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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Foundation set-aside approved for an education building
A private foundation asked to treat funds reserved for constructing a multi-purpose education building as a qualifying distribution under IRC § 4942(g)(2). The building will consolidate and expand an …
Educational prototype contest grant procedures approved
A private foundation sought advance approval under IRC § 4945(g)(3) for grants awarded through an educational prototype-design competition. Teams will build a prototype and develop a related fundraisi…
College scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve a scholarship program for undergraduate and graduate students at accredited United States colleges and universities. Recipients will be selected using aca…
Individual artist grant procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for grants supporting individual working artists across visual, performing, literary, media, and interdisciplinary fields. Applicants must show a sustai…
Community business and recreation group denied charity status
An organization formerly exempt as a business league sought recognition as a charity under IRC § 501(c)(3). Its governing documents continued to authorize promoting local business activity and communi…
Veteran business network denied social-welfare exemption
A mutual benefit corporation sought exemption under IRC § 501(c)(4) for a membership network serving veteran business owners, executives, and professionals. Its programs offered members referrals, sha…
Angel investor club denied business-league exemption
An accredited-investor membership club sought exemption as a business league under IRC § 501(c)(6). The club screened startup applications, hosted pitch dinners, shared investment information, and off…
Religious education organization denied Section 501(d) exemption
A religious education organization sought exemption under IRC § 501(d) as a religious or apostolic organization. It trained church members for ministry and leadership, but its members did not live com…
Gated homeowners association denied social-welfare exemption
A gated homeowners association sought exemption as a social-welfare organization under IRC § 501(c)(4). It owned and maintained the subdivision's streets, sidewalks, and other common areas, but access…
Estate receives 120-day extension to elect portability
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion to the surviving spouse. The esta…
Pension surplus transfer qualifies for replacement-plan treatment
An employer terminated a qualified defined benefit pension plan after transferring remaining employees within its controlled group. It proposed to transfer at least 25 percent of the pension plan's su…
Estate receives 120-day extension to elect portability
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion to the surviving spouse. The esta…
S corporation receives extra time for QSub election
An S corporation acquired all of a subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary, or QSub, as of the acquisition date. It failed to file Form 8869 on time and requested re…
LLC receives extra time for corporate classification election
A limited liability company intended to elect treatment as an association taxable as a corporation but failed to file Form 8832 on time. It requested discretionary relief under Treas. Reg. §§ 301.9100…
Fund receives 60 days to make late QOF self-certification
A partnership formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property intended to self-certify as a qualified opportunity fund, or QOF. Its accounting firm failed to attach Form 8996 to the partnershi…
County deferred compensation plan qualifies under Section 457(b)
A county adopted a deferred compensation plan for its employees and beneficiaries and requested confirmation that it qualified under IRC § 457(b). The plan included automatic enrollment, elective Roth…
S corporation split-off qualifies as tax-free reorganization
A closely held S corporation proposed dividing its business between its shareholders through a corporate split-off. It would form a qualified subchapter S subsidiary, transfer selected business assets…
Estate may divide inherited IRAs through direct trustee transfers
A decedent died without naming beneficiaries for a traditional IRA and a Roth IRA, so the estate became the beneficiary of both accounts. The will left the accounts equally to two individual beneficia…
IRS approves a foundation's scholarship procedures
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve its procedures for a scholarship program serving graduating seniors from a particular school. Eligible students must meet a grade-point threshold, partici…
Church auxiliary is exempt from filing Form 990
A section 501(c)(3) organization asked to be excused from filing the annual Form 990 information return. The IRS determined that the organization qualifies as an integrated auxiliary of a church under…
Church auxiliary is exempt from filing Form 990
A section 501(c)(3) organization asked to be excused from filing the annual Form 990 information return. The IRS determined that the organization qualifies as an integrated auxiliary of a church under…
IRS approves an employer-related scholarship program
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve a scholarship program for dependents of employees of a related employer. The program will make non-renewable awards to graduating high school seniors purs…
Governmental affiliate is exempt from filing Form 990
A section 501(c)(3) organization asked the IRS to excuse it from filing the annual Form 990 information return. Section 6033(a)(3)(B) gives the IRS discretion to exempt certain organizations from that…
IRS approves two children's mental health research fellowship programs
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve two fellowship programs for children's mental health research. One program supports researchers studying the causes, prevention, and treatment of ADHD and…
IRS approves student travel and hardship fellowships
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve a fellowship program for students who show promise but lack the resources to pursue educational and career opportunities. Awards may cover travel for stud…
Church-affiliated school is exempt from filing Form 990
A section 501(c)(3) school asked to be excused from filing the annual Form 990 information return. The IRS determined that it is an educational organization below college level with a general academic…
IRS revokes a member death-benefit association's 501(c)(4) status
A membership association collected dues and additional amounts when a member died, then paid the collected funds to the deceased member's family after deducting certain costs and retaining a percentag…
IRS revokes an inactive charity's 501(c)(3) status
A charity had been recognized under section 501(c)(3) for a national movement, fundraising to assist other charities, and related administrative and promotional activities. During an IRS examination, …
Dog club denied 501(c)(7) status because public revenue exceeded the limit
A dog club applied for exemption as a section 501(c)(7) social and recreational club. It held dog-sport demonstrations, public classes, pet photo events, and an amateur dog show, and it received most …
IRS revokes an inactive charity's tax exemption
A charity had been recognized under section 501(c)(3), but state records showed that it had been dissolved and its representative confirmed that it had been inactive since a redacted date. The organiz…
IRS denies charity status to a grant program benefiting a related business
An organization proposed to give financially needy young people grants for animal-assisted mental health coaching. Each grant could be used only at a for-profit business owned by a person holding a po…
IRS denies charity status to a retriever training club
A retriever club sought section 501(c)(3) status as an educational organization. It offered public classes on human and animal first aid, conservation, and search and rescue, but it also trained hunti…
IRS denies charity status to a private road association
A membership organization maintained dirt roads in a mountain community by collecting annual dues from local property owners. Its volunteers repaired roads, dug drainage ditches, spread road base, and…
IRS denies agricultural exemption to a farmers' market operator
An organization operated a community farmers' market for local farms, small businesses, and nonprofits. Vendors paid a fee for promotion and a place to sell agricultural goods as well as books, clothi…
IRS grants relief for omitted success-fee election statements
A publicly traded corporation paid success-based fees for two acquisitions. Its return deducted 70 percent of each fee and capitalized 30 percent, which was consistent with the safe harbor in Revenue …
IRS grants extra time to allocate GST exemption to a trust transfer
A donor made two transfers to an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential. The donor's attorney told the accounting firm that the donor intended to allocate enough GST exempti…
IRS grants extra time for opportunity fund self-certification
A partnership intended to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and invested in a company it represented was a qualified opportunity zone business. The accounting firm expected to prepare the partne…
IRS grants relief for a late real-property debt exclusion election
A taxpayer held an interest in a real-estate partnership through a trust but apparently did not receive the partnership's Schedule K-1 for the relevant year. The taxpayer therefore did not report canc…
IRS grants late corporate classification and S elections
A limited liability company intended from a specified date to be classified as a corporation and taxed as an S corporation, but it did not file Form 8832 or Form 2553. The company and its owners repre…
IRS approves consolidation of related private foundations
A private foundation organized as a charitable trust proposed to transfer all its assets to a related private foundation organized as a nonprofit corporation. The foundations were controlled by the sa…
IRS grants extra time for an entity classification election
A limited liability company intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation from a specified date but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS found that the company satisfied the r…
IRS grants relief for GST allocations to three family trusts
A grantor created three irrevocable trusts for children and later descendants, and the spouses elected to split the gifts made to the trusts. Their first attorney did not advise them about the consequ…
IRS approves a township's governmental deferred compensation plan
A township adopted a nonqualified deferred compensation plan and related trust for its employees and beneficiaries. The plan included salary deferrals, designated Roth contributions, statutory catch-u…
IRS revokes a prior revocation of an annuity ruling
The IRS had previously ruled that choosing a new variable-payment, term-certain annuity option would not cause income inclusion before amounts were actually paid. In 2024, it prospectively revoked tha…
IRS grants relief for a late tax-exempt controlled entity election
A corporation wholly owned by a tax-exempt organization was a tax-exempt controlled entity for the depreciation rules. Its operating agreement stated that no project property would be treated as tax-e…
IRS pre-approves a foundation's three scholarship programs
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, how it will award scholarships under three separate programs. This step matters because grants a private foundation makes to individuals for …
IRS pre-approves a foundation's competitive educational-fellowship grants
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, the procedures for its educational grant program, which funds highly selective fellowships and seminars for undergraduates, recent graduates,…
Church auxiliary is exempt from filing Form 990
A Section 501(c)(3) organization asked to be excused from filing the annual Form 990 information return. The IRS determined that the organization qualifies as an integrated auxiliary of a church under…
IRS confirms a church's integrated auxiliary need not file Form 990
A church-affiliated organization asked the IRS to confirm it does not have to file Form 990, the annual information return most tax-exempt organizations must submit. Under Treasury Regulation 1.6033-2…
IRS denies 501(c)(4) status to a condominium homeowners' association
A condominium homeowners' association applied for tax-exempt status as a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, and this is the IRS's final determination denying it (the group did not protest …
IRS revokes a 501(c)(3) that operated like a social club (bar, gaming, member events)
The IRS revoked a nonprofit's recognition as a tax-exempt charity under section 501(c)(3). The group had been recognized as a public charity, but on audit the IRS found it operated much like a private…
IRS denies 501(c)(6) status to a business networking and referral group
A business networking and referral group applied for tax-exempt status as a section 501(c)(6) business league, and this is the IRS's final determination denying it (the group did not protest the earli…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) status to a members-only makerspace and art co-op
A community makerspace (a shared art and fabrication studio) applied for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3), and this is the IRS's final determination denying it (the group did not protest the …
IRS denies 501(c)(4) status to an employee association that advocates for its members
An employee association applied for tax-exempt status as a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization (specifically a local association of employees), and this is the IRS's final determination deny…
IRS denies 501(c)(4) status to a collectively-bargained employee benefit fund
A trust set up as a "Pooled Supplement Fund" applied for tax-exempt status as a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, and this is the IRS's final determination denying it (the group did not p…
IRS denies 501(c)(8) status to a group that just buys members third-party insurance
A membership group applied for tax-exempt status as a section 501(c)(8) fraternal beneficiary society, and this is the IRS's final determination denying it (the group did not protest the earlier propo…
IRS denies 501(c)(6) status to a contractor "bid-ready" consulting group
A group that helps construction contractors become "bid ready" applied for tax-exempt status as a section 501(c)(6) business league, and this is the IRS's final determination denying it (the group did…
IRS denies 501(c)(4) status to a mutual-aid group that pays death benefits to members' families
A mutual-aid membership group applied for tax-exempt status as a section 501(c)(4) social welfare organization, and this is the IRS's final determination denying it (the group did not protest the earl…
45-day extension to file a late original Form 3115 for an accounting method change
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership asked the IRS for extra time to fix a filing slip-up, and the IRS said yes. The company had been wrongly treating leased vehicles as if it owned them…
60-day extension to make a late § 168(k)(7) election out of bonus depreciation
The parent of a consolidated corporate group asked the IRS for extra time to make a tax election it meant to make but its preparer left off the returns, and the IRS granted it. For property placed in …
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.