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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Social club loses exemption after excessive investment and nonmember income
A membership organization devoted to genealogical and historical information had been recognized as a tax-exempt social club under IRC § 501(c)(7). Its revenue included member dues and program…
Social club loses exemption after mineral income replaces member support
A family membership organization had been recognized as a tax-exempt social club under IRC § 501(c)(7). It reported no member dues in the examined years and instead received a mineral-lease signing…
Exemption revoked over family fundraising benefits and deficient governing documents
A membership organization used fundraising programs to support activities for participating families. It credited fundraising work to family accounts that could offset trip and other program costs,…
Social club exemption revoked for recurring investment income
A hunting, fishing, and recreation club held a professionally managed investment fund created from a lump-sum lease payment. For several consecutive years, investment income caused the club to…
Exemption revoked after organization failed to substantiate its operations
A private foundation did not fully respond to repeated IRS requests for its organizing documents, activity descriptions, minutes, financial records, and other examination materials. The partial…
Social club exemption revoked for recurring public-event income
A social club held shows and training classes that were open to the public. Most show participants were not members, but the club did not separate member and nonmember receipts or maintain the…
Medicaid care payments remain subject to employment tax unless an exception applies
A parent received state-program payments for providing in-home care to the parent's disabled child. Notice 2014-7 treats qualifying Medicaid waiver payments as difficulty-of-care payments excluded…
Closed-year interest remains in the balance for open-year self-dealing tax
A private foundation made a self-dealing loan to a disqualified person, and unpaid interest was added to the loan balance each year. By the time of examination, the assessment period had expired for…
S corporation received inadvertent-termination relief after trust transfers
Two shareholders transferred S corporation stock to trusts that were mistakenly treated as grantor trusts. Because the trusts did not qualify as eligible S corporation shareholders, the transfers…
Estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return missed the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate requested regulatory…
Corporation received 90 days to file its IC-DISC election
A corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation for an affiliated manufacturer's exports. Its advisers and staff prepared Form 4876-A and believed…
Partnership received 45 days to self-certify as an opportunity fund
A partnership intended to operate as a qualified opportunity fund, but its tax adviser mistakenly failed to attach Form 8996 to its timely filed return. The partnership did not know about the…
Family business split-off qualified as a tax-free Type D reorganization
Three family shareholders who operated an S corporation disagreed about how to manage its business and wanted to run separate portions independently. The corporation proposed forming a controlled…
Tax-exempt controlled entity received 60 days to make depreciation election
A taxable corporation wholly owned by a section 501(c)(3) organization indirectly owned a partnership that placed depreciable property in service. The corporation intended to elect under section…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A decedent held a partnership interest through a grantor trust, and the trustee later distributed that interest equally to the decedent's children. The partnership timely filed its return but did…
Educational-facility construction set-aside approved
A private foundation requested approval to set aside an amount for construction of an educational facility with classrooms and research space. COVID-19 disruptions made project scheduling uncertain,…
Gated homeowners association denied charitable exemption
A small gated homeowners association applied for section 501(c)(3) status even though it had previously filed homeowners-association tax returns and later said the exemption application was a…
Social club exemption revoked for recurring nonmember income
A recreational social club received nonmember income from investments, royalties, securities, and rent. Although it reported some unrelated business income, it did not report all investment or…
Exemption revoked after organization ignored records requests
An exempt organization had previously been classified as a private foundation and received approval to try to terminate that status by demonstrating public support. It did not establish that it met…
Exemption revoked for defective articles and failure to provide records
An organization had attested in its streamlined exemption application that its organizing document limited its purposes and properly dedicated its assets on dissolution. State records showed that…
Social club exemption revoked after activities ceased and investment income exceeded limits
The IRS revoked the Section 501(c)(7) exemption of a social club that had sold the property it was formed to hold. After the sale, the organization stopped conducting its own social activities and…
Exemption revoked for an organization that never became active
The IRS revoked the Section 501(c)(3) status of an organization that said it had never truly been active and had no plans to begin operating. The organization had received exemption through a…
Exemption revoked after charity stopped operating and withheld records
The IRS revoked the Section 501(c)(3) status of an organization that had stopped conducting exempt activities but still held a parcel of land. The organization did not provide articles of…
Resident-owned mobile home community denied charitable status
A resident-owned manufactured-home community sought exemption under Section 501(c)(3). It owned the land and rented lots only to members who owned or occupied homes in the community, with the goal…
Cemetery denied charitable status because it served private interests
An organization applied for Section 501(c)(3) status to operate and maintain a cemetery and sell burial plots. Its organizing document stated that cemetery operation was its purpose, and its only…
Exemption revoked when claimed foreign charity work could not be verified
The IRS revoked the Section 501(c)(3) status of an organization that claimed to build charitable and educational facilities in another country. Its returns did not describe those foreign activities,…
Boat condominium denied social-club exemption
A boat-condominium operator applied for exemption as a Section 501(c)(7) social club. Its recurring activities included boat storage and retrieval, marina maintenance and repairs, fuel sales, member…
Local business-promotion group denied charitable status
A local organization applied for Section 501(c)(3) status while describing its mission as promoting business activity in its community. It sponsored teacher recognition, children’s events, community…
Grantmaking charity revoked after loss of corporate status and public support
The IRS revoked the Section 501(c)(3) status of a grantmaking organization whose nonprofit corporate status had been revoked by its state of incorporation. Despite repeated requests, the…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) status to an agricultural research and processing facility that substantially serves private commercial interests
An organization applied for 501(c)(3) status saying it was formed for scientific and educational purposes to promote agricultural production. In practice it planned to build and run a specialty…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) status to a members-only funeral-benefit mutual-aid group that serves its members' private interests
An unincorporated nonprofit association applied for 501(c)(3) charitable status using the streamlined Form 1023-EZ. It operates as a members-only mutual-aid fund: members pay a monthly fee, register…
IRS approves a private foundation's high school scholarship procedures in advance, so the grants aren't taxable expenditures
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, the procedures it uses to award college scholarships to graduating seniors of two high schools. This approval matters because section 4945…
Estate gets extra time to make the section 642(c)(1) election to claim a charitable deduction it missed
An estate that pays part of its income to charity can deduct that payment under section 642(c)(1), and a special timing rule lets a fiduciary elect to treat a charitable payment made in the…
Employer can move a terminated pension plan's surplus into two ongoing 401(k) plans, treated as one "qualified replacement plan," without triggering the reversion excise tax
When an employer terminates an overfunded pension plan and takes back the leftover money, that "reversion" is hit with an excise tax under section 4980 (20 percent, rising to 50 percent) on top of…
Buyers and seller of an S corporation get extra time to make the section 336(e) election that treats a stock sale as an asset sale
When someone buys the stock of a corporation, the tax law normally treats it as a purchase of stock. But a section 336(e) election lets the parties treat a qualifying stock sale as if the…
Trust gets extra time to elect to deduct a charitable gift in the earlier year it was meant to count
A trust (or estate) that pays money to charity out of its income can deduct that payment under section 642(c)(1). There is a special timing rule: if the charitable payment is actually made in the…
Estate that didn't have to file an estate tax return gets extra time to make a "portability" election so the surviving spouse can use the unused exclusion
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate/gift tax exclusion can be transferred to their surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a…
Estate gets extra time to make QTIP and "reverse" QTIP elections its attorney botched on the estate tax return
When a married person dies, an estate can defer estate tax on assets left in trust for the surviving spouse by making a "QTIP" election (qualified terminable interest property) under section…
S corporation with trust shareholders gets to fix mistaken ESBT elections, make late QSST elections, and keep its S status after an inadvertent termination
An S corporation was owned through trusts that were split into separate shares for individual family beneficiaries. To keep S-corporation eligibility, each separate trust share needed to be a…
IRS revokes a "low-income housing" nonprofit that ran a commercial home-flipping business and funneled money to the founder's family
A nonprofit told the IRS it existed to create homeownership for low-income and disadvantaged people. On audit, the IRS found it mostly bought foreclosed houses through a bank-transfer program,…
Chief Counsel (FIP) declines to support an examination adjustment because it would require regulations
This is a short internal Chief Counsel Advice email from the Financial Institutions and Products (FIP) branch, responding to an examiner who was weighing whether to adjust a taxpayer's return for…
S-corporation's inadvertent termination (shares held by non-qualifying trusts) is forgiven
An S corporation can only have certain kinds of shareholders. A trust generally qualifies only if it is a "grantor trust" treated as owned by an individual. Here two shareholders each set up a trust…
S-corporation's inadvertent termination (shares held by non-qualifying trusts) is forgiven
An S corporation can only have certain kinds of shareholders. A trust generally qualifies only if it is a "grantor trust" treated as owned by an individual. Here two shareholders each set up a trust…
S-corporation's inadvertent termination (shares held by non-qualifying trusts) is forgiven
An S corporation can only have certain kinds of shareholders. A trust generally qualifies only if it is a "grantor trust" treated as owned by an individual. Here two shareholders each set up a trust…
Corporation's late S-election treated as timely for reasonable cause
A corporation wanted to be taxed as an S corporation from a specific date but never filed a proper election (Form 2553) on time. Its sole shareholder had, however, filed personal returns for every…
Estate gets extra time to elect estate-tax "portability" for a surviving spouse
When one spouse dies without using up their federal estate-tax exemption, the estate can elect "portability" to pass the unused amount (the DSUE) to the surviving spouse. That election is normally…
Final denial of 501(c)(3) exemption to a vintage sports-car enthusiast club operated for social purposes
A membership club built around a particular vintage sports car (referred to only as "D") applied for charitable tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) using the short Form 1023-EZ. The club runs…
Revocation of 501(c)(3) status for failing the operational test and not keeping or producing records
The IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of a charity that had been recognized under section 501(c)(3) as a public charity. The organization's stated purpose was to help poor and underprivileged…
Revocation of 501(c)(3) status where training-fee income passes through to a for-profit run by the director
The IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of an organization that had been recognized under section 501(c)(3) and treated as a public charity under section 509(a)(2). The group collected training fees…
Revocation of 501(c)(7) social-club exemption for public use of facilities and excess nonmember income
The IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of a social club recognized under section 501(c)(7). A 501(c)(7) club is meant to be supported mainly by its members and operated substantially for the pleasure…
Revocation of 501(c)(7) social-club exemption for investment income exceeding the nonmember limit
The IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of a members' club recognized under section 501(c)(7). The club's stated purpose was educating members in the safe handling of firearms and conservation, and…
Revocation of 501(c)(7) social-club exemption where endowment investment income exceeded the nonmember limit
The IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of a family genealogical society recognized under section 501(c)(7). The society existed to research and publish the history and genealogy of families sharing a…
Revocation of 501(c)(3) status for failure to produce records for audit
The IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of an organization that had been recognized under section 501(c)(3) after filing the short Form 1023-EZ. When the IRS selected the group for a routine audit to…
Revocation of 501(c)(7) social-club exemption for living on investment income and lacking individual membership
The IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of a social club recognized under section 501(c)(7). The club ran a social hall for a fraternal society, letting members use it for meetings, lectures, and…
Revocation of a 509(a)(3) supporting organization for private benefit, inflated gift-in-kind reporting, and illegal fundraising practices
The IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of a supporting organization recognized under section 509(a)(3), a type of charity that exists to support one or more specified public charities. This…
When a multi-step transaction is "entered into" for the codified economic substance doctrine
This is an informal email from IRS Chief Counsel answering a colleague's question about the codified economic substance doctrine in section 7701(o). That doctrine, added in 2010, lets the IRS…
Automatic extension of time to file Form 5500 employee benefit plan returns
This is an internal IRS Chief Counsel email passing along an answer from the Procedures and Administration office about a project a colleague was working on. The specific question and the office's…
Section 1.1502-13 redetermines a consolidated group's extra partnership depreciation deductions to reach a single-entity result
The IRS Office of Chief Counsel issued this advice to a field attorney handling a large corporation's audit protest. A consolidated group (corporations that file one joint return) shifted interests…
120-day extension granted for a surviving spouse's estate to make a portability (DSUE) election
A surviving spouse's representative asked the IRS for more time to make a "portability" election under section 2010(c)(5)(A), which lets a surviving spouse use the deceased spouse's unused…
Reasonable cause found to treat a late S corporation election as timely on the intended date
A corporation's two shareholders intended it to be taxed as an S corporation starting from a specific date, but the company missed the deadline to file Form 2553 and mistakenly filed a regular C…
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.