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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Baseball-support group primarily benefited a for-profit team's players
An organization said it would support baseball, community relations, youth tickets, education, and preservation activities. Its financial records instead showed substantial spending on players of a fo…
Automatic funeral benefits for members served private interests
A membership organization collected one-time fees and paid funeral expenses when a member or family member died. The payments were automatic, with no qualification or review for financial need. The or…
Auto-repair purchasing group provided particular services to members
An organization of independent auto-repair businesses negotiated supplier pricing and rebates for its members. It planned to use vendor rebates for administration, advertising, recruiting, negotiation…
Payment processor qualified as a third party settlement organization
A software and payment-processing provider asked whether it was a third party settlement organization for payments settled through two platforms. The IRS found that both platforms established third pa…
Transfer disqualified nuclear decommissioning fund without self-dealing
An owner preparing to sell a shut-down nuclear unit planned to transfer all assets from its qualified nuclear decommissioning fund to a nonqualified fund within the same trust. The IRS agreed to disqu…
Gift of nonvoting LLC interests to charitable trust avoided self-dealing
A trust creator planned to give a charitable lead annuity trust nonvoting interests in an LLC whose only assets were promissory notes owed by trusts for descendants. Those note obligors were disqualif…
Historic-certification application received filing relief
A property owner hired a consultant to prepare and file an application for historic-status certification before a rehabilitation project was placed in service. The consultant prepared the application …
Estate received time for QTIP and reverse QTIP elections
An estate intended to obtain the marital deduction for a trust benefiting the surviving spouse, but its attorney reported all trust assets as jointly owned property and made no QTIP election. The IRS …
Energy infrastructure fees qualified as REIT real-property rents
A REIT planned to lease an offshore oil and gas platform, storage-tank capacity, and pipeline capacity to unrelated users. Fees could depend on reserved capacity, throughput volume, public inflation i…
Eight pension plans received substitute mortality-table approval
A controlled group asked to use substitute mortality tables for the combined male and female annuitants, including disabled participants, in eight defined benefit pension plans. The IRS approved the t…
Pension plan received conditional substitute mortality-table approval
A pension plan requested substitute mortality tables for four participant populations. The IRS approved tables for male annuitants, female annuitants, and male nonannuitants for ten plan years, but re…
Three pension plans received combined substitute mortality tables
A controlled group requested substitute mortality tables for participants in three defined benefit pension plans. The IRS approved combined male and combined female tables covering annuitants and nona…
Three plans received combined mortality tables including disabled participants
A controlled group requested substitute mortality tables for three defined benefit pension plans. The IRS approved combined male and combined female tables covering annuitants and nonannuitants, inclu…
Two pension plans received combined substitute mortality tables
A taxpayer requested permission to use substitute mortality tables for two defined benefit pension plans. The IRS approved combined male and combined female tables for annuitants and nonannuitants, ex…
Pension plan received substitute mortality tables for annuitants
A pension plan requested substitute mortality tables for its participant populations. The IRS approved male and female annuitant tables, including disabled participants, for ten plan years. Male and f…
Pension plan received conditional substitute mortality-table approval
A pension plan requested substitute mortality tables for all male and female participants, including disabled participants. The IRS conditionally approved the tables for ten plan years. Because the co…
Renewable college scholarship procedures approved
A private operating foundation sought approval for a renewable college scholarship program serving high school students in its local area. Applicants had to rank in the top ten percent of their class,…
Employer-related college scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation proposed nonrenewable college scholarships for children of employees of a company and its subsidiaries. An outside organization would administer the program and independently sele…
Insurance-agent association denied business-league exemption
An association of insurance agents sought exemption as a business league under section 501(c)(6). Its members could sell products from several carriers, but membership was limited to agents who sold p…
Real-estate education charity lost exemption over records and private benefit
The IRS revoked a real-estate education organization's section 501(c)(3) status after an examination of its finances and operations. Tuition revenue flowed through personal accounts, and the organizat…
Medical charity lost exemption over insider benefits and poor records
A medical charity provided some free or reduced-cost care and accepted public and private insurance, but its founder controlled its operations and finances. The examination found numerous bank account…
Member death-benefit association lost charitable exemption
An association accumulated funds to assist injured or disabled members and to pay funeral expenses when a member died. Its only reported activity was buying beverages for an annual inspection and banq…
Medical-interpreter certifier lost charitable exemption
An organization educated medical interpreters and operated a national certification program that administered written and oral exams. The IRS accepted that leadership training, workshops, conferences,…
Investment-funded social club lost exemption
A fraternity-related organization held investments and used the income to provide housing for chapter members. Investment income had been its sole reported income for years, and it did not provide evi…
Computer records may prove a lost collection waiver
Chief Counsel was asked whether account entries could show that a Form 900 collection waiver had been processed and accepted when the physical form was missing. The advice explained that loss of the o…
Partnership AAR period may close before assessment period
Chief Counsel explained that the section 6229 period can close while a partner's section 6501 assessment period remains open. Section 6229 supplies a minimum assessment period for partners, not a maxi…
Protective refund claims are available for gift tax
Chief Counsel considered whether a taxpayer may file a protective refund claim for gift tax. Examination had denied such a claim solely because it related to gift tax. The advice concluded that protec…
Advisor below fee threshold had no section 6112 duty
Chief Counsel corrected an earlier email about a section 6112 list request. Based on the information supplied, the advisor did not meet the section 6111 fee threshold for material-advisor status. Beca…
Entity could elect corporate status within 60-month limit
An eligible entity had previously changed its federal classification and later became a partnership after gaining more than one owner. It wanted to elect association status taxable as a corporation be…
Consolidated group received 60 days to waive CNOL carryback
A consolidated group intended to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss, and its returns were filed consistently with that intent, but the required election statement …
Basis increases for acquired partnership interests were amortizable
A publicly traded partnership converted to corporate form and transferred interests in lower-tier partnerships that held an intangible subject to section 197's anti-churning rules. The transfer produc…
Closed-year tax-exempt controlled entity election received relief
A corporation owned by a section 501(c)(3) organization was treated as a tax-exempt controlled entity and served as general partner of a low-income housing partnership. The taxpayer intended to elect …
Pension plan received substitute mortality tables for annuitants
A pension plan requested substitute mortality tables for its participant populations. The IRS approved tables for male and female annuitants, including disabled participants, for ten plan years. Male …
Pension plan received substitute mortality tables for annuitants
A pension plan requested substitute mortality tables for an included group of participants. The IRS approved tables for male and female annuitants, including disabled participants, for ten plan years.…
Pension plan received substitute mortality tables for all populations
A pension plan requested substitute mortality tables for its participant populations. The IRS approved tables for male and female annuitants and nonannuitants, including disabled participants, for ten…
Two pension plans received substitute mortality tables for annuitants
A taxpayer requested substitute mortality tables for two pension plans treated on an aggregated basis. The IRS approved tables for male and female annuitants, excluding disabled participants, for ten …
Dormant charity loses exemption for showing no activity or records
The IRS revoked a charity's section 501(c)(3) exemption because it did not substantiate any exempt operations. Its filed returns reported no revenue or expenses other than depreciation, later returns …
Private foundation may set aside funds for facility renovations
A private foundation planned a multiyear renovation of its operating facility and requested approval to set aside funds rather than pay them immediately. The IRS approved the set-aside under section 4…
Private foundation's scholarship procedures are approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for a college scholarship program. The IRS approved the procedures under section 4945(g)(1), so grants made under them would not be taxable expenditures…
Racing and gaming advocacy group is denied agricultural exemption
An organization sought section 501(c)(5) exemption as an agricultural organization. Its activities promoted horse and greyhound racing, pari-mutuel wagering, electronic gaming, entertainment, and tour…
Consolidated group receives late CNOL carryback waiver relief
The parent of a consolidated group intended to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss but failed to file a valid election with the return. The group filed consistently…
Foreign insurer receives more time to elect domestic treatment
A foreign insurance company intended to elect under section 953(d) to be treated as a domestic corporation and join its parent's consolidated return. The return was prepared and filed as if the electi…
S corporation and QSub receive inadvertent termination relief
An LLC taxed as an S corporation acquired another LLC and elected to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. The parent's operating agreement still contained partnership provisions that creat…
Tax-exempt controlled entity receives late depreciation election relief
A corporation owned by a section 501(c)(3) organization was a general partner in a partnership that developed low-income rental housing. The partnership depreciated its property as though the corporat…
Scholarship grant procedures approved for a private foundation
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve its procedures for scholarships to high school seniors who have been accepted by qualifying U.S. universities but lack the resources to attend. A selectio…
Consolidated group gets 60 days to waive a CNOL carryback after returning its refund
A consolidated corporate group generated a consolidated net operating loss (CNOL), carried it back to an earlier year, and received a refund. The parent later returned the refund and sought to make th…
Consolidated group gets 60 days to waive a CNOL carryback after returning its refund
A consolidated corporate group generated a consolidated net operating loss (CNOL), carried it back to an earlier year, and received a refund. The parent later returned the refund and sought to make th…
Surviving spouse may roll over an IRA after other beneficiaries disclaim it
A decedent named a trust as the sole beneficiary of an IRA and did not name a contingent beneficiary. Within nine months of death, the trust, the decedent's son, and two grandchildren disclaimed their…
Tax-exempt-controlled corporation gets 75 days to make a late depreciation election
A tax-exempt organization wholly owned a corporation that served as general partner of a low-income housing partnership. Without an election under Section 168(h)(6)(F)(ii), the corporation would be tr…
Former spouses' delayed property buyout is incident to divorce and not a taxable gift
Two former spouses kept equal interests in real property under a court order entered less than seven months after their divorce. More than six years later, a fire caused major damage, one spouse paid …
Consolidated group gets 60 days to make late consent dividend elections
A consolidated corporate group had subsidiaries that were treated as paying and receiving consent dividends for two tax years. Its accounting firm analyzed personal holding company tax only at the con…
Fiber and antenna-system lease payments qualify as REIT real-property rents
A real estate investment trust leases permanently affixed fiber optic and coaxial cable systems, conduit, and distributed antenna systems to telecommunications customers. Its agreements grant tenants …
Pension plan approved to use substitute mortality tables, but subject to yearly actuarial recertification
Single-employer defined benefit pension plans value their liabilities using mortality tables, and a plan with enough of its own credible mortality experience can ask the IRS to approve "substitute" ta…
Two pension plans approved to use substitute mortality tables, with limits for disabled participants
Single-employer defined benefit pension plans value their liabilities using mortality tables, and a plan with enough of its own credible mortality experience can ask the IRS to approve "substitute" ta…
Pension plan approved to use substitute mortality tables for its participants
Single-employer defined benefit pension plans must value their liabilities using mortality tables, and a plan with enough of its own credible mortality experience can ask the IRS to approve "substitut…
Private foundation's set-aside to build a cultural and arts facility is approved as a qualifying distribution
A private foundation must pay out a minimum amount for charitable purposes each year, but it can instead "set aside" funds for a specific long-term project and still count them as a qualifying distrib…
IRS approves a private foundation's scholarship grant procedures in advance
When a private foundation gives grants to individuals for study, those payments are normally "taxable expenditures" that trigger excise taxes, unless the IRS approves the foundation's award procedures…
Private foundation's set-aside to convert a building into a museum is approved as a qualifying distribution
A private foundation normally has to pay out a minimum amount each year for charitable purposes, but instead of spending immediately it can "set aside" money for a specific long-term project and still…
Charity-controlled medical professional corporation fails the organizational test
To be exempt under section 501(c)(3), an organization must pass the "organizational test": its founding document (for a corporation, the articles of incorporation) must limit its purposes to exempt on…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) status to a group whose main activity was securing member discounts
To be tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3), an organization must be both organized and operated exclusively for charitable (or other exempt) purposes, and it cannot mainly serve the private interests of…
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.