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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Partnership received more time to start housing credit period
A partnership placed a low-income housing building in service but inadvertently failed to elect to begin the section 42 credit period in that year. The IRS found that the requirements for…
Corporation received 90 days to make its late REIT election
A corporation intended to qualify as a real estate investment trust beginning with its first taxable year. Its accounting firm encountered an electronic extension rejection, then filed an extension…
Corporation received 90 days to correct its missed REIT election
A corporation intended to qualify as a real estate investment trust beginning with its first taxable year. Its accounting firm encountered an electronic extension rejection, then filed an extension…
Spouses received more time to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A husband created and funded two grantor retained annuity trusts, and each trust’s assets later passed to a family trust for descendants when its annuity term ended. The husband and wife each…
Taxpayer received 45 days to file a success-based fee safe harbor statement
A taxpayer paid success-based fees in a corporate acquisition and reported 70 percent as deductible and 30 percent as capitalized under the safe harbor in Revenue Procedure 2011-29. Its advisor…
Consolidated group received more time to elect an extended net operating loss carryback
A corporation asked for more time to elect a three-, four-, or five-year carryback for a consolidated net operating loss. The election had not been filed by its deadline because the corporation…
Consolidated group received 30 days to file a required copy of its accounting method change form
A corporation and its eight subsidiaries timely attached an original Form 3115 to their consolidated return to request an automatic depreciation method change. They failed to send the required copy…
Affiliated group received more time to elect out of bonus depreciation
An affiliated corporate group did not claim 50-percent bonus depreciation for any class of qualified property placed in service during the relevant year. Its timely consolidated return omitted the…
REIT subsidiary received more time to align its taxable-subsidiary election with corporate status
A REIT-owned limited liability company intended to elect corporate classification and taxable REIT subsidiary status for the same wholly owned subsidiary. The forms specified the same effective…
Taxpayer received more time to allocate GST exemption to a trust transfer
A taxpayer transferred property to an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential. Her tax professional timely filed the gift tax return but failed to allocate her available…
Partnership received more time to make a section 754 basis-adjustment election
A limited partnership intended to make a section 754 election for the year one of its partners died. Its accountant inadvertently failed to file the election, although the partnership's timely…
Foreign entity received more time to elect disregarded status
A corporate group formed a wholly owned foreign eligible entity and intended from formation to treat it as disregarded for federal tax purposes. The entity did not timely file Form 8832 to make that…
Consolidated group received more time to make a unified loss rule election
A consolidated group failed to timely elect under Treas. Reg. § 1.1502-36(d)(6)(i)(A) to reduce the basis of subsidiary stock after a restructuring and loss-share transfer. The parent showed that it…
Parent received more time to elect a subsidiary stock basis reduction
A consolidated group missed the deadline to elect under Treas. Reg. § 1.1502-36(d)(6)(i)(A) to reduce its basis in transferred loss shares of subsidiary stock. The parent showed that it reasonably…
Single-owner LLC received more time to elect corporate tax classification
A domestic single-owner limited liability company intended to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation from the date it registered to do business in another state. Because of…
Tax-exempt controlled entity received more time to make a depreciation election
A taxable entity owned through partnerships by tax-exempt organizations indirectly invested in projects that relied on accelerated depreciation. Its accounting and law firms did not advise it to…
Taxpayer received more time to file the national-office copy of Form 3115
A taxpayer and five subsidiaries timely attached the original Form 3115 to their consolidated return and reflected a change in accounting method for software-development costs qualifying as research…
Taxpayer received more time to elect the success-based-fee safe harbor
A holding company paid an investment bank a success-based fee when it was acquired in a merger. It intended to use the safe harbor that permits 70 percent of such a fee to be deducted and requires…
Nineteen foreign subsidiaries received more time to elect disregarded status
A taxpayer requested late entity-classification elections for 19 foreign subsidiaries. Each subsidiary was eligible to elect its federal tax classification but had failed to timely file Form 8832…
Foreign entity received more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign entity with one shareholder intended to elect disregarded-entity treatment but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. Based on the submitted information and representations, the…
Estate received more time to elect the 2010 carryover-basis regime
The executor of an estate for a person who died in 2010 hired a tax professional for estate-tax advice, including whether Form 8939 was required. The executor later sought relief to elect out of the…
Consolidated group received more time to elect an extended NOL carryback
A consolidated corporate group incurred a net operating loss eligible for the temporary three-, four-, or five-year carryback election and intended to carry it to an earlier year. The common parent…
Partnership and partners received 120 days for missed IDC elections
An oil and gas partnership's return preparer overlooked intangible drilling and development costs on the partnership's first return reporting those costs. The partnership therefore missed the…
Partnership and partners received 120 days for missed IDC elections
An oil and gas partnership's return preparer overlooked intangible drilling and development costs on the partnership's first return reporting those costs. The partnership therefore missed the…
Partnership and partners received 120 days for missed IDC elections
An oil and gas partnership's return preparer overlooked intangible drilling and development costs on the partnership's first return reporting those costs. The partnership therefore missed the…
Partnership and partners receive extensions for drilling-cost elections
An oil-producing limited liability company taxed as a partnership incurred intangible drilling and development costs for the first time. Its return preparer overlooked those costs, so the…
Semiconductor manufacturer receives extensions for two missed tax elections
A semiconductor manufacturer intended to opt out of additional first-year depreciation for all classes of qualified property placed in service during a tax year. It also intended to elect under IRC…
Estate receives extension to allocate GST exemption to early trust transfers
A decedent created an irrevocable trust for his daughter and grandson and transferred property to it each year for seventeen years. His tax professional did not advise him to file gift tax returns…
Foreign subsidiary receives extension for disregarded-entity election
A company owned a foreign subsidiary that was eligible to elect disregarded-entity status for federal tax purposes. The owner intended that classification to take effect when the subsidiary was…
Foreign entity receives extension for disregarded-entity election
A foreign entity was eligible to elect disregarded-entity status for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The entity requested discretionary relief to make the election effective…
Foreign entity receives extension for partnership election
A foreign entity was eligible to elect partnership status for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The entity requested discretionary relief to make the election effective on its…
Corporate parent receives extension to opt out of bonus depreciation
The parent of a consolidated corporate group did not claim additional first-year depreciation for qualified property placed in service during three tax years. Although it intended to opt out of that…
Foreign subsidiary receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A parent company intended its wholly owned foreign subsidiary to be treated as a disregarded entity from the subsidiary's formation date. The subsidiary was eligible for that classification but did…
Late railroad track maintenance credit form treated as timely
The IRS granted a corporate taxpayer relief for a late Form 8900 claiming the railroad track maintenance credit. A tax-department restructuring caused the personnel responsible for IRC § 45G…
Controlled group receives extra time for value-restoration elections
The IRS granted a parent corporation and three foreign subsidiaries 60 additional days to make value-restoration elections under Treas. Reg. § 1.382-8(h). After the parent underwent an ownership…
Controlled group receives extra time for value-restoration elections
The IRS granted a parent corporation and three foreign subsidiaries 60 additional days to make value-restoration elections under Treas. Reg. § 1.382-8(h). After the parent underwent an ownership…
Controlled group receives extra time for value-restoration elections
The IRS granted a parent corporation and three foreign subsidiaries 60 additional days to make value-restoration elections under Treas. Reg. § 1.382-8(h). After the parent underwent an ownership…
IC-DISC receives extra time to file election
The IRS granted a newly formed corporation 60 additional days to file Form 4876-A electing interest charge DISC status for its first tax year. The owner directed experienced accounting and law firms…
Estate receives extra time for 2010 carryover-basis election
The IRS gave the personal representatives of a decedent who died in 2010 an additional 120 days to file Form 8939, elect the carryover-basis regime under IRC § 1022, and allocate basis increases to…
Estate receives time to add bank trustee to QDOT
The IRS granted an estate 120 additional days to amend a qualified domestic trust for a surviving spouse who was not a U.S. citizen. Although the estate timely elected QDOT treatment on Form 706,…
Estate receives extra time to elect portability
The IRS granted a decedent's estate 120 additional days to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount. Because the estate represented that its gross estate…
Taxpayer receives 60 days to make late foreign earned income elections
A U.S. taxpayer living and working abroad prepared returns claiming the foreign earned income and housing cost exclusions for two years and gave them to personnel of the taxpayer's employer for…
Entity receives 120 days to correct corporate classification date
A single-owner eligible entity intended to elect corporate tax classification effective on one redacted date. Its Form 8832 inadvertently specified a different effective date. The IRS found that the…
Taxpayer receives 45 days for late real-property debt election
A partner in a shopping-center business was allocated cancellation-of-debt income after the partnership defaulted on a bank loan. The taxpayer's experienced return preparer failed to discuss or make…
Partner receives 45 days for late real-property debt election
A partner in a shopping-center limited liability company was allocated cancellation-of-debt income after the company defaulted on a bank loan. The taxpayer's experienced return preparer overlooked…
Shopping-center partner receives late debt-election relief
A partner in a limited liability company operating a shopping center was allocated cancellation-of-debt income after a loan default. The taxpayer's qualified return preparer failed to advise the…
Foreign entity receives 120 days for late partnership election
A foreign entity with at least two members intended to elect partnership classification effective from its formation date. It inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 within the ordinary election…
Estate receives 120 days to opt out of automatic GST allocation
A decedent created an irrevocable trust for three children and their descendants, intending it to last only for a limited period. The accountant who prepared the gift tax return did not realize the…
Foreign entity receives 120 days for late partnership election
A foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 electing partnership classification for federal tax purposes. It asked for regulatory relief so the election could take effect on the…
Foreign business receives late partnership classification relief
A foreign eligible entity missed the deadline for filing Form 8832 to elect partnership treatment for federal tax purposes. It requested an extension so the classification could apply from its…
Consolidated group received 60 days for a missed CNOL carryback election
The common parent of a consolidated group missed the election to use an extended carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss. The IRS found that the parent reasonably relied on a…
Corporation received 60 days to make a missed basis-reduction election
A corporation transferred built-in-loss assets to its wholly owned subsidiary in transactions represented to qualify under § 351. It missed the deadline for jointly electing under § 362(e)(2)(C) to…
Corporation received 60 days to make a missed basis-reduction election
A corporation transferred built-in-loss assets to its wholly owned subsidiary in transactions represented to qualify under § 351. It missed the deadline for jointly electing under § 362(e)(2)(C) to…
Corporation received 60 days to file its missed IC-DISC election
A newly formed domestic corporation intended to elect interest charge domestic international sales corporation status for its first tax year. Its accountant believed its attorney would file Form…
Loss corporation received 60 days for a missed closing-of-the-books election
A loss corporation underwent an ownership change that limited its use of pre-change losses under § 382. It intended to elect the closing-of-the-books method for allocating income and losses between…
Consolidated parent received 60 days to file missed basis elections
A consolidated parent moved a built-in-loss asset through three subsidiaries and then into a disregarded entity. The federal basis-reduction rule in § 362(e)(2) did not apply to the intercompany…
Consolidated group received 60 days to waive its CNOL carryback period
The common parent of a consolidated group intended to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss but failed to attach a valid election to the loss-year return. The group…
Spouses received 120 days to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A husband created and funded three irrevocable trusts for his children, and the spouses elected to split the gifts on timely Forms 709. Their attorney did not advise them that they also needed to…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent died after portability became available but the estate did not file Form 706 by the normal deadline to transfer the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The…
Consolidated group received 60 days for a missed extended CNOL carryback election
The common parent of a consolidated group missed the election to use an extended carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss. The IRS found that the parent reasonably relied on a…
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.