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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Corporation receives inadvertent invalid S election relief
A corporation's operating agreement created a second class of stock, making its S corporation election invalid. After discovering the problem, the corporation adopted a new operating agreement that re…
Donor receives 120-day extension to elect out of automatic GST allocation
A donor and spouse created four irrevocable trusts primarily for their grandchildren, and the donor later transferred the same redacted amount to each trust. The donor did not intend to allocate gener…
Donor receives 120-day extension to elect out of automatic GST allocation
A donor and spouse created four irrevocable trusts primarily for their grandchildren, and the donor later transferred the same redacted amount to each trust. The donor did not intend to allocate gener…
Corporation receives relief for missing consent and ineligible shareholder
A corporation's S election was invalid because the spouse of a shareholder, who held a community-property interest, did not consent on Form 2553. The corporation's stock ledger later also showed share…
Scientific-research travel and collaboration grant procedures approved
A private foundation sought advance approval for grants supporting individuals involved in a scientific research initiative. The grants would fund study, research, writing, lecturing, publication, and…
Large cash contribution qualifies as an unusual grant
A publicly supported charity promoting a sport sought advance recognition that a large cash contribution would be an unusual grant. The charity served youth, veterans, wheelchair participants, and oth…
Foreign company receives 120-day extension for partnership classification election
A foreign eligible entity with multiple owners had a default classification as an association taxable as a corporation. It intended to elect partnership treatment but relied on a tax professional who …
Foreign company receives 120-day extension for partnership classification election
A foreign eligible entity with multiple owners had a default classification as an association taxable as a corporation. It intended to elect partnership treatment but relied on a tax professional who …
Tax-exempt controlled corporation receives late section 168 election relief
A corporation wholly owned by a tax-exempt organization was a limited partner in a partnership formed to operate low-income housing. The partnership agreement required the corporation to elect under s…
Tax-exempt controlled corporation receives late section 168 election relief
A corporation wholly owned by a tax-exempt organization was the general partner of a partnership formed to operate low-income housing. The partnership agreement required the corporation to elect under…
Partnership may aggregate adjacent nonoperating mineral interests
A partnership held mineral royalty interests across multiple tracts at six properties and asked to aggregate the interests at each property for federal tax purposes. The partnership did not bear explo…
REIT receives 90-day extension for taxable-subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust and a subsidiary intended the subsidiary to be a taxable REIT subsidiary from its formation. An outside firm recommended filing Forms 8832 and 8875 but believed the part…
Foreign entity may change classification within the 60-month limit
A foreign eligible entity had changed from its default corporate classification to disregarded-entity status. It later underwent a change in ownership of more than 50 percent and wanted to elect corpo…
S corporation receives 120-day extension for QSub election
An S corporation purchased all of the stock of another S corporation and intended to treat the acquired company as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. It failed to timely file Form 8869 for the QSub …
Soccer referee placement service denied section 501(c)(3) exemption
An organization recruited, trained, mentored, scheduled, and paid independent soccer referees for local leagues under negotiated contracts. Its revenue came from league and association fees, and most …
Industrial park association denied section 501(c)(4) exemption
An association formed to maintain and improve the common areas and shared facilities of a commercial and industrial park sought exemption under section 501(c)(4). Membership was limited to lot owners,…
Advocacy group denied exemption after failing to detail political activity
An advocacy organization proposed educating voters, facilitating dialogue, identifying common ground, influencing elected officials, and supporting or opposing officials based on their response. The I…
Benefit and social organization denied fraternal-society exemption
An organization provided sick and death benefits to active members, social activities to members, and event-facility rentals. It first sought social-club exemption and then changed its request to exem…
Baseball umpire placement organization denied exemption
A membership organization assigned baseball umpires to games, collected their fees and scheduling fees, and paid the member umpires as independent contractors. It sought exemption under sections 501(c…
Business referral network denied business-league exemption
A networking chapter admitted only one member from each professional classification, held weekly meetings, and encouraged members to exchange referrals and promote their individual businesses. It soug…
Research and travel grant procedures approved
A private foundation proposed six grant programs supporting research on a historical periodical press, scholarly databases and resources, dissertation work, research leave, and conference travel. Appl…
School leadership capacity grant program approved
A private foundation proposed a grant program to strengthen the leadership and long-term sustainability of religious day schools. Selected schools would receive coaching, seminars, webinars, consultin…
Below-market educational loan procedures approved
A private foundation proposed a program making one-year, below-market loans for postsecondary study at colleges, universities, nursing programs, commercial-training programs, and trade or vocational s…
Independent-school scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed scholarships for students in prekindergarten through grade 12 who attended or had been accepted by independent schools in four counties. Applicants would be evaluated on …
Faculty professional-development grant procedures approved
A private foundation proposed grants to improve the teaching skills and talents of faculty members at independent schools in four counties. Applicants would submit project descriptions, goals, budgets…
Affiliated group gets 60 days to elect consolidated filing
A domestic parent corporation and its 18 subsidiaries failed to make a valid election to file a consolidated federal income tax return by the applicable deadline. The parent requested regulatory relie…
Parent gets 45 days for late Section 338(g) election
A consolidated group's foreign subsidiary acquired all the stock of another foreign corporation in a transaction intended to receive section 338(g) asset-acquisition treatment, but the parent failed t…
S corporation gets 60 days to attach omitted Form 3115
An S corporation commissioned a cost-segregation study and intended to change its depreciation accounting method under the automatic procedures of Revenue Procedure 2015-13. A signed copy of Form 3115…
Pension surplus paid to agency triggers employer-reversion tax
A contractor sponsored two frozen defined benefit pension plans under contracts requiring a government agency to reimburse contributions and receive all surplus assets after plan termination. The cont…
Aspiring-teacher scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed renewable scholarships and professional support for university students preparing to become teachers in economically disadvantaged public schools or high-need subject are…
Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
A utility owning a joint interest in a nuclear power plant requested a mandatory revised schedule of ruling amounts for its qualified nuclear decommissioning fund. The proposed schedule used an indepe…
Revised nuclear decommissioning fund schedule approved
A utility owning a joint interest in a nuclear power plant requested a mandatory revised schedule of ruling amounts for its qualified nuclear decommissioning fund. The proposed schedule used an indepe…
Medical-injury settlement excluded from gross income
A taxpayer sued a fertility clinic after an embryo created with an anonymous donor egg resulted in a child born with a genetic condition causing physical, cognitive, and behavioral disabilities. The c…
Foreign insurer gets time for domestic and small-company elections
A foreign property-and-casualty insurer relied on a professional adviser to make elections under sections 953(d) and 831(b), treating it as a domestic corporation and a qualifying small insurance comp…
Partnership gets 120 days for late Section 754 elections
A foreign-law general partnership failed to make timely section 754 elections for two taxable years after an investor acquired an interest in an upper-tier partnership that owned part of it. The partn…
Partnership gets 120 days for late Section 754 elections
A foreign-law general partnership failed to make timely section 754 elections for two taxable years after a purchaser acquired an interest in it. The partnership represented that it acted reasonably a…
Employer-related scholarships for employees' children approved
A private foundation proposed one-year scholarships for children of current employees of a company and its domestic subsidiaries. An independent committee with no current or former employees of the fo…
Cash for malfunctioning transit cards is taxable wages
IRS Chief Counsel advised that restricted transit debit cards qualified as transit passes under section 132(f). Limited cash reimbursements could qualify when a transit provider's enrollment or issuan…
LLC gets 120 days for Section 754 election after member's death
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership failed to make a section 754 election for the year in which a member died and the member's interest passed to four other owners. Its professional tax…
Bankrupt loss group gets 45 days to elect out of Section 382(l)(5)
A consolidated loss group underwent an ownership change while under a court's jurisdiction in a title 11 case. The parent intended to elect out of the special section 382(l)(5) bankruptcy rule but fai…
S corporation preserved after five missed ESBT elections
After a grantor died, a grantor trust transferred S corporation shares to five successor trusts whose trustees failed to make timely electing small business trust elections. That failure technically t…
S corporation preserved after five missed ESBT elections
After a grantor died, a grantor trust transferred S corporation shares to five successor trusts whose trustees failed to make timely electing small business trust elections. That failure technically t…
Business separation qualifies as Type D reorganization and spin-off
A foreign-parented corporate group proposed separating two businesses by having a domestic distributing corporation form a controlled corporation, contribute four subsidiaries to it, and distribute al…
S corporation split-off qualifies as Type D reorganization
An S corporation operating three businesses proposed separating one business to resolve shareholder disagreements. It would place specified assets and an LLC interest into a controlled QSub, shift par…
Three businesses satisfy active-business test despite shared employee
A corporation owned equally by three shareholders proposed dividing one operating business into three equal companies. It would contribute one-third of the business to each of two newly formed corpora…
Foreign LLC gets 120 days for retroactive disregarded status
A foreign limited liability company intended to elect disregarded-entity classification effective from its formation date but did not timely file Form 8832. Its ownership later changed from two U.S. p…
Partnership gets 120 days for election after partner's death
A limited partnership failed to make a section 754 election after a deceased partner's interest passed to an estate. The partnership had relied on its tax adviser and did not know it was eligible to m…
S status restored after operating agreement created second stock class
An LLC had elected S corporation status, but its operating agreement retained partnership provisions and authorized profits interests with different liquidation rights. Issuing those interests caused …
Reverse-acquisition group gets 45 days for consolidated election
A foreign corporation contributed a subsidiary chain to another subsidiary in a transaction represented to qualify as a reverse acquisition, creating a new affiliated group with the recipient as commo…
Carbon-offset credits count as qualifying REIT income
A timberland REIT's partnership expected to earn state cap-and-trade credits by committing forestland to long-term carbon-sequestration restrictions, monitoring, inventories, and independent verificat…
Utility's deferred-tax rate-base methods satisfy normalization rules
A regulated electric utility asked whether several methods of reflecting accumulated deferred income taxes in federal and state rate proceedings complied with the tax normalization rules. The methods …
Carbon credits from two programs qualify as REIT income
A timberland REIT indirectly participated in two carbon-offset programs: a state cap-and-trade system for U.S. forest projects and a voluntary program for foreign timberland protected from deforestati…
Carbon credits earned through partnerships qualify as REIT income
A timberland REIT indirectly owned interests in six partnerships developing forest carbon-offset projects under a state cap-and-trade program. The projects required long-term land-use restrictions, mo…
S status restored after preferred stock created second class
An S corporation amended its articles and issued preferred stock to an eligible trust shareholder. Because the preferred shares had different dividend and liquidation rights, their issuance created a …
Method change supports additional solar energy credits
Two energy subsidiaries had claimed section 48 credits on self-constructed solar property. Their parent later changed its accounting method to capitalize additional mixed-service costs, producing a po…
Executive order cannot waive tax on excess premium credits
A taxpayer received a retroactive lump-sum Social Security disability payment covering prior years while also receiving advance premium tax credits for marketplace health insurance. Because section 36…
One pension amendment approved and one declined for ruling
A multiemployer defined benefit plan with a five-year amortization extension proposed two amendments that would increase liabilities. The IRS declined to rule on a retroactive benefit-accrual amendmen…
Plan approved to use substitute mortality tables
A defined benefit pension plan asked to use substitute mortality tables when calculating its minimum funding obligations. The IRS approved the tables for male and female annuitants and nonannuitants, …
Automobile club denied social-club exemption
An automobile ownership club sought exemption as a social club under section 501(c)(7). Its main activity was an annual car show open to the public, and it received most of its revenue from public eve…
Late trust elections treated as an inadvertent S corporation termination
An S corporation transferred shares to three trusts that were eligible to elect treatment as electing small business trusts, but the trustees did not file timely elections. The missed filings made the…
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.