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.
No determinations match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Opportunity fund gets 60 days for late certification
A partnership formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund hired an accounting firm to prepare and file its first partnership return. The firm timely filed the return but inadvertently indicated …
Late partnership basis election allowed with adjustments
A limited liability limited partnership intended to make a section 754 election but did not attach it to its timely partnership return. The election applies sections 734(b) and 743(b) basis adjustment…
Late real-property election for advertising displays allowed
A partnership in an outdoor advertising business agreed during a partial sale to elect to treat its outdoor advertising displays as real property under section 1033(g)(3). Its accountant filed the par…
Late opportunity fund self-certification permitted
A partnership was organized to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and invest in qualified opportunity zone property. It later sought advice about completed transactions and learned that it had fa…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded election relief
A foreign eligible entity intended to be disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes from its formation date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The entity was eligible to…
Late opportunity fund election allowed after bad advice
A partnership formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property and operate as a qualified opportunity fund relied on its accounting firm for its first return. The firm incorrectly concluded tha…
Estate gets more time to elect portability of a late spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused part of their federal estate-tax exclusion can be passed to a surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) so the spouse can use it later. But that…
Affiliated group receives more time to elect consolidated return filing
The common parent of an affiliated corporate group missed the deadline to elect to file a consolidated federal income tax return for a taxable year. It requested relief under Treasury Regulation secti…
Housing project receives more time to make average-income election
A taxpayer owned a single-building low-income housing project and intended to make the average-income minimum set-aside election under section 42(g)(1)(C). Its contemporaneous records showed that inte…
Estate receives more time to allocate GST exemption to trust transfers
A donor transferred property to three trusts for descendants and elected with a spouse to treat the gifts as made one-half by each spouse. The donor relied on an accounting firm to prepare the gift ta…
Estate receives more time to make reverse QTIP election
A decedent's revocable trust created a marital trust for the surviving spouse and directed that trust to be divided into exempt and non-exempt portions if a reverse QTIP election was made. A co-execut…
Estate receives more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because the decedent's gross estate and taxable gifts were below the section 6018 filing threshold. The decedent left a surviving spouse and had u…
Fund receives more time to self-certify as a qualified opportunity fund
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and invest in qualified opportunity zone property. It relied on a tax adviser to make the requi…
Late QOF self-certification treated as timely after filing misunderstanding
A partnership was formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property and operate as a qualified opportunity fund. Its members used an accountant who misunderstood the structure of two separate op…
Foreign entity receives more time to elect partnership classification
A foreign entity represented that it was eligible to elect partnership treatment for federal tax purposes but failed to timely file Form 8832. It requested discretionary relief under Treasury Regulati…
Late opportunity-fund certification accepted after adviser missed filing
A partnership with eighteen members was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and acquire qualified opportunity zone property. It hired a tax adviser to prepare the required filings, but t…
Missed extension does not prevent qualified opportunity fund election
A twelve-member partnership was organized to qualify as a qualified opportunity fund and invest in opportunity-zone property. It retained a tax adviser to handle the first-year filings, but the advise…
Extension granted for a section 336(e) election statement
An S corporation's shareholders sold all of its stock to a purchaser, and the parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as an asset sale. They failed to file the required …
Extension granted to complete a section 336(e) election
An S corporation shareholder sold all of the corporation's stock to a purchaser, and the parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as an asset sale. They did not timely en…
Extension granted to elect ten-year amortization of research expenditures
A corporation developing automated driving solutions failed to make a timely election under section 59(e) for research and experimental expenditures. That election allows qualifying expenditures that …
Extension granted to elect out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A taxpayer created two trusts for the taxpayer's children and transferred cash to each trust. The taxpayer intended not to allocate generation-skipping transfer exemption to the transfers, but a CPA f…
Extension granted to elect out of bankruptcy ownership-change relief
A parent corporation and its consolidated group underwent an ownership change while the parent and two subsidiaries were under bankruptcy court jurisdiction. The group missed the deadline to elect out…
Extension granted for a partnership to self-certify as an opportunity fund
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund and bought property in a qualified opportunity zone. Its members failed to file the partnership…
Extension granted to self-certify as an opportunity fund for two years
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to qualify as a qualified opportunity fund. Its tax adviser timely filed partnership returns for two years but failed to attach the requir…
Extension granted after an accountant omitted an opportunity fund form
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to qualify as a qualified opportunity fund. It relied on an accounting firm to file its first-year partnership return and all required for…
Extension granted after an adviser omitted an opportunity fund form
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership was formed to invest in qualified opportunity zone property as a qualified opportunity fund. The partnership retained an adviser to handle its tax ma…
Estate receives 120 days to make a portability election
An estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because of the represented value of the gross estate and taxable gifts. It nevertheless needed to file the return to elect portability, which woul…
Oil and gas partnership receives more time to expense drilling costs
An oil and gas joint venture taxed as a partnership failed to timely elect to deduct intangible drilling and development costs for a tax year. Without that election, the regulations generally treat th…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A limited partnership failed to make a section 754 election for the tax year in which a partner died. The election allows partnership property basis adjustments after certain distributions or transfer…
Late REMIC elections for eight mortgage pools treated as timely
A sponsor established eight asset pools for a mortgage securitization program and intended each pool to elect real estate mortgage investment conduit status. The sponsor filed identification and infor…
Opportunity fund receives 60 days after its CPA omitted Form 8996
A partnership was formed to operate as a qualified opportunity fund, and an investor reported a capital gain deferral based on an investment in it. The partnership's long-time CPA filed Form 1065 but …
Estate receives more time for QTIP and reverse QTIP elections
A decedent's revocable trust divided its marital share between an exempt marital trust and a non-exempt marital trust for the surviving spouse. The estate hired a law firm to prepare Form 706 and make…
LLC allowed to change from corporation to disregarded entity
A limited liability company had elected to be taxed as a corporation and later wanted to change to disregarded-entity status before the usual 60-month waiting period expired. A new owner had acquired …
Consolidated group received 75 days to waive a loss carryback
The common parent of a consolidated corporate group failed to file a valid election to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss. The group represented that it had not ca…
Estate received 120 days to make a late carryover-basis election
The executor of an estate for a person who died in 2010 missed the deadline to file Form 8939. That form would elect out of the estate-tax rules then reinstated for 2010 and instead apply section 1022…
REIT received 90 days to make a late taxable-subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust formed an indirect subsidiary to hold assets connected with a real estate portfolio acquisition. The governing agreement called for the subsidiary to be taxed as a corpo…
LLC received 120 days for two missed tax elections
A single-member LLC owned by a tax-exempt organization served as the general partner of a partnership formed for a low-income housing tax-credit project. The LLC intended to elect corporate tax classi…
Fund's seven late first-year elections were treated as timely
A newly formed investment fund intended to make seven elections on its first regulated investment company return. The elections covered RIC status, deferral of late-year losses, post-year distribution…
Partnership received 60 days to elect out of bonus depreciation
A partnership intended to elect out of additional first-year depreciation for every class of qualified property it placed in service during the relevant year. Its timely filed return and Form 4562 con…
Partnership received 60 days to elect out of bonus depreciation
A partnership intended to elect out of additional first-year depreciation for every class of qualified property placed in service during the relevant year. Its timely filed return and Form 4562 consis…
IRS grants a corporation a late election to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund for two years after its preparer left Form 8996 off the returns
An entity becomes a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), a vehicle for deferring and reducing tax on capital gains reinvested in low-income "opportunity zones," by self-certifying on Form 8996 attached t…
IRS grants a surviving spouse's estate more time to make a late portability election for the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused part of their federal estate-tax exclusion can be passed to their surviving spouse through a "portability" election, letting the survivor shelter more from estate and gif…
IRS grants a surviving spouse's estate more time to make a late portability election for the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused part of their federal estate-tax exclusion can be passed to their surviving spouse through a "portability" election, letting the survivor shelter more from estate and gif…
IRS grants a limited partnership a late election to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund after accounting-firm turnover caused a missed deadline
An entity becomes a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), a vehicle for deferring and reducing tax on capital gains reinvested in low-income "opportunity zones," by self-certifying on Form 8996 attached t…
IRS grants a late election for an LLC to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund after its advisor missed the filing deadline
An entity becomes a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), a vehicle for deferring and reducing tax on capital gains reinvested in low-income "opportunity zones," by self-certifying on Form 8996 attached t…
IRS grants a QDOT trustee extra time to certify that the surviving spouse became a U.S. citizen
When someone dies leaving property to a non-citizen spouse, the estate can still claim the marital deduction only if the property goes into a qualified domestic trust (QDOT), which keeps a special est…
IRS grants extra time to make a Section 336(e) election treating an S corporation stock sale as an asset sale
When a buyer purchases all the stock of an S corporation, the parties can elect under IRC Section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as if it were a sale of the company's assets, which can give the buyer …
IRS grants a small estate extra time to make a portability election for the unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused part of their estate-tax exclusion can be passed to their surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a "portability" election, but only b…
IRS grants a C corporation extra time to make late bonus-depreciation and research-expense elections
A C corporation intended to make two elections on its return: one to opt out of bonus (additional first-year) depreciation for all classes of qualified property (IRC Section 168(k)(7)), and one to spr…
IRS treats an LLC's late Form 8996 as timely, allowing it to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund
A Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) must self-certify each year by attaching Form 8996 to a timely filed tax return (IRC Section 1400Z-2). Here, an LLC organized to operate as a QOF timely filed its pa…
IRS grants extra time for an LLC to self-certify as a Qualified Opportunity Fund
Investors can defer tax on capital gains by putting them into a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), but the fund must self-certify each year by attaching Form 8996 to a timely filed tax return (IRC Sect…
IRS grants extra time for a corporate group to make a late election to file a consolidated return
An affiliated group of corporations can elect to file one combined (consolidated) federal income tax return with the parent as the common parent, but the election must be made by the return's due date…
IRS grants extra time to elect out of automatic GST-exemption allocation on 2010 gifts to a grandchildren's trust
A married couple set up an irrevocable trust for their four grandchildren and made gifts to it in 2010. Because the trust benefits only grandchildren (skip persons), those gifts are "direct skips" and…
IRS grants extra time for a partnership to elect out of bonus depreciation on its 15-year property
Bonus depreciation (IRC Section 168(k)) lets a business deduct a large chunk of an asset's cost in the year it is placed in service, but a taxpayer can elect out for a whole class of property. Here, a…
IRS grants extra time for a U.S. parent to make a late GILTI high-tax exclusion election for its foreign subsidiaries
A U.S. parent company must include in its income the "global intangible low-taxed income" (GILTI) earned by its controlled foreign corporations (CFCs). A regulation lets the parent exclude income that…
IRS grants extra time to elect out of automatic GST-exemption allocation on 2010 gifts to a grandchildren's trust
A married couple set up an irrevocable trust for their four grandchildren and made gifts to it in 2010. Because the trust benefits only grandchildren (skip persons), those gifts are "direct skips" and…
IRS grants extra time to make a late QTIP marital-deduction election on an estate return
When one spouse dies, the estate can defer estate tax on property left to the surviving spouse by making a "qualified terminable interest property" (QTIP) election on the estate tax return (Form 706).…
IRS grants a partnership 120 days to make a late § 754 basis-adjustment election
When interests in a partnership change hands, a section 754 election lets the partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets to match what the new partner effectively paid, which can prevent that part…
IRS grants a foreign entity 120 days to make a late "check-the-box" election to be disregarded
Under the "check-the-box" rules, an eligible business entity can choose how it is taxed by filing Form 8832. A single-owner entity can elect to be "disregarded," meaning it is ignored for federal tax …
An employee who missed the deadline to sign the split-dollar-loan written representation gets 9100 relief, so his loan payments stay "noncontingent"
An employee of a tax-exempt nonprofit healthcare organization took part in a split-dollar life insurance plan his employer set up on the advice of an outside consulting firm. Under the plan, the emplo…
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.