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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An LLC that missed both the forms to be taxed as an S corporation gets 120 days to file each one
A limited liability company wanted to be taxed as an S corporation. To get there an LLC normally needs two elections: Form 8832 to be classified as a corporation (an "association taxable as a corporat…
A day-trader who waited too long is refused permission to make a late mark-to-market election
A married couple asked the IRS for extra time to make a "mark-to-market" election under section 475(f), which lets a securities trader treat trading gains and losses as ordinary (rather than capital) …
A grantor whose accountant forgot to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocation gets 120 days to fix it
A person set up four grantor retained annuity trusts (GRATs) funded with company stock. When those trusts ended, the remainder passed to trusts for the grantor's two children and their descendants. Tr…
An LLC that missed the deadline to be taxed as a corporation gets 120 days to file a late Form 8832
A limited liability company wanted to be taxed as a corporation (an "association taxable as a corporation") instead of getting the default treatment for an LLC, which is a partnership or a disregarded…
A foreign entity that missed the deadline to be disregarded gets 120 days to file a late Form 8832
A single-owner business entity formed under the laws of a foreign country wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner and its…
A foreign entity that missed the deadline to be disregarded gets 120 days to file a late Form 8832
A single-owner business entity formed under the laws of a foreign country wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner and its…
A foreign entity that missed the deadline to be disregarded gets 120 days to file a late Form 8832
A single-owner business entity formed under the laws of a foreign country wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner and its…
A foreign entity that missed the deadline to be disregarded gets 120 days to file a late Form 8832
A single-owner business entity formed under the laws of a foreign country wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner and its…
A foreign entity that missed the deadline to be disregarded gets 120 days to file a late Form 8832
A single-owner business entity formed under the laws of a foreign country wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner and its…
A foreign entity that missed the deadline to be disregarded gets 120 days to file a late Form 8832
A single-owner business entity formed under the laws of a foreign country wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner and its…
A foreign entity that missed the deadline to be disregarded gets 120 days to file a late Form 8832
A single-owner business entity formed under the laws of a foreign country wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner and its…
A foreign entity that missed the deadline to be disregarded gets 120 days to file a late Form 8832
A single-owner business entity formed under the laws of a foreign country wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner and its…
A foreign entity that missed the deadline to be disregarded gets 120 days to file a late Form 8832
A single-owner business entity formed under the laws of a foreign country wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner and its…
A foreign entity that missed the deadline to be disregarded gets 120 days to file a late Form 8832
A single-owner business entity formed under the laws of a foreign country wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner and its…
A foreign entity that missed the deadline to be disregarded gets 120 days to file a late Form 8832
A single-owner business entity formed under the laws of a foreign country wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner and its…
A foreign entity that missed the deadline to be taxed as a partnership gets 120 days to file a late Form 8832
A business entity formed under the laws of a foreign country wanted to be treated as a partnership for U.S. tax purposes. By default, a foreign entity whose members all have limited liability is treat…
A private foundation gets advance approval to run an employer-related scholarship program without triggering excise tax
A private foundation runs a scholarship program for the children of a particular employer's workers and asked the IRS to pre-approve its award procedures. This approval matters because a private found…
A private foundation gets advance approval for its scholarship procedures, so grants to students won't be taxable expenditures
A private foundation runs a scholarship program that pays tuition and a living stipend for under-resourced students in one city, and it asked the IRS to pre-approve how it picks recipients. This matte…
A large one-time grant counts as an "unusual grant," so it won't cost a public charity its publicly-supported status
A public charity that is classified as a section 509(a)(2) organization was offered a cash grant far larger than the donations it normally receives, in an amount that dwarfed its annual budget. That c…
A private foundation gets advance approval for changes to both its regular and employer-related scholarship programs
A private foundation had already gotten IRS approval for two scholarship programs and wanted to make material changes to both, so it asked the IRS to re-approve its award procedures under section 4945…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) exemption to an adult men's softball team operated mainly for its members' recreation
A group that fields an adult men's softball team applied for 501(c)(3) charitable status using the short Form 1023-EZ, and the IRS denied it. The team holds weekly practices and monthly local tourname…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) exemption to a group whose only activity is maintaining a family cemetery
An organization applied for tax-exempt charitable status under section 501(c)(3), and the IRS turned it down. The group's sole activity is preserving and maintaining a family cemetery: members of one …
IRS denies 501(c)(3) exemption to a trust formed to fund a film based on its founder's copyrighted screenplay
An individual set up a trust, named himself its sole trustee and donor, and on the same day licensed the trust the rights to a film screenplay he had written and copyrighted. The trust's plan was to r…
When overpayment interest starts running on a foreign corporation's refund claim when it had no obligation to file a return
When the IRS refunds an overpayment, it usually owes the taxpayer interest running from the date of the overpayment, but a special rule (section 6611(b)(3)) cuts off interest for any period before a r…
A medical-software company counts as a "qualified trade or business," so its stock can qualify for the section 1202 gain exclusion
Section 1202 lets a taxpayer exclude much of the gain (50, 75, or 100 percent depending on when the stock was bought) from selling "qualified small business stock," but only if the company runs a "qua…
A corporation gets 9100 relief to treat its late Form 1128 as timely, so it can change its tax year-end
A domestic corporation wanted to change its tax year-end from December 31 to November 30, which normally requires filing Form 1128 by the due date of the short-period return. Its board approved the ch…
A partnership gets 120 days of 9100 relief to make a late section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was supposed to make a section 754 election but missed the deadline. A section 754 election lets a partnership adjust the inside basis of its assets …
A partnership gets 120 days of 9100 relief to make a late section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was supposed to make a section 754 election but missed the deadline. A section 754 election lets a partnership adjust the inside basis of its assets …
A partnership gets 120 days of 9100 relief to make a late section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was supposed to make a section 754 election but missed the deadline. A section 754 election lets a partnership adjust the inside basis of its assets …
A partnership gets 120 days of 9100 relief to make a late section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was supposed to make a section 754 election but missed the deadline. A section 754 election lets a partnership adjust the inside basis of its assets …
A partnership gets 120 days of 9100 relief to make a late section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was supposed to make a section 754 election but missed the deadline. A section 754 election lets a partnership adjust the inside basis of its assets …
A partnership gets 120 days of 9100 relief to make a late section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was supposed to make a section 754 election but missed the deadline. A section 754 election lets a partnership adjust the inside basis of its assets …
A partnership gets 120 days of 9100 relief to make a late section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was supposed to make a section 754 election but missed the deadline. A section 754 election lets a partnership adjust the inside basis of its assets …
A partnership gets 120 days of 9100 relief to make a late section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was supposed to make a section 754 election but missed the deadline. A section 754 election lets a partnership adjust the inside basis of its assets …
A partnership gets 120 days of 9100 relief to make a late section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was supposed to make a section 754 election but missed the deadline. A section 754 election lets a partnership adjust the inside basis of its assets …
A low-income housing partnership gets 9100 relief to fix an inadvertent "deep rent skewing" election on Form 8609
A partnership that owns a low-income housing tax credit project filed Form 8609 to certify its building, but it accidentally checked the box on line 10d that elects "deep rent skewing" under section 1…
A low-income housing partnership gets 9100 relief to correct which year its credit period begins on Form 8609
A partnership that owns a low-income housing tax credit project had to pick when the building's 10-year credit period starts: either the year the building is placed in service, or, by irrevocable elec…
A foreign single-member entity gets 9100 relief to file a late Form 8832 electing to be taxed as a corporation
A foreign business entity became relevant for U.S. tax purposes when a U.S. corporation acquired all of its interests. As a single-owner foreign entity with unlimited liability, its default classifica…
A REIT gets 9100 relief to make a late election treating its subsidiary as a taxable REIT subsidiary
A real estate investment trust (REIT) set up a subsidiary to hold and operate a hotel through a common structure (a "RIDEA" arrangement) in which the subsidiary is treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary…
A REIT gets 9100 relief to make a late election treating its subsidiary as a taxable REIT subsidiary
A real estate investment trust (REIT) planned to hold and operate a hotel through a common structure (a "RIDEA" arrangement) in which a wholly owned subsidiary is treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary …
An LLC gets 9100 relief to file a late Form 8996 self-certifying as a Qualified Opportunity Fund
A Delaware LLC was formed to invest in opportunity-zone property and intended to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), a vehicle that lets investors defer and reduce tax on capital gains under sectio…
A foreign single-owner entity gets 9100 relief to file a late Form 8832 electing to be disregarded
A foreign business entity became relevant for U.S. tax purposes and wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity," meaning it is ignored as separate from its single owner for federal tax purposes. Be…
A foreign entity gets 9100 relief to file a late Form 8832 electing to be classified as a partnership
A foreign business entity with at least two members became relevant for U.S. tax purposes and wanted to be treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes. Because it is a foreign entity whose membe…
A water agency's bonds financing lead pipe replacements do not flunk the private security or payment test, so they stay tax-exempt
A public water agency issued tax-exempt bonds partly to replace privately owned lead service lines, the pipes running from the agency's main to each customer's building, to reduce lead in the drinking…
A new corporation gets 9100 relief to make late REIT and consent dividend elections
A newly formed corporation intended to operate as a real estate investment trust (REIT) and to use a "consent dividend," a hypothetical distribution that a shareholder agrees to treat as an actual div…
A volunteer award plan that also covers reserve police officers is not a length of service award plan, so it falls under section 457(f) and its benefits are FICA wages
A state's plan pays retirement and death benefits to long-term volunteers who provide services such as firefighting, emergency medical care, and reserve police work. The plan sponsor asked the IRS to …
Investment advisory fees paid out of an annuity's cash value to the owner's adviser are not a taxable distribution to the owner
A life insurance company planned to offer deferred annuity contracts designed to work with an outside investment adviser who helps the owner choose how to allocate the contract's cash value. The owner…
Investment advisory fees paid out of an annuity's cash value to the owner's adviser are not a taxable distribution to the owner
A life insurance company planned to offer deferred annuity contracts designed to work with an outside investment adviser who helps the owner choose how to allocate the contract's cash value. The owner…
An S corporation's accidental loss of S status, caused by missed QSST elections after the grantors died, is treated as an inadvertent termination
An S corporation had its stock held in a grantor trust, an eligible S corporation shareholder while the grantors were alive. When the grantors died, the stock passed into separate trusts for individua…
An S corporation that tripped the passive-income termination rule gets inadvertent-termination relief, conditioned on paying the resulting tax
An S corporation had leftover earnings and profits from an earlier period as a regular C corporation, and for three straight years more than 25 percent of its gross receipts were passive investment in…
IRS approves a private foundation's 5-year set-aside under section 4942(g)(2) to fund construction and renovation for programs serving orphaned and destitute children
A private foundation whose mission is to serve orphaned and destitute children asked the IRS to approve a "set-aside" under section 4942(g)(2). A set-aside lets a private foundation earmark money now,…
IRS denies consent to revoke a section 59(e) research-expense election; CARES Act and GILTI regulation changes are not "rare and unusual"
A consolidated group of corporations had elected under section 59(e) to capitalize and amortize part of its research or experimental (R&E) expenses over 10 years. That election let it avoid a net oper…
A nonelective points-based deferred compensation plan for a 501(c)(6) sports organization's non-employee members qualifies under section 457(e)(12)
A tax-exempt business league described in section 501(c)(6), whose mission is to promote a sport, created a deferred compensation plan for its non-employee members, including board members. Members ea…
A partnership gets 9100 relief to make a late Section 754 election after a sale and redemption of partnership interests
A partnership went through a transaction in which some partners sold their interests to a buyer and the partnership redeemed the rest, and the purchase agreement called for the partnership to make a S…
A partnership gets 9100 relief to make a late Section 754 election after a sale and redemption of partnership interests
A partnership went through a transaction in which some partners sold their interests to a buyer and the partnership redeemed the rest, and the purchase agreement called for the partnership to make a S…
A securities-trading fund is denied 9100 relief for a late mark-to-market election because it acted with hindsight
A securities-trading fund wanted to make a mark-to-market election under section 475(f), which lets a trader treat gains and losses as ordinary (so trading losses are fully deductible rather than capp…
A securities-trading fund is denied 9100 relief for a late mark-to-market election because it acted with hindsight
A securities-trading fund wanted to make a mark-to-market election under section 475(f), which lets a trader treat gains and losses as ordinary (so trading losses are fully deductible rather than capp…
An S corporation whose return was filed five days late gets 9100 relief so its election out of bonus depreciation counts as timely
An S corporation wanted to elect out of bonus depreciation, the extra first-year deduction under section 168(k), for all classes of property it placed in service during the year. That election under s…
Letting retirees change their survivor-benefit choice within 90 days of the first payment does not break the required minimum distribution rules
A state administers several governmental defined benefit pension plans in which retirees pick a survivor benefit (for example, joint-and-100-percent or single-life) at retirement, and that choice was …
A private foundation's assignment of its trust remainder interest to a public charity will not create excess business holdings under section 4943
A private foundation held a residuary (remainder) interest in a testamentary trust whose assets include a large stake in a holding company that owns an operating business. The foundation assigned most…
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.