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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Estate receives extension for portability election
An estate was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return but failed to timely file Form 706 to elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The IRS…
Unmailed return receives late REIT election relief
A company intended to elect real estate investment trust treatment and relied on a tax firm to timely file its first Form 1120-REIT. During a change in the firm's paper-filing process, a temporary…
Deemed asset sales qualify, but anti-churning limits amortization
A corporate group planned to distribute two target companies to an upper-tier subsidiary, elect to treat those distributions as deemed asset sales under Section 336(e), and then sell the…
Trustee receives extension to end QDOT tax treatment
A noncitizen surviving spouse received property through a qualified domestic trust and later became a United States citizen after continuously residing in the country. No distributions had been made…
Trust appointment avoids estate inclusion and GST tax
An irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985 gave the grantor's son a testamentary power to appoint its property, but not to himself, his estate, or their creditors. The son proposed to…
IRS grants estate more time to elect portability
An estate represented that it was below the threshold requiring an estate tax return but had not timely filed Form 706 to transfer the decedent's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse.…
Estate receives time to allocate GST exemption to family trust
A revocable trust divided at the first spouse's death, with part of the deceased spouse's property passing to a family trust that could later produce generation-skipping transfers. The executor…
Literary fellowship and retreat grants receive IRS approval
A private foundation proposed three grant programs for established and emerging writers connected with an annual literary retreat. One program would support a career author for up to three years,…
S corporation stock-sale election receives filing extension
A partnership bought all the stock of an S corporation, and the parties had signed a binding agreement before the sale to elect asset-sale treatment under Section 336(e). They did not timely attach…
State fund rights qualify for Section 197 amortization
A regulated company joined an optional fund created by state law to reimburse specified losses and provide a favorable prudency standard and a liability cap if the company met the statutory…
Late Section 336(e) election statement receives relief
A partnership acquired all the stock of an S corporation from its shareholders, and the parties intended the qualified stock disposition to be treated as an asset sale under Section 336(e). They…
Tax-exempt controlled corporation receives late depreciation election
A corporation wholly owned by a Section 501(c)(3) organization served as co-managing member of a partnership developing affordable housing. The operating agreement required the corporation to elect…
Taxpayers receive time for canceled real-property debt election
Two taxpayers indirectly owned partnerships whose debt for business real estate was forgiven. Their tax adviser intended to elect the qualified real property business indebtedness exclusion,…
Start-up partnership receives late QOF certification relief
A start-up partnership formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property and acquired property located entirely within opportunity zones. Its chief financial officer was not involved in the…
Foreign regranting program qualifies under private-foundation rules
A private foundation planned to fund three foreign charities that would independently select local organizations for projects serving disadvantaged elders, children, teenagers, and other…
IRS sustains audit treatment in a heavily redacted transaction
This Chief Counsel Advice addresses the tax treatment of a fee and the form of a proposed acquisition involving a publicly traded taxpayer, a target, and newly formed entities. The IRS release…
IRS approves museum-project set-aside
A private foundation planned to establish a museum for artwork expected from an individual's estate. It had purchased a building for the museum, but pandemic conditions halted renovation planning,…
College scholarship procedures receive IRS approval
A private foundation proposed one-time and multiyear college scholarships, primarily for current students and graduates of specified high schools. A three-person committee would evaluate applicants…
IRS denies exemption for funding founder-owned therapy provider
An organization proposed to pay for therapy when patients' insurance did not cover treatment. The only provider of that therapy in the state was a for-profit company solely owned by the…
IRS denies exemption for insufficiently documented downtown program
An organization raised funds to revitalize a city's central business district and made grants to landlords and businesses within that district. It also ran annual community events and made grants to…
Mandatory restitution order makes Westbrooks inapplicable
This brief Chief Counsel email addresses whether a criminal restitution case was subject to Westbrooks. The district judge's restitution order expressly stated that the defendant was subject to…
Advice addresses BBA elections and partner-level consequences
This Chief Counsel email answers several questions about the centralized partnership audit regime, although most of the questions and part of the analysis are redacted. It explains that an election…
Other victims must be paid before IRS restitution collection
This Chief Counsel email concludes that the case was not governed by Westbrooks because restitution was imposed independently as part of the sentence under a plea agreement. The government was only…
Mandatory restitution was independently imposed
This Chief Counsel email concludes that a criminal restitution case was not governed by Westbrooks. The Title 18 conduct underlying the conviction covered all years for which restitution was…
IRS identifies flaws in monetized installment sales
Chief Counsel advised that the common promoter theory behind monetized installment sale transactions was flawed, while noting that structures can vary. A purported unsecured, nonrecourse loan may…
IRS restitution collection limited to supervised release
The district court had authority to impose restitution independently but did not do so. The judgment placed restitution only among the conditions of supervised release, not in the part describing…
Taxpayer may accurately disclose its own return information
A taxpayer wanted to disclose its own return information. Chief Counsel advised that there was no apparent problem as long as the taxpayer's statement was accurate. The brief public release provides…
Participant liquidation changes cost-sharing projections
A participant withdrew from a cost-sharing arrangement during the second quarter and was to be liquidated into a U.S. subsidiary at year end. If the taxpayer already knew of that intended…
Criminal monetary penalty restitution is assessable
The criminal judgment listed restitution both as a criminal monetary penalty and as a condition of supervised release. Chief Counsel explained that restitution listed as a criminal monetary penalty…
Additional nondisclosure language accepted
This brief Chief Counsel email reviews additional language for a nondisclosure agreement. The writer states that the language looked good and planned to contact a redacted party again. The writer…
Bank levy reaches funds held at the levy time
Chief Counsel advised that the exact time of a bank levy matters, not merely the calendar date. A bank must surrender only property it possessed when the levy was served, so money deposited later…
Employee-shareholder dividends remain net investment income
A C corporation paid an individual shareholder's personal expenses, and an examination reclassified the payments as constructive dividends. The shareholder also worked in and materially participated…
QTIP commutation creates separate nonoffsetting gifts
A surviving spouse held the income interest in a QTIP trust, while two children held the remainder. An agreement commuted the trust and distributed all property to the spouse, and the parties…
Clean-energy bond spending period extended
A public authority issued new clean renewable energy bonds to finance solar equipment for a city's exclusive use. Significant equipment defects, contractor errors, resulting litigation, and pandemic…
Convertible-note hedge identification receives extension
A corporate taxpayer issued convertible notes and bought call options as part of a hedge intended to raise the notes' effective conversion price. It intended to integrate the notes and call options…
Forward contracts require Form 1099-B only when cash-settled
This ruling modifies and supersedes an earlier letter concerning a broker's reporting duties for customer forward contracts involving specified property. If the customer takes delivery of the…
IRS approves tax-free treatment for fifteen internal distributions
A foreign-parented multinational group proposed a 40-step restructuring to place entities engaged in nine business lines under common ownership structures. The plan included contributions of assets…
State liquor stores need not report large cash sales
A state operated a liquor-sales monopoly through an entity represented to be an integral part of the state. Store managers sometimes accepted more than $10,000 in cash for liquor purchases and filed…
Trust-held annuity treated as held for natural person
An irrevocable trust was divided into separate trusts, one of which had a single individual as its sole income and principal beneficiary. The co-trustees planned to buy a single-premium deferred…
IRS corrects facts but preserves Form 8300 conclusion
This letter modifies a prior ruling about Form 8300 reporting by correcting how the taxpayer handled the form. The corrected fact states that a store manager prepared and signed Form 8300 for the…
IRS denies exemption for funding founder's education
An organization planned eventually to provide free health and wellness education and counseling, but its initial and primary activity was funding its founder's full-time professional education. It…
Nationwide scholarships for women receive IRS approval
A private foundation proposed nationwide scholarships for women pursuing undergraduate or graduate education and demonstrating financial need. Applicants needed a minimum 3.0 grade point average,…
Scholarships for minority and first-generation students approved
A private foundation proposed need-based scholarships for minority and first-generation college students connected to a specified community and region. Applicants from targeted neighborhoods needed…
Community and employee-child scholarships approved
A private foundation proposed one-year regional scholarships and a limited number of scholarships for dependent children of a company's full-time employees. Applicants would be evaluated on academic…
Scholarship and international skills-grant procedures approved
A private foundation proposed both scholarship grants under Section 4945(g)(1) and educational or skills grants under Section 4945(g)(3). The scholarships could support students from primary school…
Employer scholarships and community arts grants approved
A private foundation sought advance approval for two grant programs. One would provide renewable postsecondary scholarships to children of current employees, subject to financial need, independent…
Cultural organization denied Section 501(c)(3) exemption
An organization applied for recognition as a Section 501(c)(3) charity to support a particular cultural community. Its stated activities included cultural exchange, traditions, language classes,…
Business-referral group denied Section 501(c)(6) exemption
A membership organization applied for exemption as a business league under Section 501(c)(6). Its members represented different types of businesses, met regularly to exchange referrals, tracked the…
Educational flight organization loses Section 501(c)(3) status
An organization had received Section 501(c)(3) status after describing educational flight training for children, teenagers, adults, and a low-income community. During an audit, it did not provide…
Family fundraising organization denied Section 501(c)(3) status
An organization applied for Section 501(c)(3) status to raise awareness of an injury and improve the quality of life of a specifically named individual and that individual’s family. It planned to…
Nuclear decommissioning funds remain qualified after plant sale
A utility seller planned to transfer three nuclear plant units, their qualified decommissioning funds, and the related decommissioning liabilities to an S corporation buyer. The parties represented…
Sole proprietor may use primary-purpose test for aircraft travel
A sole proprietor owned an aircraft directly or through a disregarded entity and used it for business and entertainment travel. Chief Counsel advised that the proprietor may use the primary-purpose…
Consolidated group receives extension to waive loss carryback
A consolidated group intended to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss, but its return did not include a valid election. The group filed consistently with that…
Consolidated group receives extension to waive loss carryback
A consolidated group intended to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss, but its return did not include a valid election. The group filed consistently with that…
Annuity-paid advisory fees are not distributions to owners
A life insurer proposed variable, fixed-indexed, and hybrid deferred annuity contracts designed for owners who receive ongoing advice about allocating contract value among available options. An…
Annuity-paid advisory fees are not distributions to owners
A life insurer proposed variable, fixed-indexed, and hybrid deferred annuity contracts designed for owners who receive ongoing advice about allocating contract value among available options. An…
Foreign entity receives late partnership election relief
A foreign eligible entity had two owners with limited liability, so its default federal tax classification was an association taxable as a corporation. It intended to be classified as a partnership…
Annuity-paid advisory fees are not distributions to owners
A life insurer proposed variable, fixed-indexed, and hybrid deferred annuity contracts designed for owners who receive ongoing advice about allocating contract value among available options. An…
Decommissioning funds may exchange pooled investment interests
Two qualified nuclear decommissioning funds maintained by the same company planned coordinated transactions involving a partnership that pooled investments. One fund would contribute cash equal to…
Nuclear decommissioning funds remain qualified after plant sale
A utility seller planned to transfer three nuclear plant units, their qualified decommissioning funds, and the related decommissioning liabilities to an S corporation buyer. The parties represented…
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.