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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Late-filed return is treated as a timely REIT election
A limited liability company taxed as a corporation intended to elect real estate investment trust status by filing Form 1120-REIT for its first REIT year. Its accounting firm electronically filed an…
IRS treats a late first-year REIT return as a timely election
A limited liability company taxed as a corporation planned to elect real estate investment trust status by filing Form 1120-REIT for its first REIT year. Its accounting firm timely transmitted Form…
Trust receives relief for a late first-year REIT election
A trust formed to invest in real estate intended to elect real estate investment trust status from its formation date. Its accounting firm electronically filed an extension for the first Form…
LLC receives relief for a late first-year REIT election
A limited liability company formed to invest in real estate intended to elect real estate investment trust status from its formation date. Its accounting firm electronically filed an extension for…
IRS grants late S corporation and QSub elections
A limited liability company intended to be taxed as an S corporation but inadvertently failed to file Form 2553 on time. Through a reorganization, it also became the sole owner of another limited…
Corporation receives 90 days to file a missing IC-DISC election
A corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation, or IC-DISC, for exports of machine components made by its parent. Its accounting firm prepared…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late § 754 election
A partnership missed the deadline to make a § 754 election for the year a partner died because its tax advisers did not adequately advise it about the election. The partnership represented that it…
Corporation receives 45 days to file a late tax-year change request
A domestic accrual-method corporation sought to change its annual accounting period by filing Form 1128. An administrative error caused it to miss the form's deadline, but the corporation mailed the…
Loss corporation receives 75 days for a late closing-of-the-books election
A loss corporation underwent a § 382 ownership change, which limited its use of pre-change losses against later income. It missed the deadline to elect the closing-of-the-books method for dividing…
REIT and hotel operator receive 90 days for a late TRS election
A real estate investment trust indirectly owned a company that leased a hotel from another REIT subsidiary and hired an independent contractor to operate it. The REIT and company intended to elect…
Estate receives 120 days to correct a missed QTIP election
A decedent's revocable trust became irrevocable at death and directed part of the remaining assets to a marital trust for the surviving spouse. The spouse was entitled to all trust income at least…
Estate receives 120 days to give notice of a partial QTIP trust division
A revocable trust divided at the first spouse's death into a survivor's trust and a marital trust for the surviving spouse. The estate timely elected QTIP treatment for part of the marital trust but…
Nine foreign entities receive 120 days for late disregarded-entity elections
Nine foreign eligible entities intended to be treated as disregarded entities for federal tax purposes from their respective formation or requested effective dates. Each failed to timely file Form…
Twenty-three foreign entities receive late disregarded-entity elections
Twenty-three foreign eligible entities were classified by default as associations taxable as corporations. Each intended to change to disregarded-entity status on the same effective date but failed…
Partnership receives 120 days for a late § 754 election after an interest sale
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership engaged in a transaction that it represented was a sale of partnership interests for federal tax purposes. It inadvertently failed to make a § 754…
LLC receives relief for a late first-year REIT election
A limited liability company formed to invest in real estate intended to elect real estate investment trust status from its formation date. Its accounting firm timely transmitted Form 7004…
Partnership receives limited time to make a late § 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership intended to make a § 754 election but inadvertently failed to file a valid election with its partnership return. The IRS concluded that the…
Parties receive more time to file a section 336(e) election statement
A partnership-taxed purchaser acquired all the stock of an S corporation through a disregarded entity. The parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the qualified stock disposition as…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A partnership failed to file a section 754 election for the tax year in which one of its partners died. That election allows partnership property basis adjustments following certain distributions or…
LLC may change classification within the 60-month limit
A limited liability company had elected to be taxed as a corporation and wanted to change to disregarded-entity status less than 60 months later. The entity-classification regulations generally…
Company received more time to elect out of tax-exempt controlled entity treatment
A corporation was treated as a tax-exempt controlled entity because tax-exempt partners held more than half of its parent. The corporation intended to elect under IRC § 168(h)(6)(F)(ii) not to be…
Corporation received 90 more days to file a signed IC-DISC election
A newly formed corporation intended from the outset to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation. Its law firm filed Form 4876-A within the applicable election period,…
Foreign insurer received 60 more days to elect domestic-corporation treatment
A foreign insurance company and its U.S. corporate parents consistently treated the insurer as though it had made an IRC § 953(d) election to be taxed as a domestic corporation and included it in…
Consolidated group received 75 more days to make a unified-loss stock-basis election
A consolidated group transferred a loss subsidiary, causing that subsidiary and its lower-tier companies to leave the group. The group could have elected under Treas. Reg. § 1.1502-36(d)(6)(i)(A) to…
Partnership’s late Form 8996 was treated as a timely qualified opportunity fund election
A married couple formed a partnership to operate as a qualified opportunity fund but misunderstood counsel’s explanation of the entity’s tax-filing obligations. They believed the fund’s activity…
Partnership received 120 more days to make its Section 754 basis election
A partnership intended to make an IRC § 754 election for a particular tax year but failed to include the election with its timely partnership return. The election would apply the basis-adjustment…
Foreign entity received 120 more days to elect disregarded-entity status
A foreign single-owner eligible entity intended to elect treatment as disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the…
REIT received 45 more days to make its intended consent-dividend election
A real estate investment trust and its partnership shareholder had used consent dividends in prior years to support the REIT’s dividends-paid deduction. For the year at issue, the shareholder…
Partnership received 120 more days to make a Section 754 election after a partner’s death
Two individuals held partnership interests through grantor trusts, and one individual died during the year at issue. The partnership inadvertently failed to include an IRC § 754 election with its…
Estate received relief for a late alternate-valuation election after appraisals arrived
An estate timely filed Form 706 before third-party appraisers had completed valuations for estate assets. The personal representatives did not know about the IRC § 2032 alternate-valuation election,…
QDOT trustee received 120 more days to report the surviving spouse’s U.S. citizenship
A noncitizen surviving spouse received estate assets through a qualified domestic trust and later became a U.S. citizen after continuously residing in the United States since the decedent’s death.…
Estate received 120 more days to elect portability of unused exclusion to the surviving spouse
A decedent’s estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because of the represented value of the gross estate and taxable gifts. The decedent left a surviving spouse, who had since died, and…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate that represented it was not otherwise required to file Form 706 missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent’s unused estate and gift tax exclusion for the surviving spouse.…
S corporation target received more time to file section 336(e) election
The parties to the sale of all stock in an S corporation intended to elect under IRC § 336(e) to treat the qualified stock disposition as an asset disposition, but the target did not timely attach…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A partnership failed to make an IRC § 754 election for the year in which a partner died. The IRS concluded that the partnership met the standards for late regulatory-election relief and granted 120…
Partnership received 60 days to self-certify as an opportunity fund
A partnership formed to invest in qualified opportunity zones did not timely file its first Form 1065 or attach Form 8996 to self-certify as a qualified opportunity fund. Its manager believed an…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate that represented it was not otherwise required to file Form 706 missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent’s unused estate and gift tax exclusion for the surviving spouse.…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A limited partnership failed to make an IRC § 754 election for the year in which two partners died because its tax advisers did not adequately advise it about the election. The IRS found that the…
Renewable facility received more time to elect the investment tax credit
A partnership upgraded two electricity-generating units but treated the upgrades as one project in its financial records. Because those records did not show that one unit had already been placed in…
LLC received 120 days to elect disregarded-entity status
A limited liability company had elected corporate tax treatment when it was formed. After a restructuring, it became eligible to elect treatment as an entity disregarded from its owner but did not…
Foreign entity received 120 days to elect corporate classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the entity met the standards for late…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A partnership failed to make an IRC § 754 election for the year in which a new partner purchased interests in it. The IRS concluded that the partnership met the standards for late…
Foreign purchaser received more time for section 338(g) elections
A foreign corporation intended to make IRC § 338(g) elections for its deemed acquisitions of two controlled foreign corporations but discovered after the deadline that valid elections may not have…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A partnership failed to make an IRC § 754 election for the year in which new partners purchased interests in it. The IRS concluded that the partnership met the standards for late regulatory-election…
Missed corporate extension did not defeat four regulatory elections
A corporate group doubled its federal and state filing workload after entering the mortgage-banking business, lost a recently hired tax director shortly before extension deadlines, and was…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate that represented it was not otherwise required to file Form 706 missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent’s unused estate and gift tax exclusion for the surviving spouse.…
Affiliated group received 75 days to elect consolidated filing
An affiliated corporate group failed to timely elect to file a consolidated federal income tax return with its parent as common parent. The group sought relief before the IRS discovered the…
Group received 75 days to apportion its section 382 limitation
Subsidiaries left a consolidated group while the group had a consolidated IRC § 382 limitation. The parent and departing subsidiaries failed to timely elect to apportion all or part of that…
Taxpayer received 120 days to perfect CFC group elections
A U.S. consolidated group intended to make controlled-foreign-corporation group elections for two years under the IRC § 163(j) business-interest rules. It mistakenly computed under older proposed…
Foreign entity received 120 days to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership and filed its federal tax reports consistently with that treatment, but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832. The IRS concluded…
Foreign entity received 120 days to elect corporate classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the entity met the standards for…
LLC received 120 days for corporate and S elections
A domestic LLC intended to elect association taxable as a corporation status and S corporation treatment effective on the same date, but filed neither Form 8832 nor Form 2553. The IRS concluded that…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
An LLC that had changed from disregarded-entity to partnership status intended to make an IRC § 754 election when a buyer acquired a percentage interest, but did not timely file it. The IRS…
Qualified opportunity fund received relief for a late Form 8996
A limited partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and hired an adviser to file its first-year return and related elections. The return and Form 8996 were not filed on time…
Partnership received more time to elect out of bonus depreciation
A partnership intended not to claim bonus depreciation for any class of qualified property placed in service during a tax year. Its return preparer reflected that choice on Form 4562 but…
LLC gets 60 more days to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund after its accountant missed the filing
An LLC (taxed as a partnership) was formed to invest in Qualified Opportunity Zone property, a program that lets investors defer and reduce tax on capital gains if they invest through a Qualified…
Foreign entity gets 120 more days to file a late "check-the-box" election to be a disregarded entity
A foreign business entity wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it would be ignored as separate from its single owner (so the owner reports the entity's…
Real estate partnership gets more time to elect out of bonus depreciation and into the real-property interest rules
Two related tax choices are at issue. First, bonus depreciation under section 168(k) lets a business immediately deduct a large share of the cost of certain property, but a taxpayer can elect out of…
Bank trustee gets more time to certify that a QDOT beneficiary became a U.S. citizen
When someone dies leaving property to a surviving spouse who is not a U.S. citizen, the usual estate-tax marital deduction is not allowed unless the property goes into a qualified domestic trust…
Company gets more time to elect out of bonus depreciation after preparer omitted the statement
Bonus depreciation (additional first-year depreciation under section 168(k)) lets a business immediately deduct a large percentage of the cost of certain new equipment instead of spreading it over…
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.