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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Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes…
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes…
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes…
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes…
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes…
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes…
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes…
Consolidated group gets more time to elect out of bonus depreciation after its preparer filed the extension late
Businesses that buy qualifying equipment can normally take a large "additional first year" (bonus) depreciation deduction under IRC § 168(k), but they can also elect out of it for whole classes of…
Consolidated group gets 75 more days to elect to waive the carryback of its net operating loss
When a consolidated group of corporations has a net operating loss, it can choose to carry that loss back to earlier years or instead waive the carryback and only carry it forward. Waiving the…
IRS treats a large multi-year grant to an arts public charity as an "unusual grant," protecting its public-support status
A small arts public charity, classified under IRC § 509(a)(2), asked the IRS whether a large grant it expected to receive would count as an "unusual grant." The charity advocates for a particular…
IRS approves a foundation's scholarship program for graduating seniors whose families belong to a sponsoring organization
A private foundation asked the IRS to bless the way it hands out college scholarships. Private foundations owe an excise tax on "taxable expenditures," and grants to individuals for study count…
IRS approves a foundation's research-grant program to document endangered oral literature and ecological knowledge
A private foundation runs a research-grant program that funds anthropologists, linguists, and local researchers to document and preserve endangered oral literature and traditional ecological…
IRS approves a company-linked foundation's scholarships for students entering the skilled trades
A private foundation funded by a company (the company's owners serve as the foundation's officers) asked the IRS to approve its scholarship procedures under IRC § 4945(g)(1). The program awards…
IRS denies 501(c)(4) status to a manufactured-home community's homeowners group as private-benefit, not social welfare
A homeowners group from a manufactured-home community applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt social welfare organization under IRC § 501(c)(4), and the IRS said no. The homeowners own their…
IRS denies 501(c)(4) status to a member-funded burial-benefit association as a mutual self-interest group
An unincorporated mutual-aid association rooted in a particular ethnic community's burial custom applied for tax exemption as a social welfare organization under IRC § 501(c)(4). The group collects…
IRS denies 501(c)(7) social-club status where lease and rental income from nonmembers is the club's main revenue
An organization that holds and manages property for a fraternal group applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt social club under IRC § 501(c)(7), and the IRS denied it. A § 501(c)(7) club is meant…
IRS accepts appraisals establishing preferred-stock fair market value for a section 1059(c)(4) extraordinary-dividend election
A corporate shareholder bought newly issued, non-publicly-traded preferred stock and, within two years, received two large quarterly dividends. Because each dividend topped 5% of the stock's basis,…
IRS rules a publicly traded parent's spin-off separating two businesses qualifies as a tax-free section 355/368(a)(1)(D) reorganization
A publicly traded parent corporation wants to split its two lines of business into two separate public companies. To do it, the parent (Distributing) forms a new subsidiary (Controlled), contributes…
IRS consents to a cost-sharing participant switching to the elective method for counting stock-based compensation
A U.S. company shares the cost of developing intangible property with a foreign affiliate under a cost sharing arrangement (CSA) governed by the transfer-pricing rules of IRC § 482. When employees…
IRS consents to a cost-sharing participant switching to the elective method for counting stock-based compensation
A U.S. company shares the cost of developing intangible property with a foreign affiliate under a cost sharing arrangement (CSA) governed by the transfer-pricing rules of IRC § 482. When employees…
IRS lets a surviving spouse roll a trust-inherited IRA into her own IRA because she fully controls the trust
When a spouse dies and leaves an IRA to a trust rather than directly to the surviving spouse, the survivor usually cannot roll that IRA into her own IRA, because the money is treated as passing…
IRS rules a state workers'-comp insurer's shift from tax-exempt to taxable status is not a sale or exchange
A state-sponsored workers' compensation insurer had been tax-exempt under IRC § 501(c)(27). State legislation began privatizing it by gradually shifting control of its board to its policyholders.…
IRS grants an estate a 120-day extension to make the section 663(b) "65-day rule" election
An estate made distributions to its beneficiaries within the first 65 days of a new tax year. IRC § 663(b) (the "65-day rule") lets an estate or trust elect to treat such early-year distributions as…
IRS rules a water utility need not reduce rate-base deferred taxes for an NOL that was shrinking, revisiting an earlier ruling after a court decision
A regulated water and wastewater utility uses accelerated depreciation on its tax return but straight-line depreciation when setting customer rates. The tax law's "normalization" rules (IRC §…
IRS grants extension and inadvertent-error relief to fix dozens of botched QSub elections after an S corp reorganization
An S corporation reorganized, pulling other S corporations and their many subsidiaries under a new S corporation parent (X). To keep those subsidiaries from being taxed as separate corporations, X…
IRS revokes 501(c)(7) status of a women's cultural club whose investment income exceeded the limit on receipts from outside the membership
A women's club organized to promote cultural, intellectual, and civic activities was tax-exempt as a social club under IRC § 501(c)(7), and the IRS revoked that exemption. A § 501(c)(7) club is…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) status to an equine-events club because its horsemanship competitions serve a substantial recreational purpose
A club that runs equine speed events and horsemanship competitions applied for tax-exempt charitable and educational status under IRC § 501(c)(3) using the short Form 1023-EZ, and the IRS denied it.…
IRS denies 501(c)(25) title-holding status to a group organized as a self-proclaimed sovereign nation
An organization applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt title-holding entity under IRC § 501(c)(25), and the IRS denied it. A § 501(c)(25) organization exists for one narrow purpose: to acquire…
IRS denies 501(c)(7) status to a family landholding group living on product sales and oil-and-gas royalties
A group made up of the descendants of one ancestor, who own inherited land and meet once a year, applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt social club under IRC § 501(c)(7), and the IRS denied it. A…
IRS disqualifies a self-declared 501(c)(7) immigrant social club that lived on rental income from its building
A social club that served working-class immigrants had treated itself as tax-exempt under IRC § 501(c)(7) without ever getting a determination letter from the IRS ("self-declared" status). On audit,…
IRS denies 501(c)(4) status to a gated-community homeowners' association whose amenities are walled off from the public
A homeowners' association for a gated residential community applied for tax-exempt status as a social welfare organization under IRC § 501(c)(4). The association maintains private streets,…
IRS revokes 501(c)(3) status of a charity that never actually operated
A nonprofit had received IRS recognition as a § 501(c)(3) public charity, proposing an ambitious slate of programs (peer support and independent-living services, financial literacy for young adults,…
IRS disqualifies a self-declared 501(c)(7) social club whose bar, banquet-hall rentals, and bingo drew too much public income
A social club, tied to a local fraternal chapter, treated itself as tax-exempt under IRC § 501(c)(7) without ever getting a determination letter from the IRS ("self-declared" status) and filed Forms…
IRS revokes a foundation that a trade group used to pay member-only insurance and benefits
A § 501(c)(3) charitable foundation had been set up by a related trade group, a § 501(c)(6) professional membership organization (whose members included owners, trainers, and grooms in a particular…
A federal tax lien attaches to alimony payments a taxpayer routed through a business-sale contract
This Chief Counsel Advice answers whether a federal tax lien reaches money that a delinquent taxpayer has arranged to be paid to his ex-wife. As part of his divorce (ordered before the tax lien…
IRS grants a corporate parent extra time to make the elections that close its foreign subsidiaries' tax years
A U.S. corporate parent needed to make special elections to avoid an unfavorable result under the dividends-received-deduction rules for foreign subsidiaries (§ 245A and Treas. Reg. § 1.245A-5).…
IRS grants extra time to make a late section 338(g) election for a foreign stock purchase
When one corporation buys the stock of another, § 338 lets the buyer elect to treat the stock purchase as if it had instead bought the target's assets, which can reset the tax basis of those assets.…
IRS grants extra time to elect out of tax-exempt-entity status so a housing project keeps its normal depreciation
A tax-exempt § 501(c)(3) housing charity owned a for-profit corporation, and that corporation was part of a partnership structure that built and operates a mixed-income (low-income housing tax…
IRS lets a fund drop mark-to-market treatment of two foreign investments after they started issuing PFIC statements
A U.S. regulated investment company (a RIC, essentially a registered fund) invests in foreign corporations that are "passive foreign investment companies" (PFICs). U.S. owners of PFIC stock…
IRS grants a late estate 120 extra days to make a portability election so the surviving spouse can use the decedent's unused exclusion
When someone dies, any part of their federal estate-and-gift tax exclusion they did not use can be transferred to a surviving spouse. This transfer is called a "portability" election, and the estate…
IRS confirms a bankruptcy liquidating trust keeps its grantor-trust status even after its term is extended again
When a company goes through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, its remaining assets are often placed in a "liquidating trust" whose only job is to sell them off and pay creditors. Under Treas. Reg. §…
IRS gives a married couple 120 days to make a late election to treat all their rental real estate as one activity
Rental real estate income is normally treated as "passive," which limits when the owner can deduct losses against other income. Taxpayers who qualify as real estate professionals under § 469(c)(7)…
IRS rules a REIT's senior independent-living facilities aren't health care facilities and the resident services won't taint its rents
A real estate investment trust (REIT) gets its favorable tax treatment only if almost all of its income is "good" REIT income, most importantly rents from real property, and if it does not directly…
IRS grants 120 days to file a late check-the-box election making a foreign subsidiary a disregarded entity
Under the "check-the-box" rules (Treas. Reg. § 301.7701-3), an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A foreign entity that does not elect otherwise defaults to…
Chief Counsel email on whether a foreign corporation that elected under § 953(d) to be a domestic life insurer must file an FBAR
This is a short internal email of Chief Counsel Advice about the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), which certain U.S. persons must file to disclose foreign financial accounts.…
IRS lets a church use the 15-year neighborhood-land rule so mortgaged land it is redeveloping isn't taxed as debt-financed property
A tax-exempt organization normally pays "unrelated business income tax" on income from property it bought with borrowed money (debt-financed property), even on rents that would otherwise be…
IRS blesses a tax-free split-up of a feuding family's S corporation into two new corporations, one for each sibling's branch
A family-owned S corporation was jointly owned, through trusts and family members, by two siblings' branches. The siblings could no longer get along, and the disputes made it impossible to keep…
IRS rules advisory fees paid out of an annuity's cash value aren't a taxable distribution to the owner
When money comes out of a deferred annuity before payouts begin, § 72(e) generally treats it as an "amount received" that can be taxable to the owner. A life insurance company planned to sell…
IRS rules the depreciation part of a utility's under-recovered rider costs stays subject to normalization, so excess deferred taxes can't be refunded fast
Regulated utilities that use accelerated depreciation for tax purposes must follow "normalization" rules (§ 168(i)(9)) that stop them from flowing the resulting deferred-tax benefit through to…
IRS grants 120 days to file a late check-the-box election making a foreign entity a disregarded entity
Under the "check-the-box" rules (Treas. Reg. § 301.7701-3), an eligible business entity elects how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A single-owner entity can elect to be "disregarded," meaning it is…
IRS grants a late estate 120 extra days to make a portability election so the surviving spouse can use the decedent's unused exclusion
When someone dies, any part of their federal estate-and-gift tax exclusion they did not use can be transferred to a surviving spouse through a "portability" election. The estate makes that election…
IRS grants an S corporation 120 days to make late QSub elections for three subsidiaries
An S corporation that owns 100% of a subsidiary can elect to treat that subsidiary as a "qualified subchapter S subsidiary" (QSub) under § 1361(b)(3). A QSub is ignored as a separate corporation, so…
IRS grants a multiemployer pension plan a 5-year extension to amortize its unfunded liabilities under section 431(d)
Multiemployer pension plans must fund their promised benefits under minimum funding rules, paying down "unfunded liabilities" over set amortization periods. Section 431(d) lets a plan apply for an…
IRS approves a private foundation's non-profit-leadership fellowship procedures under section 4945(g)(3)
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, how it will run a fellowship program that trains and funds emerging non-profit leaders working on social change. This advance approval…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) status to a mutual-aid group that pays bereavement benefits to its own members
A membership group applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt charity under IRC § 501(c)(3), and the IRS denied it. The group's stated purpose was to support its own members when they lose an…
IRS denies 501(c)(6) business-league status to a weekly referral club that admits one member per profession
A business-networking group applied for tax-exempt status as a business league under IRC § 501(c)(6), and the IRS denied it. The group holds weekly meetings where members exchange business referrals…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) status to a parent-run homeschool cooperative as serving members' private interest
A parent-run homeschool cooperative applied to be recognized as a tax-exempt educational charity under IRC § 501(c)(3), and the IRS denied it. In the co-op, homeschooling parents volunteer as…
Tax-free spin-off of one business under sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D), with a debt-for-cash "purging distribution"
A publicly traded parent corporation asked the IRS to bless a tax-free spin-off. The parent (Distributing) plans to separate two of its businesses by contributing one business to a newly formed…
A bank cannot turn time-barred over-reported section 597 income into deductible basis in mortgage servicing rights
A bank acquired a failed bank in an FDIC-assisted deal, which was a "taxable transfer" under section 597 that came with loss-share agreements counted as federal financial assistance. Because of a…
Reverse termination (break-up) fees on abandoned deals are section 165 losses, capital under section 1234A, not section 162 expenses
A company agreed to acquire a target, then had to abandon the deal and a related asset sale, paying "reverse" termination (break-up) fees. On its return it deducted those fees as ordinary business…
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.