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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LLC may elect partnership status after ownership change
A limited liability company began as a disregarded entity and later elected S corporation status, which caused it to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation. New owners then…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A partnership failed to elect under section 754 after relying on tax advisers who did not explain that the election was available. The election would adjust the basis of partnership property under…
Late accounting-period change application is treated as timely
A homeowners association filed Form 1128 after the deadline for requesting an accounting-period change under Revenue Procedure 2006-45. The IRS found that the association acted reasonably and in…
Company receives 45 days to complete success-fee safe-harbor election
A consolidated corporate group incurred success-based investment-banking fees in two taxable stock acquisitions. Its original return deducted 70 percent of the fees and capitalized 30 percent,…
Consolidated group receives 60 days for extended NOL carryback election
A consolidated corporate group failed to elect the temporary three-, four-, or five-year carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss after relying on a tax professional. The IRS found…
Foreign entity receives 120 days for late disregarded-entity election
A single-owner foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its formation date but failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the entity satisfied the standards…
Taxpayer receives 120 days to stop automatic GST exemption allocations
A taxpayer created a grantor retained annuity trust and three related trusts for the taxpayer's children and descendants. The taxpayer intended not to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax…
LLC receives 120 days for late corporate-classification election
A domestic single-member LLC intended from its formation date to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation but failed to timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the entity…
Purchaser and sellers receive late section 338(h)(10) election relief
A member of a consolidated group purchased all stock of an S corporation for cash and merged the target into the purchaser. The parent and sellers intended to make a joint section 338(h)(10)…
Donor receives extension for late GST-exemption allocations
A donor made three cash transfers to an irrevocable trust for descendants, but the accounting firm preparing the gift-tax returns failed to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to the…
Foreign entity receives late partnership-classification election relief
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes from its formation date but failed to timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the entity…
Donor receives 120 days for late GST-exemption allocations
A donor made three cash transfers to an irrevocable trust for descendants, but the accounting firm preparing the gift-tax returns failed to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to the…
Late elections may defer low-income housing credit periods
A partnership placed low-income housing buildings in service but inadvertently failed to elect to start their ten-year credit periods in the following year. The IRS found that the partnership met…
Partnership receives more time for a § 754 election
A partnership relied on its tax advisor to make a § 754 election after a partner died, but the advisor inadvertently omitted the election from the partnership's timely return. The partnership…
Late tax-year change application is treated as timely
A corporation filed Form 1128 after the deadline for automatically changing its annual accounting period from a calendar year to a July 31 year-end. It sought discretionary relief under the §…
Late IC-DISC election receives a 60-day extension
A corporation was formed solely to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation and believed it had timely mailed Form 4876-A during its first 90 days. After filing IC-DISC…
Late success-fee safe-harbor statement may be filed
A taxpayer incurred success-based fees in a corporate sale and reported them using the Rev. Proc. 2011-29 safe harbor, deducting 70 percent and capitalizing 30 percent. Its timely return omitted the…
Corporation receives extra time for IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation, but its accounting and law firms each mistakenly believed the other would file Form…
Acquiring group receives more time for loss-expiration election
After acquiring a consolidated target group, an acquiring group failed to elect to treat a specified amount of the target's unusable consolidated net capital losses as expiring immediately before…
Late original issue discount elections receive filing relief
A corporate group and its bank subsidiary treated interest on credit card receivables acquired in 2009 and 2010 as original issue discount but failed to attach the required annual election…
Late section 338(h)(10) election receives filing relief
A corporate purchaser acquired all the stock of an S corporation from individual sellers and intended to make a joint § 338(h)(10) election. The parties filed their returns consistently with the…
Late bonus depreciation elections receive filing relief
A consolidated corporate group claimed 100-percent first-year depreciation for eligible components of larger self-constructed properties placed in service during two tax years. The returns applied…
Estates receive time to allocate GST exemptions to trust
A married couple transferred community-property cash to an irrevocable trust for their son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. Their accountant did not advise them to file gift tax returns or…
Estates receive time to allocate GST exemptions to trust
A married couple transferred community-property cash to an irrevocable trust for their son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren. Their accountant did not advise them to file gift tax returns or…
Late election out of bonus depreciation receives relief
An S corporation group did not claim additional first-year depreciation on any class of qualified property placed in service during a tax year. Although the return reflected that treatment, the…
LLC receives late partnership classification election relief
A limited liability company had elected S corporation treatment when it was formed but later intended to change its federal classification to a partnership. It failed to file Form 8832 by the…
Late disregarded-entity election receives 120-day extension
A foreign eligible entity with one owner intended to be treated as disregarded for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the entity satisfied the…
Corporation receives 60 days for late IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation and relied on its accounting advisers to make the required first-year election. The Form…
Consolidated group gets 60 days for extended NOL carryback election
A consolidated corporate group failed to elect the temporary three-, four-, or five-year carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss after relying on a qualified tax professional. The IRS…
Insurer receives extension for late alternative-tax election
A foreign property-and-casualty insurer elected domestic treatment and sought to use the alternative tax under IRC § 831(b), which taxes qualifying small insurers only on investment income. Its…
Company receives extension for late REIT election
A real-estate company intended to qualify as a REIT from its first tax year, but its accounting firm filed an ordinary corporate return instead of Form 1120-REIT. The firm had also encountered a…
Partnership receives extension for section 754 election
A partner died, and portions of the deceased partner's partnership interest passed to two trusts. The partnership could have elected under IRC § 754 to adjust the basis of partnership property for…
Taxpayer receives extension for foreign-earned-income election
A U.S. taxpayer lived and worked in two foreign countries but did not timely elect the foreign earned income exclusion under IRC § 911 for one tax year. The taxpayer explained under penalty of…
Donor may elect out of automatic GST allocation late
A donor created two irrevocable trusts benefiting family members and later made additional transfers to them. The donor wanted to elect out of the automatic allocation of generation-skipping…
Corporation receives extension for IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation (IC-DISC) for its parent. Its treasurer relied on an accounting firm and CPA to make the…
Miscommunication excused late IC-DISC election
An S corporation formed a domestic subsidiary solely to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation (IC-DISC). The subsidiary's secretary believed the law firm had filed…
REIT and subsidiary receive extension for TRS election
A REIT indirectly owned a subsidiary involved in a hotel leasing structure and intended to elect taxable REIT subsidiary (TRS) status effective when the hotel transaction closed. Transaction…
Inadvertent REIT election treated as never made
A corporation intended to file as a regular C corporation until it became eligible to elect REIT status, but its return preparer mistakenly filed Form 1120-REIT for its first year. After discovering…
REIT received 60 days to file its first election return
An investment vehicle was formed and structured with the clear intent to qualify as a REIT, but its sponsor omitted the new entity from the return-preparation engagement and a replacement tax team…
LLC received 120 days to file a retroactive corporate election
A wholly owned domestic limited liability company intended to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation from the date it became wholly owned, but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832…
Partner received 45 days to elect real-property debt exclusion
A partner's share of partnership debt cancellation potentially qualified for the § 108(c) exclusion for qualified real property business indebtedness, but the partner's tax professional overlooked…
Late GST exemption allocations received 120-day extension
A taxpayer transferred property to two irrevocable trusts with generation-skipping-transfer potential and hired a tax professional to prepare Form 709, but the professional failed to allocate or…
Taxpayer received 30 days to file duplicate Form 3115
A taxpayer timely e-filed its return with Form 3115 to change from full inclusion to deferral of qualifying advance payments, but its return preparer failed to instruct it to send the required…
Mistaken GST allocation received retroactive correction
A grantor's accountant reported a gift to the wrong trust and failed to allocate GST exemption to the actual irrevocable trust. After the error was discovered, the grantor made a late allocation but…
Foreign entity received 120 days for partnership election
After a married U.S. couple became the owners of a foreign eligible entity, the entity intended to elect partnership classification but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found…
Roth recharacterization relief granted after return preparer misconduct
A taxpayer instructed a financial institution to recharacterize five Roth IRAs after their values declined, but his longtime return preparer failed to file the taxpayer's return and did not disclose…
QDOT received more time to report surviving spouse's citizenship
A surviving spouse who was not a U.S. citizen when the decedent died later became a citizen after continuously residing in the United States. The trustee of the qualified domestic trust relied on an…
Estate received more time to elect alternate valuation
An estate's executors relied on accountants to prepare a timely Form 706, but the accountants neither made the section 2032 alternate valuation election nor advised the executors that it was…
Consolidated group received more time to elect extended NOL carryback
A federal agency acting as receiver and authorized agent for a consolidated group sought to carry a consolidated net operating loss back beyond the usual two-year period under section 172(b)(1)(H).…
Consolidated group received more time to elect extended NOL carryback
A federal agency acting as receiver and authorized agent for a consolidated group sought to carry a consolidated net operating loss back beyond the usual two-year period under section 172(b)(1)(H).…
Consolidated group received more time to elect extended NOL carryback
A federal agency acting as receiver and authorized agent for a consolidated group sought to carry a consolidated net operating loss back beyond the usual two-year period under section 172(b)(1)(H).…
Consolidated group received more time to elect extended NOL carryback
A federal agency acting as receiver and authorized agent for a consolidated group sought to carry a consolidated net operating loss back beyond the usual two-year period under section 172(b)(1)(H).…
Consolidated group received more time to elect extended NOL carryback
A federal agency acting as receiver and authorized agent for a consolidated group sought to carry a consolidated net operating loss back beyond the usual two-year period under section 172(b)(1)(H).…
Consolidated group received more time to elect extended NOL carryback
A federal agency acting as receiver and authorized agent for a consolidated group sought to carry a consolidated net operating loss back beyond the usual two-year period under section 172(b)(1)(H).…
Consolidated group received more time to elect extended NOL carryback
A federal agency acting as receiver and authorized agent for a consolidated group sought to carry a consolidated net operating loss back beyond the usual two-year period under section 172(b)(1)(H).…
Consolidated group received more time to elect extended NOL carryback
A federal agency acting as receiver and authorized agent for a consolidated group sought to carry a consolidated net operating loss back beyond the usual two-year period under section 172(b)(1)(H).…
Consolidated group received more time to elect extended NOL carryback
A federal agency acting as receiver and authorized agent for a consolidated group sought to carry a consolidated net operating loss back beyond the usual two-year period under section 172(b)(1)(H).…
Foreign entity received more time to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes but failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the requirements for…
Consolidated group received more time to elect extended NOL carryback
A federal agency acting as receiver and authorized agent for a consolidated group sought to carry a consolidated net operating loss back beyond the usual two-year period under section 172(b)(1)(H).…
QDOT received more time to report surviving spouse's citizenship
A qualified domestic trust's surviving spouse became a U.S. citizen after continuously residing in the United States, but the co-trustees did not file the required final Form 706-QDT. Although tax…
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.