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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A VEBA termination amendment preserved its prior exemption
A tax-exempt voluntary employees' beneficiary association planned to amend its trust agreement, terminate, and transfer its assets to a section 115 trust that would fund retiree health benefits. The V…
A foundation received 60 days to perfect conduit elections
A private foundation intended to qualify as a conduit foundation by treating prior excess qualifying distributions as current distributions out of corpus. Its return preparer calculated carryovers con…
An estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The surviving spouse, acting as executor, represente…
A checking-account transfer between annuities was taxable
A taxpayer inherited part of an annuity and mistakenly signed a lump-sum payment form, believing it was a section 1035 exchange form. The insurer deposited the proceeds into the taxpayer's checking ac…
A plan received a five-year funding amortization extension
A multiemployer pension plan requested a five-year extension for amortizing specified unfunded liabilities beginning with its July 1, 2014 plan year. Its actuary certified that without the extension t…
A home-renovation organization was denied exemption
An organization proposed buying, renovating, and selling homes to lower-income buyers, while using a related real estate brokerage and construction company owned by members of its governing body. The …
Chemical transportation units were not credit-eligible facilities
The IRS considered whether transportation units used to move agricultural chemicals were separate facilities for the section 45O agricultural chemicals security credit. Because tax credits must be cle…
An acquired target could not use the success-fee safe harbor
An S corporation's shareholders sold all its stock, and the target and buyer elected under section 338(h)(10) to treat the deal as a taxable asset acquisition. The target deducted 70 percent of its su…
A partnership received 120 days to make a section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership purchased portions of several members' interests through installment payments. It filed its return without a section 754 election because it relied o…
An estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that its value, including tax…
An estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that its value, including tax…
An estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that its value, including tax…
A partnership received 120 days to make a section 754 election
Interests in a limited liability company taxed as a partnership passed to several recipients after two partners died. The partnership filed its return without a section 754 election because it did not…
A trust received time for severance and a reverse-QTIP election
A decedent's revocable trust directed the trustee to create one share funded with the decedent's unused generation-skipping transfer tax exemption and another share for the balance. The original trust…
An estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that its value, including tax…
A uniform stock redemption avoided private-foundation self-dealing
A private foundation owned nonvoting shares in a closely held company that was a disqualified person, along with shares in a related domestic international sales corporation. The two corporations prop…
Two Medicaid programs qualified for difficulty-of-care treatment
A state agency administered two Medicaid-funded programs that paid individual providers to care for aged, blind, or disabled recipients in the providers' homes. Although the programs operated under So…
A complex business separation cleared eight discrete tax issues
A public company proposed a 46-step restructuring to separate one business into a publicly distributed spin-off company. The plan included internal contributions and distributions, liquidations follow…
A foreign entity received 120 days for a partnership election
A foreign eligible entity whose owners all had limited liability intended to be classified as a partnership from its formation date. It failed to file Form 8832 on time because of inadvertence, while …
A success-fee election statement received 60 days for correction
A corporation acquired a target in a taxable stock purchase and paid a contingent advisory fee. Its return deducted 70 percent and capitalized 30 percent under Revenue Procedure 2011-29, and it attach…
A success-fee election statement received 60 days for correction
A corporate group acquired a target through a disregarded subsidiary and paid a contingent advisory fee. Its consolidated return deducted 70 percent and capitalized 30 percent under Revenue Procedure …
A success-fee election statement received 60 days for correction
A corporation bought an S corporation's stock and joined the seller in a section 338(h)(10) election. Its consolidated return deducted 70 percent and capitalized 30 percent of a contingent advisory fe…
A foreign entity received 120 days for a partnership election
A foreign entity with two owners intended to be classified as a partnership from its formation date but failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found the section 301.9100-3 relief standards satisfie…
A technically terminated partnership received late section 754 relief
An unrelated buyer acquired more than half of a partnership's interests, causing a technical termination under former section 708(b)(1)(B). The partnership intended to attach a section 754 election to…
An acquired business segment counted as an existing-business expansion
A foreign-parented group acquired a subsidiary chain containing an operating business through a transaction intended to qualify as a section 368(a)(1)(D) asset reorganization. One segment of that busi…
Partnership-style provisions did not defeat S status after correction
A limited liability company elected S corporation status while its operating agreement still contained partnership provisions that created different distribution or liquidation rights and therefore mo…
An estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate filed Form 706 after the deadline for electing portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that its value, including tax…
A uniform DISC stock redemption avoided self-dealing
A private foundation owned voting shares in a closely held domestic international sales corporation that was a disqualified person, along with nonvoting shares in a related company. The two corporatio…
Field-science scholarship procedures received approval
A private foundation proposed annual scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students pursuing field-focused science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers. Applicants had to meet acade…
University scholarship procedures received advance approval
A private foundation with a financial institution as trustee proposed scholarships for full-time students at a specified university. Applicants needed academic merit, financial need, and good characte…
Local high-school scholarship procedures received approval
A private foundation proposed fewer than five scholarships each year for local high-school graduates attending recognized educational institutions full time. A selection committee would evaluate acade…
Employee-dependent scholarship procedures received approval
A private foundation proposed scholarships for dependents of a company's employees to attend accredited undergraduate or technical programs. An independent, education-focused committee would select re…
Scholarship and career-experience grant procedures approved
A private foundation proposed two programs for high school students. One would help graduating seniors buy computers, textbooks, or other post-secondary educational materials, while the other would fu…
Private-drive association denied social-welfare exemption
An unincorporated association of four homeowners applied for exemption under section 501(c)(4). It collected equal assessments to pay for snow plowing and other maintenance of their shared private dri…
Social club exemption revoked for public business activity
A long-exempt social club earned substantial receipts from nonmember events and also leased offices and parking spaces to members and nonmembers. It advertised itself as a public event venue, employed…
Inactive charity's exemption revoked
An organization had been recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) since 1978. During an examination, the IRS found that it had discontinued operations and had no regular financial activity or …
Mental incompetency did not authorize penalty abatement
A taxpayer sought abatement of a $5,000 section 6702 penalty imposed after he submitted a Form 843 asserting frivolous positions. A federal district court later found him incompetent to stand trial, a…
QRPBI exclusion limit applies property by property
A taxpayer owned two business properties, each financed by debt whose proceeds were used only for that particular property, although both debts were secured by both properties. One debt was partially …
Late disregarded-entity election received relief
A business entity owned all of a second entity and intended the subsidiary to be treated as disregarded for federal tax purposes from its formation date. The subsidiary inadvertently failed to file Fo…
Replacement plant preserved foreclosure-property status
A REMIC acquired a shopping-mall property through foreclosure after the mortgage default became imminent. The property's aging wastewater treatment system was already undergoing a multiyear improvemen…
FINRA enforcement fines treated as government penalties
Chief Counsel considered whether FINRA is a government agency or instrumentality for the rule denying deductions for fines and similar penalties. Applying the functional test from Guardian Industries,…
Late commodities mark-to-market elections received relief
An entity had long used section 475 mark-to-market accounting for commodities while treated as disregarded. A retroactive entity-classification election made it a new corporate taxpayer, but its advis…
Late partnership-classification election received relief
A foreign eligible entity with two owners intended to elect partnership classification for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded from the submitted information and …
In-home care payments qualified for income exclusion
A state department asked how to treat payments to individual providers who care for eligible aged, blind, or disabled recipients in the providers' homes under four in-home supportive-care programs. Th…
Corporation received relief for two inadvertent S election terminations
An S corporation's election terminated when a trust shareholder transferred shares to a partnership, which was not an eligible S corporation shareholder. A second trust also would have caused another …
Surviving spouse could not roll over assets from child's inherited IRA
A surviving spouse sought to roll over part of an IRA that the decedent had left to their child. A state court had approved a settlement assigning that amount to the spouse as her community property i…
IRS waived rollover deadline after financial institution errors
A retiree missed the 60-day deadline to roll a qualified plan distribution into an IRA. The check stub gave misleading information about the taxable amount, and the financial institution did not provi…
IRS waived rollover deadline after funds entered the wrong annuity
An IRA owner intended to roll a distribution into an IRA annuity and relied on an employee of the annuity company to complete the application. Although the check and application identified the transac…
IRS waived rollover deadline due to declining health
An IRA owner withdrew funds intending to move them to a new IRA but instead deposited part of the distribution into a non-IRA money market account. She believed she had completed a rollover and did no…
IRS waived rollover deadline for family caregiving demands
An IRA owner took a distribution intending to move the funds to a bank closer to her home. During the rollover period, she and her husband traveled frequently to care for her father-in-law, who had se…
IRS waived late SEP IRA rollover but excluded the excess amount
A taxpayer took a SEP IRA distribution because of concerns about expenses from Hurricane Sandy damage to his home. A neurological assessment indicated a neurodegenerative condition, and the IRS found …
IRS revoked a business incubator's exemption over commercial rentals
A nonprofit was formed to promote economic revitalization, create jobs for low- and moderate-income people, assist small businesses, and operate a business incubator. The IRS examination found that th…
IRS approved fellowship and project-award procedures
A private foundation proposed a nine-month educational program for young adults that combined retreat sessions, study, reflection, and development of a practical project idea. Fellowships would cover …
Office condominium association denied business-league exemption
An office condominium association sought reinstatement of tax-exempt status as a business league under IRC § 501(c)(6). It maintained common property and paid shared expenses for the owners of units i…
Settlement did not reopen untimely estate refund claims
An estate filed amended income tax returns seeking refunds after settling litigation over an asset's estate-tax value. The refund claims were otherwise untimely, so the estate relied on the mitigation…
Wellness cash rewards and premium refunds are taxable wages
Chief Counsel analyzed employer wellness programs that offered health benefits plus cash rewards, gym-fee payments, or refunds of employee premiums paid through salary reduction. Medical coverage and …
Taxpayer granted a retroactive QEF election
A U.S. taxpayer received shares of a foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company. Two accountants knew the corporation was foreign but did not identify its PFIC status or advise …
Taxpayer granted retroactive QEF treatment for PFIC shares
A U.S. taxpayer received shares of a foreign corporation that qualified as a passive foreign investment company. Three accountants prepared returns over several years but did not identify the PFIC sta…
Married taxpayers granted a retroactive QEF election
A married couple held gifted shares in a foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company. Three accountants received information about the corporation but did not recognize its PFIC …
Estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The decedent's gross estate, including taxable gifts…
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.