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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Corporate conversion preserves qualified small business stock status
A corporation sold and redeemed portions of its original shareholders' stock, then converted under state law into a limited liability company that remained taxed as a corporation. The taxpayer…
Corporate conversion preserves qualified small business stock status
A corporation sold and redeemed portions of its original shareholders' stock, then converted under state law into a limited liability company that remained taxed as a corporation. The taxpayer…
Corporate conversion preserves qualified small business stock status
A corporation sold and redeemed portions of its original shareholders' stock, then converted under state law into a limited liability company that remained taxed as a corporation. The taxpayer…
Corporate conversion preserves qualified small business stock status
A corporation sold and redeemed portions of its original shareholders' stock, then converted under state law into a limited liability company that remained taxed as a corporation. The taxpayer…
Corporate conversion preserves qualified small business stock status
A corporation sold and redeemed portions of its original shareholders' stock, then converted under state law into a limited liability company that remained taxed as a corporation. The taxpayer…
Related-party aircraft qualify as held for productive business use
A partnership exchanged aircraft that it owned and leased to a related operating business whose executives used them for business and personal travel. The leases covered carrying costs but were not…
Corporate shareholder may make retroactive QEF election
A corporate shareholder learned years after acquiring a foreign corporation's shares that the company was a passive foreign investment company. Its internal tax department and two accounting firms…
Barrier contracts create ownership and current tax events
A taxpayer used bank contracts labeled cash-settled barrier call options to obtain leveraged exposure to baskets of hedge-fund interests that its chosen manager could change. Chief Counsel advised…
Partnership may make retroactive QEF election
A partnership indirectly acquired shares of a foreign corporation that qualified as a passive foreign investment company. Its accounting firm prepared several years of returns but did not advise the…
Consent payment may avoid significant debt modification
A corporation planning a tax-free spinoff considered paying holders of contingent-payment debentures for consent to modify an indenture covenant and avoid litigation. The IRS ruled that the payment…
Extension granted for 2010 carryover-basis election
The personal representative of an individual who died in 2010 sought additional time to file Form 8939, elect the special carryover-basis regime under § 1022, and allocate basis increases to…
Foreign settlors own revocable trust and assets receive basis adjustments
Two non-U.S. spouses funded a foreign trust with separate property and retained revocation rights during their joint lives. The IRS ruled that each spouse would be treated as owner of the…
Reasonable cause supported late mixed-straddle-account elections
An investment business intended to establish mixed straddle accounts after acquiring an entity that became disregarded for federal tax purposes. Its return preparer misunderstood the acquired…
Stock seller may make late election out of installment method
A taxpayer sold all stock in a closely held company for cash and a note payable the next year. The taxpayer’s longtime accounting firm knew the sale terms and upcoming tax-rate increase but did not…
QTIP trust severance and spouse's renunciations receive favorable rulings
A court divided a marital QTIP trust into two separate trusts, and the surviving spouse planned to renounce all interests in one divided trust and a related disclaimer trust. The IRS ruled that the…
Integrated business agreements qualify as like-kind property
A corporation planned two simultaneous exchanges of intangible contract rights. One group combined manufacturing and distribution rights for a family of products; the other contained…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Product agreements qualified for like-kind exchange treatment
A corporation proposed two simultaneous exchanges with a related company: one group of integrated manufacturing-and-distribution agreements and one group of distribution-only agreements. The…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Trust settlement avoided transfer taxes and recognized gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and interpretation of a trust created by a person who died before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement divided the trust into one…
Court settlement dividing family trust avoids transfer taxes and gain
A pre-1985 family trust produced disputes over trustee investment adjustments, whether the trust could be divided, and how the phrase "by right of representation" governed future distributions.…
Trust settlement and division do not trigger transfer taxes or gain
An irrevocable testamentary trust created before September 25, 1985, paid income to three family branches and was scheduled to end after the last survivor of two beneficiaries died. A dispute arose…
Court settlement dividing family trust avoids transfer taxes and gain
A pre-1985 family trust produced disputes over trustee investment adjustments, whether the trust could be divided, and how the phrase "by right of representation" governed future distributions.…
Court settlement dividing family trust avoids transfer taxes and gain
A pre-1985 family trust produced disputes over trustee investment adjustments, whether the trust could be divided, and how the phrase "by right of representation" governed future distributions.…
Court settlement dividing family trust avoids transfer taxes and gain
A pre-1985 family trust produced disputes over trustee investment adjustments, whether the trust could be divided, and how the phrase "by right of representation" governed future distributions.…
Court settlement dividing family trust avoids transfer taxes and gain
A pre-1985 family trust produced disputes over trustee investment adjustments, whether the trust could be divided, and how the phrase "by right of representation" governed future distributions.…
Seller receives 75 days to elect out of installment reporting
An S corporation was sold in a stock transaction treated as an asset sale under section 338(h)(10), with most payments deferred to later years. That payment schedule made the transaction an…
Shareholder may make a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC
A U.S. shareholder acquired stock in a foreign holding company that had been a passive foreign investment company from the year it was organized. The shareholder gave a competent accounting firm all…
Trust tax-allocation settlement avoids gift, GST, and gain consequences
A trust derived from an irrevocable pre-1985 trust incurred unusually large capital gains taxes after business interests were liquidated. Its governing instrument said income should pay “all proper…
Investment partnership may make a retroactive QEF election
A privately held investment partnership acquired shares in a publicly traded foreign trust that was a passive foreign investment company. Although the partnership had sophisticated accounting…
Investment partnership may make a retroactive QEF election
A privately held investment partnership acquired shares in a publicly traded foreign trust that was a passive foreign investment company. Although the partnership had sophisticated accounting…
Trust may use a three-year average for its unitrust payment
A trust that was irrevocable before September 25, 1985 had previously converted its income distributions to a unitrust amount. The trustee proposed changing the calculation from the prior year's…
Estate receives more time for 2010 carryover-basis election
The co-executors of an estate for a person who died in 2010 hired an accountant to handle estate-tax filings. The accountant failed to prepare Form 8939 by the deadline, so the estate did not elect…
Section 752 rules did not classify debt for foreclosure income
A partnership reported cancellation-of-debt income after junior loans secured by real estate were canceled following foreclosure. Its members had guaranteed the loans, and the partnership argued…
Trust division preserved tax treatment and asset basis
A trust for a daughter and her descendants proposed dividing its assets equally between two successor trusts, one for each family line. The daughter would remain a beneficiary of both trusts, and…
Adviser error justified late election out of installment method
A taxpayer sold S corporation stock for a down payment and contingent earn-out payments and consistently intended to report the entire gain in the year of sale rather than use the installment…
Amended return made late installment election effective
A taxpayer sold S corporation stock for a down payment and contingent earn-out payments and consistently intended to report the entire gain in the year of sale rather than use the installment…
Amended return made late installment election effective
A taxpayer sold S corporation stock for a down payment and contingent earn-out payments and consistently intended to report the entire gain in the year of sale rather than use the installment…
Amended return made late installment election effective
A taxpayer sold S corporation stock for a down payment and contingent earn-out payments and consistently intended to report the entire gain in the year of sale rather than use the installment…
Estate received more time for 2010 carryover-basis election
The representative of an estate for a person who died in 2010 hired an attorney to prepare the required tax filings. The attorney failed to file Form 8939 by the deadline, so the estate did not…
Shareholder receives retroactive QEF election consent
A U.S. shareholder acquired an interest in a foreign holding company that was a passive foreign investment company. The shareholder gave a qualified accounting firm all relevant information, but the…
Partnership may make a retroactive QEF election after adviser error
A domestic partnership failed to make a qualified electing fund election for a foreign corporation in the first year that the corporation became a passive foreign investment company. The partnership…
Partnership may make a retroactive QEF election after adviser error
A domestic partnership failed to make a qualified electing fund election for a foreign corporation in the first year that the corporation became a passive foreign investment company. The partnership…
Trust division and court modifications preserve grandfathered GST status
A will created a trust before September 25, 1985, but left ambiguity about when the trust ended and how its assets passed after the original beneficiary's death. A state court construed the trust to…
Trust division and court modifications preserve grandfathered GST status
A will created a trust before September 25, 1985, but left ambiguity about when the trust ended and how its assets passed after the named family members died. A state court construed the trust to…
Four-way trust division preserves tax status without gain, gift, or estate inclusion
A trust created before September 25, 1985 benefited one child, that child's spouse, four grandchildren, and their families. A state court approved dividing it equally into four trusts, one for each…
Fund's two-day-late mixed straddle election is treated as timely
An exchange traded fund intended to renew its mixed straddle account election for foreign-currency forward contracts used as hedges. The fund's administrator prepared Form 6781 before the deadline…
Court-approved trust division triggers no transfer tax or gain
A family settled litigation over the administration and meaning of a trust created before September 25, 1985. The court-approved agreement terminates the original trust, divides its assets into two…
PFIC look-through rules disregard domestic-group items
A publicly traded foreign pharmaceutical corporation owned a first-tier U.S. subsidiary, which in turn owned another U.S. corporation. The foreign parent irrevocably waived treaty protection against…
Hybrid annuity receives detailed ownership and payment rulings
An individual considered buying a deferred annuity combining a general-account fixed component, publicly available mutual funds held through a separate account, and lifetime income benefits after…
Tax-adviser error permits a retroactive QEF election
A domestic partnership indirectly owned an active foreign corporation through another foreign corporation. An initial public offering diluted the intermediate corporation's ownership below the level…
Management-company adviser error permits a retroactive QEF election
A domestic limited liability company indirectly owned an active foreign corporation through another foreign corporation. An initial public offering diluted the intermediate corporation's ownership…
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.