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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Professional reliance justified late CNOL carryback election
The common parent of a consolidated group missed the deadline to elect an extended carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss. Affidavits showed that the parent had reasonably relied on…
Late section 831(b) insurance election allowed
A closely held property-and-casualty insurer intended to elect the alternative tax on investment income under section 831(b). Its first CPA filed an extension request but was later dismissed, and a…
Late foreign entity classification election allowed
A foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 to elect corporate tax classification as of its intended effective date. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the reasonable-cause…
Lower-tier partnership may make late section 754 election
An investor acquired an interest in an upper-tier partnership that owned part of a lower-tier partnership. The upper-tier partnership timely elected under section 754, but the lower-tier partnership…
Late section 754 election allowed for lower-tier partnership
An investor acquired an interest in an upper-tier partnership that held an interest in a lower-tier partnership. The upper-tier partnership timely made a section 754 election, but the lower-tier…
Late reverse-QTIP and trust-severance elections allowed
An estate elected QTIP treatment for a marital trust but, relying on its attorney, did not make a reverse-QTIP election or allocate the decedent's available generation-skipping transfer exemption.…
Adviser error justified late section 754 election
A partnership sought extra time to make a section 754 election after one of its members died. The partnership had relied on its tax adviser, who inadvertently failed to include the election with the…
CPA filing error justified late original Form 3115
A business decided to change how it identified and allocated inventory costs under section 263A. Its CPA timely sent the IRS the required copy of Form 3115 and reflected the change on the business’s…
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…
Adviser misunderstanding justified late IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation. A misunderstanding between its accounting and law firms over who would prepare and submit…
Professional error justified late CNOL carryback waiver
A consolidated group intended to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss but failed to file a valid election with its return. The parent represented that the group…
LLC received late corporate classification election relief
A limited liability company intended to elect corporate tax classification effective from its formation date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the company…
Estate received more time to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse’s unused estate and gift tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the…
Adviser error justified late section 754 election
A partnership sought extra time to make a section 754 election after one of its partners died. The partnership had relied on its tax adviser, who inadvertently failed to include the election with…
Inadvertence justified late QSub election
An S corporation formed a wholly owned domestic subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary from its formation date. The parent inadvertently failed to file Form 8869…
Late section 338(h)(10) election receives 45-day extension
A purchasing corporation acquired all the stock of a target in a transaction represented to be a qualified stock purchase, then later merged downstream into the target. The purchasing and selling…
Consolidated group receives 60 days for late extended NOL carryback election
A consolidated corporate group incurred a net operating loss in a qualifying year and wanted to elect a redacted three-, four-, or five-year carryback period under section 172(b)(1)(H), rather than…
Late Form 1128 for January year-end change treated as timely
A taxpayer and its controlled foreign corporations filed Form 1128 late to change their federal tax year from a December 31 year-end to a January 31 year-end. The automatic procedure in Revenue…
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…
Partnership receives 120 days for late section 754 election
A partnership issued a warrant with a note, later transferred the resulting partnership interest to the warrant holders, and entered into a redemption agreement for that interest. When filing its…
Late entity-classification election receives relief
A single-owner limited liability company intended to be classified as an association for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It represented that all U.S. tax and information…
Foreign entity receives late classification-election relief
A foreign entity intended to be treated as a disregarded entity from its formation date but did not timely file Form 8832. It later became a multiple-member entity and then returned to single-member…
Couple receives more time to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A married couple elected to split gifts made to an irrevocable trust for their children. Their accountant prepared the gift tax returns but omitted the statements needed to elect out of the…
Trust donor receives more time to opt out of automatic GST allocation
A taxpayer created an irrevocable trust for her children and made transfers to it in two years. She and her spouse elected to split the gifts on Forms 709, but their accountant omitted the…
Corporate group receives more time to elect consolidated return filing
A corporate parent and its affiliated group intended to elect consolidated federal income tax return filing for a tax year. The parent filed the consolidated return after the election deadline…
Taxpayer receives time to correct success-fee safe harbor amounts
A corporation incurred success-based investment banking fees when it was acquired in a taxable stock transaction. Its original return included the statements electing Revenue Procedure 2011-29's…
Consolidated group receives time to file late accounting-method forms
A corporate parent acquired a subsidiary that used the cash method and needed to change to the accrual method after joining the parent's consolidated group. The consolidated return reflected the…
Late return receives relief for bonus depreciation opt-out
A buyer and seller agreed that a corporation being sold would elect out of bonus depreciation for property placed in service before closing. The seller was responsible for the corporation's return,…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A partner died and the partner's interest in a limited partnership transferred to the surviving spouse. The partnership's tax advisor did not explain that a section 754 election was available, so…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS found that the entity met the regulatory standards for…
Late Form 8832 partnership election receives 120-day extension
A foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 electing partnership classification for U.S. federal tax purposes. The IRS concluded that the entity satisfied the standards for…
Foreign business receives late partnership-classification relief
A foreign business eligible to choose its U.S. tax classification missed the deadline to elect partnership treatment on Form 8832. The IRS determined that the entity qualified for…
Taxpayer receives late ADS and bonus-depreciation election relief
A foreign corporation depreciated several years of real property and leasehold improvements under the alternative depreciation system and consistently declined bonus depreciation for qualified…
Entity may correct the effective date of its disregarded election
A foreign eligible entity changed ownership during a business reorganization and intended to elect disregarded-entity treatment from a specified date. Its Form 8832 mistakenly listed an earlier…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-classification relief
A foreign eligible entity had been wholly owned by a trust from its formation date and intended to be disregarded for U.S. federal tax purposes from that date. Through inadvertence, it did not…
Taxpayer receives 60 days to file omitted success-fee election statement
A corporate taxpayer paid a success-based financial advisory fee when it acquired another corporation through a merger. Its return applied Revenue Procedure 2011-29's safe harbor by capitalizing 30…
LLC receives 120 days to make a late corporate-classification election
A domestic limited liability company intended to elect treatment as an association taxable as a corporation from a specified date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found…
City receives extension to elect bond volume-cap carryforward
A city received an allocation of unused state private activity bond volume cap but failed to file Form 8328 to carry the allocation forward. The allocation was not tied to a specific project, so the…
Taxpayer receives extension for real-property debt election
An individual realized cancellation-of-debt income after settling mortgage debt on business real estate. The individual and a tax preparer had discussed electing to exclude qualified real property…
Corporation receives extension for IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed to serve as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation. Its accounting firm prepared Form 4876-A but recorded the wrong due date, causing the first…
Foundation receives extension for corpus-distribution elections
A private nonoperating foundation received most of its annual funding from another private foundation and needed to use prior excess qualifying distributions to satisfy redistribution obligations.…
Consolidated group receives more time to waive loss carryback
A parent corporation intended to elect to relinquish the entire carryback period for its consolidated group's net operating loss, but a valid election was not included with the timely filed return.…
Corporation receives more time to elect IC-DISC status
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation, but its Form 4876-A election was not filed for its first taxable year. The filing failure…
Corporate group receives more time for consolidated return election
A parent and its subsidiaries failed to make a timely election to file a consolidated federal income tax return, although the group later filed the consolidated return. The IRS found that the parent…
Entity may change classification during 60-month restriction
An eligible foreign entity had elected corporate tax classification and later underwent a change of more than 50 percent of its ownership. It asked to change to disregarded-entity status before the…
Entity may change classification during 60-month restriction
An eligible foreign entity had elected corporate tax classification and later underwent a change of more than 50 percent of its ownership. It asked to change to disregarded-entity status before the…
Entity may change classification during 60-month restriction
An eligible foreign entity had elected corporate tax classification and later underwent a change of more than 50 percent of its ownership. It asked to change to disregarded-entity status before the…
Foreign entity receives late partnership election relief
A foreign eligible entity owned by five individuals intended to be classified as a partnership from its formation date but did not timely file Form 8832. It asked the IRS for an extension under the…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign eligible entity with one shareholder intended to be treated as a disregarded entity but inadvertently missed the deadline to file Form 8832. It represented that it acted reasonably and in…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A single-owner foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 for disregarded-entity treatment. Its owner had consistently filed personal U.S. tax returns intending that treatment, and the…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A single-owner foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 for disregarded-entity treatment. Its owner had consistently filed personal U.S. tax returns intending that treatment, and the…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A single-owner foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 for disregarded-entity treatment. Its owner had consistently filed personal U.S. tax returns intending that treatment, and the…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A single-owner foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 for disregarded-entity treatment. Its owner had consistently filed personal U.S. tax returns intending that treatment, and the…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A single-owner foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 for disregarded-entity treatment. Its owner had consistently filed personal U.S. tax returns intending that treatment, and the…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A single-owner foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 for disregarded-entity treatment. Its owner had consistently filed personal U.S. tax returns intending that treatment, and the…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A single-owner foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 for disregarded-entity treatment. Its owner had consistently filed personal U.S. tax returns intending that treatment, and the…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A single-owner foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 for disregarded-entity treatment. Its owner had consistently filed personal U.S. tax returns intending that treatment, and the…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A single-owner foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 for disregarded-entity treatment. Its owner had consistently filed personal U.S. tax returns intending that treatment, and the…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A single-owner foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 for disregarded-entity treatment. Its owner had consistently filed personal U.S. tax returns intending that treatment, and the…
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.