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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Spouse's estate may make late GST allocation opt-out
A married couple elected gift splitting when one spouse transferred stock to a grantor retained annuity trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential. Neither spouse wanted GST exemption…
Donor receives more time to opt out of automatic GST allocation
A donor made a cash gift to a trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential and hired tax professionals to prepare the gift tax return. The professionals failed to elect out of the deemed…
Couple substantially complied with GST allocation elections
A married couple created trusts for their children and descendants, dividing each child's trust into an exempt and a non-exempt subtrust. They split gifts between themselves and intended to opt out…
Trust reallocation avoids GST, gift, and income tax
A trust created before the generation-skipping transfer tax effective date had been divided into successor trusts under a court-approved settlement. When a beneficiary died without descendants, the…
GST exemption allocated automatically despite reporting errors
A settlor transferred partnership interests, corporate stock, and promissory notes to two trusts for children and later descendants. The settlor and spouse split the first-year gifts but their tax…
Couple receives 120 days to opt out of automatic GST allocations
A taxpayer created an irrevocable trust for a spouse and four children, then later made cash gifts that the spouses elected to split for gift tax purposes. Their tax professionals prepared the gift…
Court-approved trust termination preserves GST exemption
A trust created before September 25, 1985 had eighteen living beneficiaries and had become disproportionately difficult and costly to administer. A court-approved settlement would terminate the…
A trust received time for severance and a reverse-QTIP election
A decedent's revocable trust directed the trustee to create one share funded with the decedent's unused generation-skipping transfer tax exemption and another share for the balance. The original…
Estates granted relief for GST elections and trust severances
A tax professional mistakenly reported gifts to two trusts as outright gifts to the donors' children, causing the married donors to miss elections out of automatic generation-skipping transfer…
Estate received relief for GST allocations and election-outs
A married donor funded five trusts for grandchildren and elected gift splitting with the donor's spouse. Their first tax preparer failed to allocate the spouse's generation-skipping transfer…
Donor receives extra time for GST exemption allocations and an election out of automatic allocation
A donor created five trusts for grandchildren and made later direct-skip gifts. Tax professionals prepared the donor’s gift tax returns but failed to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax…
Spouses get 120 days to complete GST allocations
A married couple made split gifts to two irrevocable trusts with generation-skipping transfer tax potential. Their Forms 709 reported amounts of GST exemption, but the accountant failed to attach…
Couple gets 120 days for trust GST allocations
A married couple treated a gift to an irrevocable trust as made one-half by each spouse and reported amounts of GST exemption on their Forms 709. Their accountant advised them to allocate the…
Unneeded QTIP election voided, but spouse becomes GST transferor
An estate made a QTIP election for a marital trust even though the spouse already held a qualifying lifetime income interest and a testamentary general power of appointment. Because the election was…
Spouses receive 120 days to elect out of automatic GST allocations
A husband and wife made transfers to several irrevocable trusts with generation-skipping transfer tax potential and elected gift splitting on their annual gift tax returns. Their tax professionals…
Estate receives 120 days to document a decedent's mental incompetency
A decedent created a revocable trust before October 22, 1986, that later continued for descendants across multiple generations. The estate timely filed Form 706 but did not attach a physician's…
Taxpayer receives more time to allocate GST exemption
A married couple made several pre-2001 cash transfers to an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer potential and elected gift splitting on their Forms 709. Their accountant failed to…
Estate and spouse may allocate GST exemptions late
Spouses created a trust for their descendants and timely allocated GST exemptions to an initial split gift. For a later transfer, their attorney failed to prepare Forms 709 or advise them to…
Estate and spouse receive more time to allocate GST exemptions
A married couple transferred property to a trust for their children and more remote descendants, but their attorney failed to prepare gift tax returns for a later transfer or advise them to allocate…
Estate receives 120 days to allocate GST exemption
A decedent transferred stock to an irrevocable trust but failed to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to the transfer. The decedent believed accountants would prepare the gift-tax…
Estate receives 120 days for QTIP and GST elections
A decedent's will divided the residuary estate between GST-exempt and GST-nonexempt marital trusts for the surviving spouse. The return preparer mistakenly reported the combined value as passing…
GST allocations receive relief and automatic treatment
A taxpayer and spouse made gifts to three irrevocable trusts for their children over several years, but their accountant did not file gift tax returns or allocate the taxpayer's generation-skipping…
GST allocations receive relief and automatic treatment
A taxpayer and spouse made gifts to three irrevocable trusts for their children over several years, but their accountant did not file gift tax returns or allocate the taxpayer's generation-skipping…
Trust settlement preserves grandfathered GST exemption
An irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985 divided its assets into separate shares for the grantor's children. One child later died without a spouse or descendants, did not exercise her…
Taxpayer may elect out of automatic GST allocation late
A taxpayer made several cash gifts to a trust with generation-skipping potential and timely reported the gifts on Forms 709. The taxpayer did not elect out of the automatic allocation of GST…
Division into three family trusts preserves tax attributes
An irrevocable trust for three daughters and their descendants had a zero generation-skipping transfer tax inclusion ratio. A state court conditionally approved dividing it into three equal trusts,…
Estate receives 120 days to opt out of automatic GST allocation
A donor transferred property to an irrevocable trust for a child and descendants but did not intend to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to the gift. The donor relied on a…
Taxpayer may make late GST exemption allocation to trust
A taxpayer transferred property to an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential. A tax professional failed to advise the taxpayer to allocate GST exemption on a timely Form…
Extension granted to document decedent's mental incompetency
An estate timely filed Form 706 but did not include the physician certification or other evidence needed to show that the decedent had been continuously unable to change a trust after October 22,…
Estate receives more time to elect out of GST allocation
An estate asked for more time to elect out of the automatic allocation of generation-skipping transfer exemption to the decedent's 2010 direct gifts to grandchildren and other skip persons. The…
Donor may elect trust gifts out of automatic GST allocation
A taxpayer and spouse made annual gifts to an irrevocable life-insurance trust for their children and grandchildren. Their attorney advised that annual-exclusion gifts did not require gift-tax…
Donor gets 120 days to opt trust gifts out of GST allocation
A taxpayer and spouse made annual gifts to an irrevocable life-insurance trust for their children and grandchildren. Their attorney advised that annual-exclusion gifts did not require gift-tax…
Dividing grandfathered trust preserved GST exemption without gift tax
A trustee proposed dividing a pre-September 25, 1985 testamentary trust into four equal trusts, one for each grandchild’s family line, while continuing to provide for the grantor’s son. Each asset…
Estates may make late GST-exemption allocations
A married couple created an irrevocable generation-skipping trust for a family member and descendants, then reported years of contributions as split gifts without allocating GST exemption. The…
Grantor receives 120 days to allocate GST exemption to trust
A grantor created an irrevocable trust for a spouse and descendants and transferred stock to it. The grantor intended the trust to avoid generation-skipping transfer tax but relied on an accountant…
Taxpayer may elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A taxpayer and spouse transferred community property to three irrevocable trusts with generation-skipping transfer potential. Their advisers did not explain the automatic GST exemption allocation or…
GST exemption allocations to non-skip grandchildren are void
A married couple made outright gifts to two grandchildren after the grandchildren's parent, the couple's child, had died. The couple allocated generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to the gifts…
Late election may prevent automatic GST allocation to three trusts
A taxpayer and spouse contributed community property to three irrevocable trusts for their children. Their accounting firm and consultant did not advise them about automatic GST exemption allocation…
Professional's omission justified late GST election
A grantor created four trusts for siblings, but the accountant omitted the gifts from the grantor's gift-tax return and therefore failed to elect out of automatic generation-skipping transfer…
Late reverse-QTIP and trust-severance elections allowed
An estate elected QTIP treatment for a marital trust but, relying on its attorney, did not make a reverse-QTIP election or allocate the decedent's available generation-skipping transfer exemption.…
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…
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.…
Couple receives more time to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A married couple elected to split gifts made to an irrevocable trust for their children. Their accountant prepared the gift tax returns but omitted the statements needed to elect out of the…
Trust donor receives more time to opt out of automatic GST allocation
A taxpayer created an irrevocable trust for her children and made transfers to it in two years. She and her spouse elected to split the gifts on Forms 709, but their accountant omitted the…
Converting grandfathered trusts to unitrusts avoids GST, gift, and gain consequences
An irrevocable trust created before September 25, 1985, ultimately produced separate trusts for three grandchildren. The trustee proposed using state-law consent procedures to convert each…
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.