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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Disproportionate distributions receive inadvertent termination relief
An S corporation made disproportionate distributions to its two shareholders even though every share had identical distribution and liquidation rights under its governing documents. The corporation wa…
Hospital lease advances charity and avoids debt-financed treatment
A tax-exempt community hospital association planned to lease its hospital premises to a state university whose academic medical center would operate the facility. The lease required continued emergenc…
Corporation may make retroactive QEF elections for three PFICs
A U.S. corporation failed to make timely qualified electing fund elections for three foreign corporations that were passive foreign investment companies. It had relied on a tax adviser for its returns…
Employer-related scholarship procedures receive approval
A private foundation proposed an employer-related scholarship program for eligible employees and their dependent children. A management company would administer the program and select recipients using…
Military-family scholarship procedures receive approval
A private foundation proposed an annual scholarship for a financially needy high school senior from a low- to average-income enlisted military family. Applicants needed strong academics and character,…
Large foundation grant qualifies as an unusual grant
A recently formed public charity supporting law enforcement received a large cash grant from an unrelated foundation for a pilot program involving media, community involvement, training, recognition a…
Commercial clinical-trial operations fail the exemption test
An organization sought section 501(c)(3) status for multiple-sclerosis research and education. About 80 percent of its activities involved clinical trials sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, which …
Payments benefiting board members' families defeat exemption
An organization sought section 501(c)(3) status to help families of children with a specific form of lymphoma. One of its three board members had a child whose name the organization used, and that fam…
Commercial LLC fails exemption and public-support tests
A sole-member limited liability company sought section 501(c)(3) exemption and section 509(a)(2) public-charity status. Its documents described managing related companies, tracking donated inventory, …
Condominium association is not a business league
A four-unit condominium association sought exemption as a business league under section 501(c)(6). It collected monthly assessments and used them for insurance, utilities, repairs, maintenance, garden…
Acquired group may switch to tax-book asset valuation
A domestic parent and its consolidated group historically used tax book value to apportion interest expense. It acquired another consolidated group that had used fair market value, a method that gener…
Mortgage servicer receives late safe-harbor election relief
A mortgage-banking group sold loans while retaining mortgage servicing rights and applied the Revenue Procedure 91-50 safe-harbor rates to determine reasonable servicing compensation. The group and it…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-status election relief
A foreign eligible entity failed to file Form 8832 on time to be treated as a disregarded entity from its formation date. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and that relief woul…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-status election relief
A foreign eligible entity failed to file Form 8832 on time to be treated as a disregarded entity from its formation date. It represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and that relief woul…
Estate receives more time to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. The estate represented that it was below the filing threshold and th…
S corporation receives late QSub election relief
An S corporation indirectly owned a subsidiary through another wholly owned subsidiary and intended to treat the lower-tier company as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. It failed to file Form 8869 …
S corporation receives late QSub election relief
An S corporation intended to treat a wholly owned subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary but failed to file Form 8869 on time. It represented that its returns had consistently treated the s…
S corporation receives late QSub election relief
An S corporation intended to treat a wholly owned subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary but failed to file Form 8869 on time. It represented that its returns had consistently treated the s…
Corporation receives late IC-DISC election relief
A newly formed domestic corporation intended to elect interest charge DISC status for its first tax year. Its advisers prepared Form 4876-A, but the form was not signed or filed within 90 days after f…
Patent-payment termination amount qualifies for capital gain treatment
A partnership owned by individuals transferred patent-related rights to an unrelated company in exchange for payments based on product sales. When the parties later terminated that agreement, part of …
Estate receives more time to elect portability
An estate did not file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. It represented that the estate, including lifetime taxable gifts, wa…
Estate receives more time to elect portability
An estate did not file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the first decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The executor represented that the estate, in…
Estate receives more time to complete a portability election
An estate missed the Form 706 deadline for electing portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion, then filed the return late. The executor represented that the estate and …
Consolidated group receives late basis-reduction election relief
Two foreign subsidiaries intended to make a joint IRC § 362(e)(2)(C) election for a transfer of loss property that was intended to qualify under IRC § 351. The election would reduce the transferor's b…
Corporation receives relief for an ineffective S election
A corporation's S election was ineffective because one shareholder did not properly consent. Its successor represented that the failure was inadvertent, was not driven by tax avoidance or retroactive …
Corporation receives late IC-DISC election relief
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge DISC and hired an accounting firm to prepare Form 4876-A. The firm prepared the form, but the corporation failed to file it because o…
Foundation's paid data services further its charitable mission
A private operating foundation collected and analyzed neighborhood data to improve the lives of low-income children and their families. It proposed charging social-sector organizations reasonable fees…
Estate receives more time to complete a portability election
An estate missed the Form 706 deadline for electing portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion, then filed the return late. The surviving spouse, acting as executor, rep…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year funding amortization extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested an automatic five-year extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that without relief the plan would have an accumulated fund…
Subsidiary receives relief after inadvertent QSub termination
An S corporation's wholly owned subsidiary had a QSub election in effect. During a reorganization, shares of the subsidiary were temporarily issued to another corporation and then distributed to an in…
Lack of cash does not prevent accumulated earnings tax
A corporation held partnership interests and reported flow-through income, but the partnerships generally distributed only enough cash to cover the corporation's tax liabilities. The corporation retai…
REIT and subsidiary receive late TRS election relief
A real estate investment trust and its wholly owned corporation intended to file Form 8875 to elect taxable REIT subsidiary status, but personnel turnover at their investment adviser caused the deadli…
Estate receives more time to elect portability
An estate did not file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. It represented that the estate, including lifetime taxable gifts, wa…
Estate receives more time to elect portability
An estate did not file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. The executor represented that the estate, including lifetime taxable…
Donor receives more time to opt out of automatic GST allocations
A donor made transfers to one trust with generation-skipping potential and two trusts for grandchildren. The accounting firm preparing Form 709 incorrectly reported the first transfer as a direct skip…
Estate receives more time to elect portability
An estate did not file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. It represented that the estate, including lifetime taxable gifts, wa…
Estate receives more time to elect portability
An estate did not file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. The personal representative represented that the estate was below th…
Estate receives more time to elect portability
An estate did not file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. It represented that the estate, including lifetime taxable gifts, wa…
Trust transfers remain incomplete gifts and community property receives a basis adjustment
A married couple in a community property state transferred property to an irrevocable trust for descendants and charities while retaining several powers over income and principal. The IRS concluded th…
Trust transfers remain incomplete gifts and community property receives a basis adjustment
A married couple in a community property state transferred property to an irrevocable trust for descendants and charities while retaining several powers over income and principal. The IRS concluded th…
Trust transfers remain incomplete gifts and community property receives a basis adjustment
A married couple in a community property state transferred property to an irrevocable trust for descendants and charities while retaining several powers over income and principal. The IRS concluded th…
Trust powers preserve incomplete gifts without giving committee members general powers
A married couple placed community property in an irrevocable trust and shared distribution powers with a power-of-appointment committee. The IRS concluded that the trust terms did not make either gran…
Trust powers preserve incomplete gifts without giving committee members general powers
A married couple placed community property in an irrevocable trust and shared distribution powers with a power-of-appointment committee. The IRS concluded that the trust terms did not make either gran…
Trust powers preserve incomplete gifts without giving committee members general powers
A married couple placed community property in an irrevocable trust and shared distribution powers with a power-of-appointment committee. The IRS concluded that the trust terms did not make either gran…
Trust powers preserve incomplete gifts without giving committee members general powers
A married couple placed community property in an irrevocable trust and shared distribution powers with a power-of-appointment committee. The IRS concluded that the trust terms did not make either gran…
Trust powers preserve incomplete gifts without giving committee members general powers
A married couple placed community property in an irrevocable trust and shared distribution powers with a power-of-appointment committee. The IRS concluded that the trust terms did not make either gran…
Trust powers preserve incomplete gifts without giving committee members general powers
A married couple placed community property in an irrevocable trust and shared distribution powers with a power-of-appointment committee. The IRS concluded that the trust terms did not make either gran…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year funding amortization extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested an automatic five-year extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that without relief the plan would have an accumulated fund…
Taxpayer receives waiver for a late IRA rollover
A taxpayer withdrew funds from an IRA after her husband's death and deposited them within 60 days into two non-IRA accounts at new financial institutions. She believed she had merely changed custodian…
Multiemployer plan receives five-year funding amortization extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested an automatic five-year extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities. Its actuary certified that without relief the plan would have an accumulated fund…
Pension plan receives approval for new retirement-rate assumptions
A single-employer defined benefit pension plan requested approval to change its retirement-rate assumptions for the plan year beginning January 1, 2015. The IRS approved separate age-based assumptions…
Captive insurer denied section 501(c)(15) exemption
A foreign captive insurer sought recognition as tax exempt under section 501(c)(15). The IRS concluded that its primary and predominant activity was not insurance because most contracts covered busine…
Scholarship foundation denied exemption for serving private interests
A private foundation sought section 501(c)(3) exemption for a scholarship limited to National Merit Finalists from one high school who enrolled at a college about 3,000 miles away. The founders contro…
Veterans organization loses exemption after failing membership test
An organization recognized under section 501(c)(19) operated a social club with regular members and a much larger class of social members. The IRS found that only a redacted percentage of its total me…
Private foundation's scholarship procedures approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for a scholarship program serving students from kindergarten through graduate school. Recipients would be selected through interviews that considered fi…
Educational grant procedures for social justice leaders approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for a three-year educational grant program supporting individuals whose projects would advance social justice. A nominating committee would conduct pre-…
Scholarships for youth-program participants approved
A private foundation requested advance approval for scholarships benefiting financially needy high school seniors or equivalent students who participated in selected youth programs. Candidates would b…
Veterinary scholarships and research grants approved
A private foundation requested approval for grants supporting veterinary students' education and research on canine and feline health. Applicants would submit transcripts, recommendations, an essay, a…
Limitations extension applies only to husband who signed it
Chief Counsel advised that a case should not be conceded merely because Form 872-H was used instead of Form 872. Only the husband extended the assessment period. The extension therefore was valid agai…
Basis overstatement counts as omission from gross income
Chief Counsel explained that Congress amended section 6501(e)(1) in 2015 to address overstated basis. An understatement of gross income caused by overstating unrecovered cost or other basis is treated…
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.