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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Extra time for an estate to make a late "portability" election so the surviving spouse can use the decedent's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate-tax exclusion can pass to their surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a "portability" election, made…
Extra time for a fund to file a late Form 8996 self-certifying as a Qualified Opportunity Fund from its formation
The Opportunity Zone rules let investors defer and reduce tax on capital gains they reinvest in a "Qualified Opportunity Fund" (QOF). To be a QOF, an entity must self-certify by filing Form 8996 with …
Extra time for a fund to file a late Form 8996 self-certifying as a Qualified Opportunity Fund from its formation
The Opportunity Zone rules let investors defer and reduce tax on capital gains they reinvest in a "Qualified Opportunity Fund" (QOF). To be a QOF, an entity must self-certify by filing Form 8996 with …
Extra time for an estate to make a late "portability" election so the surviving spouse can use the decedent's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate-tax exclusion can pass to their surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a "portability" election, made…
Late relief to revoke a 501(h) lobbying election, effective retroactively
A public charity had earlier filed Form 5768 to make a section 501(h) election, which swaps the vague "no substantial part" limit on lobbying for a dollar-based expenditure test. It later decided the …
Late relief to make the Rev. Proc. 2011-29 safe-harbor election for success-based fees
When a company pays advisors fees that are contingent on a deal closing (success-based fees), the tax rules presume those fees must be capitalized rather than deducted, unless the taxpayer documents t…
Late relief to make a § 59(e) election to amortize R&E costs over 10 years
Section 59(e) lets a taxpayer choose to spread certain deductions, including research or experimental (R&E) costs otherwise deductible under § 174(a), ratably over 10 years instead of all at once. Thi…
NOL attributable to accelerated depreciation must be reflected in a water utility's excess deferred tax offset to rate base
A regulated water and wastewater utility uses accelerated depreciation for federal tax but must follow the tax "normalization" rules, which stop it from passing the accelerated-depreciation tax saving…
Moving 1042 replacement property into a grantor trust is not a disposition that triggers deferred gain
Section 1042 lets someone who sells company stock to an ESOP defer the capital gain if they reinvest the proceeds in "qualified replacement property" (QRP). That deferral is clawed back under § 1042(e…
Court-approved trust modification keeps grandfathered GST-exempt status; only appointed property enters the child's estate
A trust created under a will became irrevocable when the grantor died before September 25, 1985, so it is "grandfathered" and exempt from the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax as long as it is no…
Late relief to make the Rev. Proc. 2011-29 success-based fee election omitted from a timely return
Success-based fees (advisor fees contingent on a deal closing) are presumed to be non-deductible capital costs unless the taxpayer documents otherwise, but Rev. Proc. 2011-29 offers a safe harbor: ele…
Late relief for an estate to make a portability election for the unused estate tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate tax exclusion can be passed to a surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a "portability" election. Tha…
Late relief to make a taxable REIT subsidiary election after a Form 8875 signature was missing
A real estate investment trust (REIT) and a related corporation can jointly elect to treat the corporation as a "taxable REIT subsidiary" (TRS) under § 856(l), which lets the subsidiary run active bus…
Late relief to make a taxable REIT subsidiary election after a Form 8875 signature was missing
A real estate investment trust (REIT) and a related corporation can jointly elect to treat the corporation as a "taxable REIT subsidiary" (TRS) under § 856(l), which lets the subsidiary run active bus…
Late relief to make a taxable REIT subsidiary election after a Form 8875 signature was missing
A real estate investment trust (REIT) and a related corporation can jointly elect to treat the corporation as a "taxable REIT subsidiary" (TRS) under § 856(l), which lets the subsidiary run active bus…
Late relief to make a taxable REIT subsidiary election after a Form 8875 signature was missing
A real estate investment trust (REIT) and a related corporation can jointly elect to treat the corporation as a "taxable REIT subsidiary" (TRS) under § 856(l), which lets the subsidiary run active bus…
Late relief to make a taxable REIT subsidiary election after a Form 8875 signature was missing
A real estate investment trust (REIT) and a related corporation can jointly elect to treat the corporation as a "taxable REIT subsidiary" (TRS) under § 856(l), which lets the subsidiary run active bus…
IRS may share an employee's background-check results with a state, but not any return information without consent
This is informal Chief Counsel advice, delivered by email, about whether the IRS may hand a state (Wisconsin) background-check information on an IRS employee so the employee can get access to a state …
Section 280E bars the Work Opportunity Tax Credit for a marijuana business
This Chief Counsel Advice answers whether a business that traffics in marijuana can claim the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) under § 51 for wages paid to employees from targeted groups. The answer…
IRS denies a six-year-late election to exclude discharged real-property business debt as based on hindsight
Section 108(c)(3)(C) lets a non-corporate taxpayer elect to exclude from income the cancellation of "qualified real property business indebtedness," in exchange for reducing the basis of depreciable r…
IRS denies a six-year-late election to exclude discharged real-property business debt as based on hindsight
Section 108(c)(3)(C) lets a non-corporate taxpayer elect to exclude from income the cancellation of "qualified real property business indebtedness," in exchange for reducing the basis of depreciable r…
Late relief for a fund to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund on Form 8996
A Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) is an investment vehicle that lets investors defer and reduce tax on capital gains reinvested in designated low-income "opportunity zones" under § 1400Z-2. To become…
Late relief for a fund to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund on Form 8996
A Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) is an investment vehicle that lets investors defer and reduce tax on capital gains reinvested in designated low-income "opportunity zones" under § 1400Z-2. To become…
Late relief to elect out of the automatic allocation of GST exemption to a trust transfer
The generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax comes with a lifetime exemption, and to keep taxpayers from accidentally wasting it, the law automatically allocates GST exemption to certain "indirect skip"…
Inadvertent invalid S corporation election fixed where the wrong spouse signed the consent
To be an S corporation, a company must file Form 2553 and every shareholder must consent to the election. Here, the company was wholly owned by one spouse (Spouse A), but on the Form 2553 the other sp…
Ground improvements financed with tax-increment bonds do not create private business use
Interest on state and local bonds is generally tax-exempt, but not if the bonds are "private activity bonds," which happens when more than 10% of the proceeds are used in a private trade or business (…
Ground improvements financed with tax-increment bonds do not create private business use
Interest on state and local bonds is generally tax-exempt, but not if the bonds are "private activity bonds," which happens when more than 10% of the proceeds are used in a private trade or business (…
IRS lets a trust revoke its election to treat dividends and capital gain as investment income
A trust files Form 1041 and, on the advice of its tax preparer, elected under section 163(d)(4)(B) to treat qualified dividend income and net capital gain as "investment income." That election raises …
S corporation status restored after trusts missed their ESBT elections
A small business corporation elected S corporation status. Later, two shareholders transferred their shares into two trusts. Those trusts could have qualified to hold S corporation stock as Electing S…
Extra time granted to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary status after a missing signature
A real estate investment trust (REIT) and one of its corporate subsidiaries wanted to jointly elect, on Form 8875, to treat the subsidiary as a taxable REIT subsidiary (TRS). A TRS election lets a REI…
Extra time granted to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary status after a missing signature
A real estate investment trust (REIT) and one of its corporate subsidiaries wanted to jointly elect, on Form 8875, to treat the subsidiary as a taxable REIT subsidiary (TRS). A TRS election lets a REI…
Extra time granted to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary status after a missing signature
A real estate investment trust (REIT) and one of its corporate subsidiaries wanted to jointly elect, on Form 8875, to treat the subsidiary as a taxable REIT subsidiary (TRS). A TRS election lets a REI…
Extra time granted to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary status after a missing signature
A real estate investment trust (REIT) and one of its corporate subsidiaries wanted to jointly elect, on Form 8875, to treat the subsidiary as a taxable REIT subsidiary (TRS). A TRS election lets a REI…
Extra time granted to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary status after a missing signature
A real estate investment trust (REIT) and one of its corporate subsidiaries wanted to jointly elect, on Form 8875, to treat the subsidiary as a taxable REIT subsidiary (TRS). A TRS election lets a REI…
Extra time granted to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary status after a missing signature
A real estate investment trust (REIT) and one of its corporate subsidiaries wanted to jointly elect, on Form 8875, to treat the subsidiary as a taxable REIT subsidiary (TRS). A TRS election lets a REI…
Extra time granted to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary status after a missing signature
A real estate investment trust (REIT) and one of its corporate subsidiaries wanted to jointly elect, on Form 8875, to treat the subsidiary as a taxable REIT subsidiary (TRS). A TRS election lets a REI…
Extra time granted to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary status after a missing signature
A real estate investment trust (REIT) and one of its corporate subsidiaries wanted to jointly elect, on Form 8875, to treat the subsidiary as a taxable REIT subsidiary (TRS). A TRS election lets a REI…
Extra time granted to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary status for two subsidiaries after a missing signature
A real estate investment trust (REIT) wanted to jointly elect, on Form 8875, to treat two of its corporate subsidiaries as taxable REIT subsidiaries (TRSs). A TRS election lets a REIT run activities t…
Extra time granted to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary status for two subsidiaries after a missing signature
A real estate investment trust (REIT) wanted to jointly elect, on Form 8875, to treat two of its corporate subsidiaries as taxable REIT subsidiaries (TRSs). A TRS election lets a REIT run activities t…
Extra time granted to elect taxable-REIT-subsidiary status for two subsidiaries after a missing signature
A real estate investment trust (REIT) wanted to jointly elect, on Form 8875, to treat two of its corporate subsidiaries as taxable REIT subsidiaries (TRSs). A TRS election lets a REIT run activities t…
A utility's market-rate solar project is not "public utility property," so normalization rules do not apply
A regulated electric utility planned to develop a solar facility and hold it through a partnership with an unrelated investor. The partnership would sell the solar power into the wholesale market at m…
IRS partially revokes an old REIT-rent ruling, but only going forward
A REIT collects rent under a master lease and other leases whose annual rent increases (called Escalation and Other Adjustments) are capped by a formula tied to the tenant's "Adjusted Revenue," a meas…
Scholarship program procedures approved
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, how it will award scholarships under its program. The program provides financial help to underserved young adults in a particular area who wa…
No lien release for a shelter promoter because the section 6707 penalties were validly approved
A promoter of a "Son-of-BOSS" tax shelter had been hit with penalties under section 6707 for failing to disclose the shelter, and federal tax liens secured those penalties. The promoter asked the IRS …
A property-leasing matchmaker website performs "brokerage services," so its stock is not QSBS
An investor sold stock in a company that runs a website matching people who want to lease facilities with owners who list them. The owners pay the company a recurring listing fee plus a commission tie…
Extra time granted to elect foreign-partnership treatment for a joint-venture subsidiary
A U.S. partnership formed a foreign limited liability company as a joint venture with another party. Because every member of that foreign company had limited liability, the "check-the-box" default rul…
Estate gets more time to make a portability election for the surviving spouse
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate-and-gift tax exemption, the estate can make a "portability" election that lets the surviving spouse use the leftover amount, called the d…
Estate gets more time to make a portability election for the surviving spouse
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate-and-gift tax exemption, the estate can make a "portability" election that lets the surviving spouse use the leftover amount, called the d…
A donated art collection and donor name recognition are not self-dealing, and the art is exempt from the foundation payout base
A private foundation is set to receive a valuable art collection from a trust created by one of its directors, along with cash to pay for curation and gallery space. That director, his son (also a dir…
Extra time granted to self-certify as a qualified opportunity fund after a missed Form 8996
A limited partnership was set up to invest in a qualified opportunity zone and bought real estate there. To get the tax benefits of a qualified opportunity fund (QOF), it had to self-certify by attach…
A botched QSub election is treated as inadvertent, so subsidiary status is preserved
An S corporation's sole owner reorganized the business by contributing that company (Sub) to a new holding corporation (X) in a tax-free "F reorganization," so X became the successor S corporation and…
Section 956 anti-abuse rule reaches cash repatriated through a chain of intercompany deposits, loans, and note repayments
A U.S. parent company wanted to bring offshore cash held by two lower-taxed foreign subsidiaries (CFC5 and CFC7) back to the United States. Lending that cash straight to the U.S. parent would have tri…
Late portability (DSUE) election allowed under 9100 relief
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate-tax exclusion, the surviving spouse can inherit the leftover amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) only if the deceas…
Late portability (DSUE) election allowed under 9100 relief
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate-tax exclusion, the surviving spouse can inherit the leftover amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) only if the deceas…
Late section 362(e)(2)(C) basis-election statement allowed under 9100 relief
When property is transferred to a corporation in a tax-free § 351 exchange and the property's tax basis is higher than its value, § 362(e)(2) normally forces the receiving corporation to reduce its ba…
Bankruptcy claims trusts are qualified settlement funds; operating subsidiary deducts settlement funding and recognizes no gain on transferring parent stock
A regulated operating company and its holding-company parent went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy because of massive damage claims tied to their failure to maintain their property. Under the confirmed p…
Late portability (DSUE) election allowed under 9100 relief
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate-tax exclusion, the surviving spouse can inherit the leftover amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) only if the deceas…
Late qualified-opportunity-fund self-certification (Form 8996) allowed under 9100 relief
An LLC taxed as a partnership was set up to be a qualified opportunity fund (QOF), a vehicle that lets investors defer and reduce tax on capital gains they reinvest in economically distressed "opportu…
Late section 853 foreign-tax pass-through election by a liquidated fund allowed under 9100 relief
A mutual fund (a regulated investment company, or RIC) that holds mostly foreign stocks can elect under § 853 to pass the foreign taxes it pays through to its shareholders, who then claim the related …
Engineered low-salinity waterflood is a qualified tertiary recovery method for the enhanced oil recovery credit; pre-injection costs allowed on amended returns
Section 43 gives oil producers a credit for costs of a "qualified enhanced oil recovery project," but only if the project uses a "qualified tertiary recovery method." Ordinary waterflooding (injecting…
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.