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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Couple received consent for a retroactive QEF election on inherited shares
A married couple inherited a one-third interest in a foreign corporation whose main assets were a family vacation property and a related bank account. The corporation was a passive foreign…
Taxpayer received consent for retroactive QEF election
A U.S. taxpayer bought shares of a foreign corporation over several years and later sold them. The taxpayer's accountant knew about the investment but did not recognize that the corporation might be…
Taxpayers may make retroactive QEF elections for a foreign corporation
Two taxpayers owned shares of a foreign corporation for several years before learning that it was likely a passive foreign investment company. They had relied on a longtime certified public…
Partnership may make a retroactive QEF election
A U.S. limited partnership indirectly invested in a foreign corporation whose offering materials did not indicate that it was a passive foreign investment company. The partnership's tax adviser…
Partnership receives consent for a late QEF election
A U.S. limited partnership indirectly acquired shares of a foreign corporation through another foreign entity. The investment materials did not identify the corporation as a passive foreign…
Estate receives extra time for 2010 carryover-basis election
The IRS gave the personal representatives of a decedent who died in 2010 an additional 120 days to file Form 8939, elect the carryover-basis regime under IRC § 1022, and allocate basis increases to…
Pro rata QTIP trust division preserves QSST and tax treatment
A surviving spouse proposed dividing an irrevocable QTIP trust that held S corporation stock into two equal successor trusts. The assets would be divided pro rata, the spouse would remain trustee…
Non-pro-rata trust partitions preserved GST exemption without gifts or gain
Three trusts created under a decedent's will before September 25, 1985 proposed non-pro-rata partitions after appointing successor trustees. Each original trust would retain its limited liability…
Non-pro-rata trust partitions preserved GST exemption without gifts or gain
Three trusts created under a decedent's will before September 25, 1985 proposed non-pro-rata partitions after appointing successor trustees. Each original trust would retain its limited liability…
Non-pro-rata trust partitions preserved GST exemption without gifts or gain
Three trusts created under a decedent's will before September 25, 1985 proposed non-pro-rata partitions after appointing successor trustees. Each original trust would retain its limited liability…
Court-approved trust severance preserved GST exemption without gifts, estate inclusion, or gain
A pre-1985 irrevocable trust became the subject of fiduciary and beneficiary litigation over investments, management, and family-owned farmland corporations. A court-approved settlement proposed…
Estate could not supplement Form 8939 to correct its unrealized-loss allocation
An estate timely filed Form 8939 for a decedent who died in 2010, but its tax professional mistakenly reported that the decedent owned only a fraction of a closely held company rather than all of…
Former citizen may make a retroactive QEF election
A former U.S. citizen indirectly owned a foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company while the taxpayer remained a citizen. The taxpayer's original tax adviser did not identify…
Former citizen may make a retroactive QEF election
A former U.S. citizen indirectly owned a foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company while the taxpayer remained a citizen. The taxpayer's original tax adviser did not identify…
Former citizen may make a retroactive QEF election
A former U.S. citizen indirectly owned a foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company while the taxpayer remained a citizen. The taxpayer's original tax adviser did not identify…
Former citizen may make a retroactive QEF election
A former U.S. citizen indirectly owned a foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company while the taxpayer remained a citizen. The taxpayer's original tax adviser did not identify…
Former citizen may make a retroactive QEF election
A former U.S. citizen indirectly owned a foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company while the taxpayer remained a citizen. The taxpayer's original tax adviser did not identify…
Former citizen may make a retroactive QEF election
A former U.S. citizen indirectly owned a foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company while the taxpayer remained a citizen. The taxpayer's original tax adviser did not identify…
Former citizen may make a retroactive QEF election
A former U.S. citizen indirectly owned a foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company while the taxpayer remained a citizen. The taxpayer's original tax adviser did not identify…
Former citizen may make a retroactive QEF election
A former U.S. citizen owned a foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company while the taxpayer remained a citizen. The taxpayer's original tax adviser did not identify the…
Alternative basis recovery approved for contingent sale
A partnership's disregarded subsidiary sold another disregarded subsidiary for an initial payment, assumed liabilities, and formula-based contingent payments over seven years. The normal…
One exchange accommodation titleholder may serve related parties sharing replacement property
The IRS approved a proposed reverse like-kind exchange in which a taxpayer and two related parties would use separate qualified exchange accommodation arrangements to park the same replacement…
IRS permits a retroactive qualified electing fund election
The IRS consented to a taxpayer's retroactive qualified electing fund election for shares of a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment company. The taxpayer's accountant knew…
Taxpayer may make a retroactive qualified electing fund election
The IRS consented to a taxpayer's retroactive election to treat stock in a passive foreign investment company as stock in a qualified electing fund. The taxpayer had relied on a qualified tax…
Counsel coordinates advice on a section 1031 exchange examination
Chief Counsel discussed an ongoing examination involving a section 1031 exchange program. The email refers to taxpayer-favorable advice in another similar case, but says that guidance had not yet…
IRS permits a retroactive QEF election for a foreign investment
The IRS consented to a married couple's retroactive qualified electing fund election for an investment in a foreign corporation classified as a passive foreign investment company. The taxpayers had…
IRS approves a deferred exchange using qualified intermediary and EAT safe harbors
The IRS considered a taxpayer's plan to sell a retail building and acquire a long-term ground lease with improvements through a deferred like-kind exchange. A qualified intermediary would hold the…
IRS grants extra time for a PFIC mark-to-market election
The IRS considered a regulated investment company's late election to use the mark-to-market method for stock in a passive foreign investment company. The fund's tax adviser did not identify the…
Chief Counsel agrees with analysis concerning Form 8939 executors
Chief Counsel Advice addresses who may be treated as an executor for purposes of Form 8939 when no executor has been appointed. The underlying analysis suggested that each person in actual or…
S corporation redemption qualifies for exchange treatment and installment reporting
The IRS ruled on a proposed transaction in which an S corporation would redeem all stock held by two retiring shareholders in exchange for promissory notes, then issue stock to four key employees.…
Tax treatment of government relocation payments
The IRS considered relocation payments made to a business displaced by a state agency's federally assisted eminent-domain project. The payments qualified for exclusion from gross income under the…
PLR 1352003: generation-skipping transfer tax treatment of an annuity
The ruling addresses an annuity that passed from a decedent who died in 2010 to a trust for a grandchild. The IRS concluded that the trust was a skip person and that the transfer was a direct skip…
PLR 1352002: generation-skipping transfer tax treatment of an annuity
The ruling addresses an annuity that passed from a decedent who died in 2010 to a trust for a grandchild. The IRS concluded that the trust was a skip person and that the transfer was a direct skip…
PLR 1352001: generation-skipping transfer tax treatment of an annuity
The ruling addresses an annuity that passed from a decedent who died in 2010 to a trust for a grandchild. The IRS concluded that the trust was a skip person and that the transfer was a direct skip…
PLR 1350025: retroactive QEF election is permitted for a foreign investment
The IRS consents to a publicly traded corporation making a retroactive qualified electing fund (QEF) election for an investment in a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment…
PLR 1350024: retroactive QEF election is permitted for a foreign investment
The IRS consents to a publicly traded corporation making a retroactive qualified electing fund (QEF) election for an investment in a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment…
PLR 1350023: IRS permits a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
The IRS considered a corporation's request to make a retroactive qualified electing fund election for an investment in a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment company. The…
PLR 1350022: IRS permits a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
The IRS considered a corporation's request to make a retroactive qualified electing fund election for an investment in a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment company. The…
PLR 1350021: IRS permits a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
The IRS considered a corporation's request to make a retroactive qualified electing fund election for an investment in a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment company. The…
PLR 1350020: IRS permits a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
The IRS considered a corporation's request to make a retroactive qualified electing fund election for an investment in a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment company. The…
PLR 1350019: IRS permits a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
The IRS considered a corporation's request to make a retroactive qualified electing fund election for an investment in a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment company. The…
PLR 1350018: IRS permits a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
The IRS considered a corporation's request to make a retroactive qualified electing fund election for an investment in a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment company. The…
PLR 1350017: IRS permits a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
The IRS considered a corporation's request to make a retroactive qualified electing fund election for an investment in a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment company. The…
PLR 1350016: IRS permits a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
The IRS considered a corporation's request to make a retroactive qualified electing fund election for an investment in a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment company. The…
PLR 1350015: IRS permits a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
The IRS considered a corporation's request to make a retroactive qualified electing fund election for its investment in a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment company. The…
PLR 1350014: IRS permits a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
The IRS considered a corporation's request to make a retroactive qualified electing fund election for its investment in a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment company. The…
PLR 1350013: IRS permits a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
The IRS considered a corporation's request to make a retroactive qualified electing fund election for its investment in a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment company. The…
PLR 1350012: IRS permits a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
The IRS considered a corporation's request to make a retroactive qualified electing fund election for its investment in a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment company. The…
PLR 1350011: IRS permits a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
The IRS considered a corporation's request to make a retroactive qualified electing fund election for its investment in a foreign corporation treated as a passive foreign investment company. The…
PLR 1349012: IRS permits a retroactive qualified electing fund election
The IRS consented to a domestic partnership’s retroactive qualified electing fund election for an investment in a passive foreign investment company. The partnership had relied on a qualified tax…
PLR 1349011: IRS permits a retroactive QEF election after reliance on tax advisors
The IRS consented to a domestic partnership’s retroactive qualified electing fund election for an investment in a passive foreign investment company. The partnership had relied on two tax advisors…
PLR 1349010: IRS permits a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
The IRS consented to a domestic partnership’s retroactive qualified electing fund election for an investment in a passive foreign investment company. The partnership had acquired shares over several…
PLR 1349002: Trust division does not trigger additional transfer or income tax consequences
Trustees proposed dividing an old irrevocable trust into three separate trusts, one for each of a beneficiary's family lines, so the shares could be managed under different investment approaches.…
PLR 1348007: IRS permits gain from an eminent-domain payment to be reported outside the installment method
A corporation received an initial payment when a state seized its property under eminent domain law and deferred gain recognition under IRC § 1033 while it pursued a claim for additional…
PLR 1345001: Estate receives more time to make the section 1022 election
The personal representatives of an estate for a decedent who died in 2010 failed to timely file Form 8939 and make the section 1022 election. The IRS concluded that the requirements for relief under…
PLR 1344008: Taxpayer may make a retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
An investor learned that a foreign corporation held in the investor's account was a passive foreign investment company and that a qualified electing fund election had not been made on time. The…
PLR 1343001: late 2010 basis election denied
The IRS denied an estate's request for more time to file Form 8939 and make the section 1022 election for property acquired from a decedent who died in 2010. The personal representatives had not…
PLR 1342006: IRS grants more time to make a 2010 decedent's basis election
An estate asked for more time to file Form 8939 and make the Section 1022 election for property acquired from a decedent who died in 2010. The IRS concluded that the requirements for relief under…
PLR 1342001: IRS approves tax treatment of a court-approved trust division
A family asked the IRS about the tax consequences of a court-approved settlement dividing an old irrevocable trust into four separate trusts, with each child's trust divided again into Trust A and…
PLR 1340008: IRS permits a retroactive qualified electing fund election for a PFIC investment
The IRS consented to a taxpayer's retroactive election to treat a passive foreign investment company as a qualified electing fund. The taxpayer had relied on an accounting firm for tax advice and…
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.