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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S corporation termination was inadvertent after stock passed to a partnership
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election and arrange…
S corporation termination was inadvertent after stock passed to a partnership
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election and arrange…
S corporation termination was inadvertent after stock passed to a partnership
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election and arrange…
S corporation termination was inadvertent after stock passed to a partnership
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election and arrange…
S corporation termination was inadvertent after stock passed to a partnership
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election and arrange…
S corporation termination was inadvertent after stock passed to a partnership
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election and arrange…
S corporation termination was inadvertent after stock passed to a partnership
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election and arrange…
S corporation termination was inadvertent after stock passed to a partnership
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election and arrange…
S corporation termination was inadvertent after stock passed to a partnership
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election and arrange…
S corporation termination was inadvertent after stock passed to a partnership
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election and arrange…
S corporation termination was inadvertent after stock passed to a partnership
An S corporation's shares were transferred to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. The corporation discovered that the transfer had terminated its S election and arrange…
IRS pre-approves a foundation's internship and research grant procedures
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, the procedures it uses to award educational grants under Internal Revenue Code section 4945(g)(3). Private foundations normally owe an excise…
IRS pre-approves a foundation's medical-school pipeline scholarship program
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve, in advance, the procedures for a scholarship program it runs to fund the education of certain qualifying students. Private foundations normally owe an ex…
IRS denies 501(c)(3) status to a club whose charity was incidental to its social events
The IRS denied tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) to an unincorporated membership club. The group described itself as a social organization that promotes individuality and self-expression throu…
Accrual taxpayers on an impermissible method may use Rev. Proc. 2018-60 to fix their § 451 timing
This Chief Counsel Advice answers a procedural question about when businesses must report income after the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The TCJA amended section 451 so that an accrual-method taxpayer w…
IRS grants an estate extra time to make a late portability election
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exemption, the surviving spouse can inherit the leftover amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a…
IRS lets an investment partnership aggregate its nonoperating mineral royalty interests for depletion
A U.S. investment partnership owns mineral royalty interests, spread across several tracts of land, that entitle it to royalties on production but do not require it to bear any exploration, developmen…
IRS grants an estate extra time to make a late portability election
When one spouse dies without using all of their federal estate and gift tax exemption, the surviving spouse can inherit the leftover amount (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a…
In a spin-off, cash paid into terminating pension plans counts as a transfer to creditors
A publicly traded parent corporation planned to separate one of its two businesses into a new, separately traded company (a "spin-off") intended to qualify as a tax-free divisive reorganization under …
Married couple's community-property trust is a non-grantor trust and their contributions are incomplete gifts
A married couple in a community property state set up an irrevocable trust for themselves, their children, two other individuals, and charities. Distributions are controlled by a "Power of Appointment…
Partnership gets 120 extra days to make a late Section 754 basis-adjustment election
A limited partnership meant to make a Section 754 election, which lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets after a partner dies or a partnership interest changes hands, so the new owner i…
Private foundation gets 60 extra days to make a late conduit-foundation election so its donors keep the 50% deduction limit
A private foundation that regrants money to other charities wanted "conduit foundation" treatment, which lets its individual donors deduct contributions at the higher 50 percent of income limit (like …
S corporation gets 120 extra days to make a late QSub election for its wholly owned subsidiary
An S corporation wholly owns a subsidiary corporation and wanted the subsidiary treated as a "qualified subchapter S subsidiary" (QSub). A QSub election makes the subsidiary invisible for tax purposes…
Foreign entity gets 120 extra days to elect to be treated as a disregarded entity
A foreign business entity with a single owner wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for U.S. tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as a separate taxpayer and its activities are reported directl…
Married couple's community-property trust is a non-grantor trust and their contributions are incomplete gifts
A married couple in a community property state set up an irrevocable trust for themselves, their children, two other individuals, and charities. Distributions are controlled by a "Power of Appointment…
Spouse gets 120 extra days to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation on years of gifts to a trust
A donor set up an irrevocable trust for his children and their descendants, and over many years he and his spouse made gifts to it and split those gifts on their gift tax returns. Gifts to that kind o…
Donor gets 120 extra days to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation on years of gifts to a trust
A donor set up an irrevocable trust for his children and their descendants, and over many years he and his spouse made gifts to it and split those gifts on their gift tax returns. Gifts to that kind o…
Spouse gets 120 extra days to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation on years of gifts to a trust
A donor set up an irrevocable trust for his children and their descendants, and over many years he and his spouse made gifts to it and split those gifts on their gift tax returns. Gifts to that kind o…
Donor gets 120 extra days to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation on years of gifts to a trust
A donor set up an irrevocable trust for his children and their descendants, and over many years he and his spouse made gifts to it and split those gifts on their gift tax returns. Gifts to that kind o…
Entity gets late relief to be taxed as a corporation and to elect S corporation status
An eligible business entity wanted two things effective on the same date: to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation (rather than a partnership or disregarded entity), and to be taxed…
S corporation's inadvertent termination is excused after a trust beneficiary missed the QSST election
A corporation had elected to be taxed as an S corporation, the pass-through regime that avoids corporate-level tax. Its shares were later transferred to a trust. A trust can only hold S corporation st…
S corporation's inadvertent termination is excused after six trust shareholders missed their ESBT elections
A corporation elected to be taxed as an S corporation, the pass-through regime that avoids corporate-level tax. Six trusts were shareholders. A trust can hold S corporation stock only if it fits an al…
S corporation's inadvertent termination is excused after three trusts missed ESBT elections, subject to an adjustment payment
A corporation elected to be taxed as an S corporation, the pass-through regime that avoids corporate-level tax. Shares were later acquired by three trusts. A trust can hold S corporation stock only if…
IRS approves an employer's substitute mortality tables for pension funding for 10 plan years
Employers that sponsor traditional (defined benefit) pension plans must calculate their required annual funding using mortality tables, which predict how long retirees will live and therefore how much…
Lower-tier partnership gets 120 extra days to make a late Section 754 election
A partner in an upper-tier partnership died, and both that partnership and a lower-tier partnership it partly owned failed to make timely Section 754 elections for the year. The lower-tier partnership…
Upper-tier partnership gets 120 extra days to make a late Section 754 election
A partner in an upper-tier partnership died, and both that partnership and a lower-tier partnership it partly owned failed to make timely Section 754 elections for the year. The upper-tier partnership…
Corporate separation qualifies for tax-free spin-off treatment with stated exceptions
A publicly traded parent planned to separate two businesses by moving assets through subsidiaries and partnerships, distributing a new controlled corporation internally, and then spinning that corpora…
S corporation split-off qualifies as a tax-free reorganization
An S corporation operated two active businesses, one directly and one through a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. It proposed separating them by having a group of shareholders surrender all their sto…
Foundation's religion-journalism grant is a qualifying distribution, not a taxable expenditure
A private foundation proposed funding a Type I supporting organization's global religion-journalism project. The project would use nonprofit and for-profit collaborators to produce objective, educatio…
Foreign entity gets 120 extra days to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes from the date it was formed. It missed the deadline to file Form 8832, the form used to make an entit…
Foreign entity gets 120 extra days to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes from the date it was formed. It missed the deadline to file Form 8832, the form used to make an entit…
IRS approves a private foundation's journalism fellowship procedures
A private foundation proposed a 12-month fellowship that would provide salary, benefits, training, and newsroom placements to early-career journalists. Applicants would be evaluated through published …
IRS approves a private foundation's pharmacy innovation grant procedures
A private foundation proposed competitive grants for licensed pharmacists in a specified state or researchers working with innovative pharmacy practice by pharmacists in that state. Applicants had to …
IRS approves a private foundation's health-care scholarship grant procedures
A private foundation that funds health-care education asked the IRS to approve in advance the way it selects and awards scholarships. Under Code Section 4945, grants a private foundation makes to indi…
IRS denies "unusual grant" treatment for a repeat donor's endowment gift
A publicly supported educational charity asked the IRS to treat a large one-time gift as an "unusual grant." That label matters because public charities must keep a broad base of public support to hol…
IRS approves a foundation's scholarship procedures for charter-school graduates
A private foundation asked the IRS to approve in advance how it awards a scholarship program aimed at charter high school seniors. Private foundations that give grants to individuals for study can fac…
Chief Counsel does not object to a lien-release sentence in a draft quitclaim deed
This is a short, informal Chief Counsel Advice sent as an email about the wording of a draft quitclaim deed. The recipient had proposed adding a sentence to the draft deed, apparently to make clear th…
IRC 6103(h)(1) authorizes disclosing return information to agency employees
This is a brief, informal Chief Counsel Advice sent as an email answering a "need to know" disclosure question. Federal law generally keeps tax returns and return information confidential under Code S…
IRS grants extra time to file a late Section 338(g) election under 9100 relief
The parent of a consolidated corporate group asked the IRS for more time to file a Section 338(g) election. That election lets a stock purchase be treated, for tax purposes, as if the buyer had instea…
IRS grants relief for an inadvertently terminated QSub election
An S corporation had elected to treat a wholly owned subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary (a QSub), which lets the subsidiary be ignored as a separate corporation for tax purposes and fol…
IRS grants extra time to file a late LIFO inventory election after an S-corp conversion
A business that inventories goods using the last-in, first-out (LIFO) method asked the IRS for more time to file the form that elects LIFO. The taxpayer had used LIFO since it operated as a partnershi…
IRS grants extra time to file a late check-the-box election to be a disregarded entity
A business entity with a single owner wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" for federal tax purposes, meaning it is ignored as separate from its owner and its activity is reported on the owne…
IRS grants an estate extra time to make a late portability election
When a married person dies without using up their full federal estate-tax exclusion, the unused portion (the deceased spousal unused exclusion, or DSUE, amount) can be passed to the surviving spouse t…
IRS rules that swaps of product distribution rights are like-kind under pre-TCJA Section 1031
A wholesale distributor (an S corporation) holds franchise-style distribution rights that let it sell certain branded products in defined territories. To move in and out of markets, it sold some of th…
IRS grants extra time to file a late accounting-method-change application (Form 3115)
A corporate group that files a consolidated return wanted to change its method of accounting for certain prepaid insurance premium costs. Changing an accounting method usually needs IRS consent, but "…
Court-approved sale of inherited shares can avoid indirect self-dealing
A private foundation expected to receive shares of a family corporation from its founder's trust. Litigation required the trust to sell those shares to the corporation, which was a disqualified person…
Acquired company qualifies for separate-line-of-business administrative scrutiny
A taxpayer acquired a specialized company that continued to operate autonomously with its own leadership, board, finances, human resources, payroll, offices, technology, customers, and employee benefi…
Estate gets extra time to split a QTIP trust and make a reverse QTIP election
A decedent's estate timely made a QTIP election for a trust benefiting the surviving spouse. The estate's law firm did not advise that the trust should be severed into GST-exempt and GST-nonexempt sha…
Estate gets a late QTIP election and zero GST inclusion ratios for two trusts
A decedent had created trusts that, at death, provided for a marital-deduction trust, a credit shelter trust, and a trust for the decedent's mother. The estate's accountant failed to make the qualifie…
Estate gets a late QTIP election and zero GST inclusion ratios for two trusts
A decedent had created trusts that, at death, provided for a marital-deduction trust, a credit shelter trust, and a trust for the decedent's mother. The estate's accountant failed to make the qualifie…
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.