qualify as rents from real property
A real estate investment trust owned outdoor advertising displays and elected to treat qualifying displays as real property under section 1033(g)(3). It rented advertising space for fixed payments…
LLC receives more time to make REIT election
An LLC intended from its formation to be taxed as a real estate investment trust. Its adviser prepared Form 1120-REIT and a Form 7004 extension request, but heavy filing volume prevented the…
Funds receive relief for late RIC and dividend elections
Two series funds intended from inception to qualify as regulated investment companies. Their preparer timely extended the return deadlines and delivered the completed Forms 1120-RIC to the funds'…
Ski lift towers qualify as real property for REIT purposes
A real estate investment trust owned ski resort assets leased to operators and asked whether its ski lift towers counted as real property. Each tower consisted of a concrete foundation, steel tower,…
Refundable brownfield credit qualifies for REIT tests
A parent REIT and subsidiary REITs expected refundable state franchise tax credits from redeveloping brownfield land into rental housing. The IRS ruled that each right to a refund was an…
REMIC sponsor may recognize losses despite secured-financing accounting
A life insurance subsidiary transferred mortgage-backed securities to a trust that elected REMIC status. It received regular interests represented by notes, sold those notes to investors, and…
REIT and subsidiary receive relief for a late TRS election
A real estate investment trust and a partly owned subsidiary intended to elect taxable REIT subsidiary status but each professional adviser assumed another adviser would file Form 8875. The missing…
Property LLC receives late corporate and taxable REIT subsidiary elections
A real estate investment trust indirectly owned an LLC holding one of its properties. After discovering facts about the property that could create risk for REIT status, the taxpayers sought to…
Cooperative interests qualify as REIT real property
A real estate investment trust planned to acquire membership certificates in a nonprofit mobile-home cooperative together with occupancy agreements granting long-term use of specific home plots. The…
REIT receives late-election relief for an indirectly owned taxable subsidiary
A real estate investment trust indirectly acquired an interest in a corporation when a tower-company acquisition changed from an asset purchase to a stock purchase. The REIT’s tax professionals were…
Senior communities qualify as congregate care facilities
A real estate investment trust owned age-restricted independent-living communities that offered meals, housekeeping, transportation, security, mobility features, wellness monitoring, emergency…
Storage company receives coordinated REIT conversion rulings
A publicly traded storage company requested 12 rulings for its planned conversion to a real estate investment trust. The IRS treated its custom, permanently installed steel racking structures as…
REIT and subsidiary receive more time to elect TRS status
A real estate investment trust leased a hotel to a corporate subsidiary that used an independent contractor to manage the hotel. The governing agreement required the subsidiary and the REIT to elect…
Cellular system cables and site rights qualify as REIT real property
A publicly traded company planning to elect REIT status owned or leased indoor and outdoor systems that improved cellular service in high-density locations. The IRS ruled that permanently installed…
Late taxable REIT subsidiary election relief granted
A real estate investment trust and a subsidiary intended to elect taxable REIT subsidiary status, but the joint venture operator responsible for regulatory compliance did not know that Form 8875 was…
REIT special dividend is preferential and threatens qualification
A privately held REIT proposed two common-share classes whose mix would depend on the size of each investor's investment. Class B shares would receive a special dividend designed to offset a reduced…
Failed-bank asset transfer blocks carryover basis through late REIT election
A bank acquired assets and deposit liabilities from a failed institution in a transaction supported by federal net worth assistance and loss guarantees. The acquiring group later filed a REIT return…
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.