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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Parties receive 45 days to file a late Section 336(e) election statement
A partnership-taxed buyer acquired all shares of an S corporation through a disregarded entity for cash. The parties intended the stock transaction to be treated as an asset sale under section 336(e),…
Foreign foundation receives late disregarded-entity election for investment vehicle
A foreign tax-exempt private foundation held its U.S. investment portfolio through a single-owner foreign investment vehicle whose custodians had withheld U.S. tax from dividends. The foundation had r…
Acquired group receives 60 days for success-based fee safe-harbor election
A corporate group was acquired in a taxable stock purchase after a subsidiary engaged an investment banker under a success-based fee arrangement. When the group's tax preparer filed the final short-ye…
S corporation receives 45 days to file late Section 336(e) election statement
An S corporation recapitalized into voting and nonvoting shares before two purchasers acquired its stock. A second shareholder received shares before the sale, sold them to one purchaser, and then bou…
Entity receives 120 days to make two late tax elections
A tax-exempt organization's wholly owned limited liability company managed partnerships that owned and rehabilitated low-income housing. The company intended from its inception to elect corporate tax …
Foreign entity receives 120 days to correct its classification election
A buyer acquired all interests in a foreign entity and made a section 338 election. The parties intended the acquired entity to become a disregarded entity on a later date, but its Form 8832 mistakenl…
Corporation receives 60 days to file omitted success-fee election statement
A corporation incurred a success-based fee when it acquired another corporation. Its return treated 70 percent of the fee as non-facilitative and capitalized the remaining 30 percent under the safe ha…
Bankruptcy trust remains a liquidating trust during an extended term
Two Chapter 11 debtors transferred their remaining assets to a trust formed to liquidate those assets and distribute the proceeds to creditors and other beneficiaries. The trust had already received o…
Remaining family property keeps its pre-1990 transfer status
A married couple and their six children bought real property before October 9, 1990, paying separately for life estates and remainder interests. The life tenants proposed conveying all their interests…
Partial life-estate conveyances are gifts but avoid estate inclusion
A married couple and their six children bought real property before October 9, 1990, paying separately for successive life estates and remainder interests. The life tenants proposed conveying all thei…
Family life-estate transfers are gifts without estate inclusion
A married couple and their six children bought real property before October 9, 1990, paying separately for successive life estates and remainder interests. The life tenants proposed giving the childre…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year funding extensions
A multiemployer pension plan requested automatic extensions for amortizing 18 unfunded-liability charge bases established as of January 1, 2015. Its actuary certified that without relief the plan woul…
Taxpayer receives waiver for IRA rollover missed after adviser error
A taxpayer cashed in an IRA annuity intending to roll the proceeds into another IRA. Her financial adviser instead deposited and invested the money in a non-IRA account, and a medical condition impair…
LLC receives 120 days to correct mistaken corporate classification
A two-owner limited liability company intended to be taxed as a partnership and filed its federal returns on that basis. It mistakenly submitted Form 8832 electing treatment as an association taxable …
Court-required debt write-offs do not trigger Forms 1099-C
A financial institution financed consumer purchases and sometimes pursued deficiency balances after defaults. A court found that its collection notices violated state law and barred collection from a …
Reinsurer receives 60 days to make late domestic-corporation election
A foreign associated reinsurance company intended to elect domestic-corporation treatment under section 953(d). Its operations manager and tax professional filed returns consistently with that treatme…
Corporation receives 120 days to file late S election
A corporation intended to be treated as an S corporation from a specified effective date but did not timely file the election. The released letter does not describe why the deadline was missed. The IR…
Export corporation receives 60 days to file IC-DISC election
A parent formed a domestic corporation solely to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation for export transactions. The parent relied on an accountant and law firm to orga…
Trust may revoke ESBT election and restore QSST treatment
A trust that owned stock in an S corporation had originally elected qualified Subchapter S trust treatment. Its trustee later converted the trust to an electing small business trust and then asked to …
Shareholder trust may switch back from ESBT to QSST status
A trust holding S-corporation stock originally elected qualified Subchapter S trust treatment, then later converted to an electing small business trust. The trustee asked the IRS to revoke the ESBT el…
Trust receives consent to replace ESBT status with QSST status
A trust that held shares in an S corporation had used qualified Subchapter S trust status before its trustee elected electing small business trust treatment. The trustee later sought consent to revoke…
Retroactive trust reformation counts for foreign grantor-trust exception
A nonresident donor created an irrevocable U.S.-governed trust intending grantor-trust treatment, but the instrument allowed distributions to the donor's children during the donor's life. A 1996 statu…
Homeowners' club loses exemption for enforcing covenants
A homeowners' social club operated a swimming pool, recreation area, and other facilities for members, their families, and guests. Its articles and bylaws also gave it authority to enforce the develop…
Dog-event club denied exemption for public business activity
An unincorporated purebred-dog club applied for section 501(c)(7) social-club exemption. It held recurring lure-coursing and conformation events open to members and the public, and event receipts supp…
Charity loses exemption for commercial catering operation
An organization had charitable, educational, religious, cultural, and relief purposes in its governing documents. An IRS examination found that its primary activity was operating a catering hall with …
Inactive child-feeding charity loses exemption after fraud case
A charity participated in federal afterschool and summer feeding programs intended to provide meals to children in low-income areas. Its leader pleaded guilty to conspiring to obtain program funds thr…
Inactive charity loses exemption for no operations or records
An organization received section 501(c)(3) recognition but reported that it had conducted no activity from startup through a later ownership transfer. During a long examination, the IRS repeatedly tri…
Loan interests recorded in a required book-entry register qualify as obligations in registered form
A business connects borrowers with investors for unsecured, fixed-rate loans originated by a partner bank. Its borrower agreement and promissory note appoint the business as the borrower's agent to ma…
Estate receives 120 days to allocate a decedent's GST exemption to an earlier trust gift
A decedent created and funded an irrevocable trust for the decedent's children and their descendants. The decedent and spouse elected to split the gift on their Forms 709, but the decedent's return di…
Acquirer may close its books on the acquisition date to allocate losses under section 384
A publicly traded holding company acquired a corporation with built-in gains through a merger and then contributed the surviving merger subsidiary to a partnership it controlled. Both the holding comp…
Investment partnership receives 60 days to make late PFIC mark-to-market elections
An investment portfolio taxed as a partnership owned stock in six passive foreign investment companies and decided to make section 1296 mark-to-market elections for them. Its accounting firm prepared …
Investment partnership receives 60 days to make late PFIC elections for seven companies
An investment portfolio taxed as a partnership owned stock in seven passive foreign investment companies and decided to make section 1296 mark-to-market elections for them. Its accounting firm prepare…
Investment partnership receives 60 days to make late PFIC elections for four companies
An investment portfolio taxed as a partnership owned stock in four passive foreign investment companies and decided to make section 1296 mark-to-market elections for them. Its accounting firm prepared…
Investment partnership receives 60 days to make late PFIC elections for 12 companies
An investment portfolio taxed as a partnership owned stock in 12 passive foreign investment companies and decided to make section 1296 mark-to-market elections for them. Its accounting firm prepared a…
Scholarship program for career changes after serious illness is approved
A private foundation proposed full scholarships for people who need a new career because they or a dependent have a life-changing illness or similar condition. Eligible study could include an advanced…
Organization denied fraternal exemption because it lacks a lodge system
An organization formed to unite descendants of three families, help members, support immigrants, offer scholarships, conduct community activities, and earn rent from its building applied for exemption…
Homeowners association denied social-welfare exemption because it primarily benefits its members
A homeowners association sought exemption as a social-welfare organization under section 501(c)(4). It maintained common areas and provided services such as landscaping, snow removal, exterior work, a…
Separately owned business entities cannot aggregate activities to share one entity's at-risk amount
An individual held minority interests in three S corporations and a partnership, each operating a similar business through a separate legal entity. The individual personally guaranteed the partnership…
Later bankruptcy restructuring does not disqualify an earlier section 355 distribution and Type G reorganization
A corporate group previously received rulings concerning a bankruptcy reorganization that separated two businesses and distributed the stock of a controlled corporation. After that transaction, the di…
Individual receives 60 days to file a late family-attribution waiver for a stock redemption
An individual was treated as owning corporate stock held by a grantor trust, while family members also owned or were treated as owning stock in the corporation. The trust's stock was redeemed for cash…
Corporation receives inadvertent-election relief after five trusts miss ESBT elections
A corporation attempted to elect S corporation status before its organizers owned any stock, making the election ineffective. When the corporation later issued stock, four shareholder trusts failed to…
Corporation retains S status after two trusts miss QSST elections
An S corporation's stock passed through several family trusts after two shareholders transferred stock and later died. Two trusts intended to qualify as qualified subchapter S trusts, but their income…
Related-corporation stock redemption is not essentially equivalent to a dividend
A taxpayer transferred stock it owned in a corporation in a taxable exchange governed by section 304(a)(1). That provision treated the property received for the stock as a redemption subject to sectio…
Related-corporation stock redemption is not essentially equivalent to a dividend
A taxpayer transferred stock it owned in a corporation in a taxable exchange governed by section 304(a)(1). That provision treated the property received for the stock as a redemption subject to sectio…
Related-corporation stock redemption is not essentially equivalent to a dividend
A taxpayer transferred stock it owned in a corporation in a taxable exchange governed by section 304(a)(1). That provision treated the property received for the stock as a redemption subject to sectio…
Related-corporation stock redemption is not essentially equivalent to a dividend
A taxpayer transferred stock it owned in a corporation in a taxable exchange governed by section 304(a)(1). That provision treated the property received for the stock as a redemption subject to sectio…
Related-corporation stock redemption is not essentially equivalent to a dividend
A taxpayer transferred stock it owned in a corporation in a taxable exchange governed by section 304(a)(1). That provision treated the property received for the stock as a redemption subject to sectio…
Related-corporation stock redemption is not essentially equivalent to a dividend
A taxpayer transferred stock it owned in a corporation in a taxable exchange governed by section 304(a)(1). That provision treated the property received for the stock as a redemption subject to sectio…
Pension plan's retiree medical account may fund tax-free HRA reimbursements
A bank maintained a qualified defined benefit plan with a separate section 401(h) account for retiree medical benefits. It also maintained an unfunded retiree-only health reimbursement arrangement tha…
Consultant faces section 6701 penalties for studies supporting excessive depreciation deductions
A tax consultant and engineer prepared written asset-classification studies that recharacterized components of 39-year property as property depreciable over 5, 7, or 15 years. The IRS determined that …
Religious organization loses exemption after commercial activity, private inurement, and inadequate records
A religious organization operated a retail book and gift shop, arranged pilgrimage tours, and received fees for tax-return preparation. The IRS found that these activities were conducted substantially…
Organization loses exemption after ignoring audit requests and failing to substantiate its operations
An organization recognized under section 501(c)(3) was selected for examination of its activities and Form 990 reporting. The IRS sent several examination letters, including certified mail received by…
Private foundation loses exemption for founder benefit, nonexempt activity, and inadequate records
A charitable trust was recognized as a private foundation based on plans to make grants to public charities. During examination, a founder said the foundation had never distributed any grants and that…
Return preparer must meet section 6694 refund-suit deadlines or fully pay the penalty
A return preparer sought to challenge a section 6694 penalty without first paying the full amount. Chief Counsel advised that the Flora full-payment rule applies if the preparer does not timely use th…
Married real estate taxpayers receive 120 days to make a late rental-activity grouping election
A married couple filed a joint return for a year in which one spouse was engaged in a real property business. They qualified to elect under section 469(c)(7) to treat all rental real estate interests …
Partnership receives 120 days to file a late section 754 basis-adjustment election
A partnership timely filed its federal return but inadvertently omitted a section 754 election to adjust the basis of partnership property. Such an election applies section 734 adjustments to property…
Newly affiliated charity receives 30 days to revoke an old section 501(h) lobbying election
A health charity affiliated with another exempt health organization and changed its name after the affiliation. Within weeks, the organizations discovered that the charity had made a section 501(h) lo…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect partnership classification from formation
A foreign eligible entity's indirect owner intended the entity to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes from its formation date. The entity did not timely file Form 8832 to make that…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect disregarded status from formation
A foreign eligible entity's indirect owner intended the entity to be disregarded as separate from its owner for federal tax purposes from its formation date. The entity did not timely file Form 8832 t…
Corporate acquirer receives 45 days to make a late success-based-fee safe-harbor election
A corporate group acquired an engineering and design company in a taxable stock purchase and paid a contingent transaction fee to an adviser. An attorney told the foreign parent's tax director that 70…
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.