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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Real estate business received 60 days to make a late interest election
A real estate and investment advisory company intended to make the real property trade or business election that removes an electing business from the section 163(j) business-interest limitation. Its …
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A limited partnership missed a section 754 election for the year in which a partner died and the partner's interest was to pass to testamentary lifetime trusts. The partnership had relied on its retur…
LLC received 120 days to elect corporate tax status
A limited liability company reorganized in a second state and intended to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation from the reorganization date. It failed to file Form 8832 on time becaus…
Foreign corporation received 30 days to file a late branch-tax election statement
A foreign corporation owned a disregarded U.S. limited liability company that conducted a U.S. trade or business. When the LLC elected corporate status, its assets were treated as contributed to a new…
Corporation received 120-day relief for a late GILTI high-tax election
A domestic corporation sought to make the GILTI high-tax exclusion election for its wholly owned controlled foreign corporation on an amended return. The election regulations were not final when the o…
Affiliated group received 75 days to make a late consolidated-return election
A corporate parent and its affiliated group failed to timely elect to file a consolidated federal income tax return for a redacted tax year. The parent sought discretionary relief before the IRS disco…
Consolidated group received 75 days to waive an NOL carryback period
A consolidated corporate group incurred a consolidated net operating loss and intended to give up the entire carryback period for that loss. The group filed its return consistently with that intention…
Foreign entity received 120 days for a late corporate classification election
A foreign eligible entity was formed through an amalgamation and intended from formation to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation for U.S. federal tax purposes. It failed to file Form …
Parties received relief for a late section 336(e) election
A partnership, acting through a disregarded entity, acquired more than 80 percent of an S corporation target from its shareholders. The parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stoc…
Estate received 120 days to make a late QTIP election
A decedent's trust divided at death into a family trust and a marital trust intended to qualify as qualified terminable interest property. The marital trust required all income to be paid to the survi…
Foreign entity received 120 days for a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be disregarded as separate from its owner from its formation date but failed to timely file Form 8832. The IRS found the discretionary late-election standards sat…
LLC received 120 days for late corporate-classification and S elections
A domestic limited liability company intended to be taxed as an S corporation from its formation date but did not properly and timely file Form 2553. Because an LLC must first be treated as a corporat…
Three foreign entities received 120 days for late disregarded-entity elections
Three foreign eligible entities intended to be disregarded as separate from their common owner from their respective formation dates but failed to timely file Forms 8832. The IRS found that all three …
Spouse received 120 days to allocate GST exemption to an irrevocable trust
A married couple created separate irrevocable trusts and transferred assets to them, but their attorney did not adequately advise them to file gift tax returns or allocate generation-skipping transfer…
S corporation sale received relief for a late section 336(e) election
A partnership, acting through a disregarded entity, acquired more than 80 percent of an S corporation target from its shareholders. The parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stoc…
Parties received relief to complete a late section 336(e) election
A partnership, acting through a disregarded entity, acquired more than 80 percent of an S corporation target from its shareholders. The parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stoc…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent’s estate was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return but needed Form 706 to elect portability of the deceased spouse’s unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The estat…
GRAT donor received 120 days to opt out of automatic GST allocation
A taxpayer transferred a company interest to a grantor retained annuity trust whose remainder would pass to a family trust after the retained annuity period ended. The taxpayer intended to preserve ge…
Parties receive more time to complete a section 336(e) election
A purchaser acquired all the stock of an S corporation, and the parties intended to elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock transaction as an asset disposition. They did not fully complete the e…
Corporation receives more time for a GILTI high-tax election
A domestic corporation wanted to make the GILTI high-tax exclusion election for four controlled foreign corporations for an earlier tax year. The corporation intended to amend that year’s return after…
Estate receives more time to allocate GST exemption to a trust
A decedent and spouse created separate irrevocable trusts and made gifts to them in the same year. Their attorney drafted the trusts but did not adequately advise them to file gift and generation-skip…
Estate receives more time for QTIP and reverse QTIP elections
A decedent’s revocable trust divided at death into a bypass trust and a marital trust for the surviving spouse. The marital trust was to be divided into generation-skipping transfer tax exempt and non…
Foreign entity receives more time for disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity intended to elect classification as an entity disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS found that the entity met the req…
Late Section 336(e) election allowed for an S corporation stock sale
When buyers acquire all the stock of an S corporation, the parties can elect under Section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as if it were an asset sale, which can produce a better tax result (a stepped-…
Late portability election allowed so a surviving spouse can use the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate-tax exclusion can be passed to a surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a "portability" election. Tha…
Late check-the-box election allowed for a foreign entity 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 as separate from…
Late check-the-box election allowed for a foreign entity 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 as separate from…
IRS grants extra time to make a branch-profits-tax E&P election after a check-the-box conversion
A foreign parent corporation wholly owned a U.S. limited liability company that was a disregarded entity running a U.S. trade or business, so the parent paid the branch profits tax on the branch's ear…
IRS grants extra time to file a late Form 8996 self-certifying as a Qualified Opportunity Fund
A real estate LLC taxed as a partnership set itself up to invest in Qualified Opportunity Zone property and intended to be a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF). To become a QOF, an entity must self-cert…
IRS grants extra time for a partnership to make a section 1045 rollover election on qualified small business stock
A partnership sold qualified small business (QSB) stock and reinvested the proceeds in replacement QSB stock, intending to defer the gain by electing section 1045 rollover treatment. Section 1045 lets…
IRS grants a foreign entity extra time to elect disregarded-entity status
A foreign business entity with a single owner wanted to be treated as a "disregarded entity" (ignored as separate from its owner) for U.S. federal tax purposes, effective from a specific date. To do t…
IRS grants a single-owner foreign entity extra time to elect disregarded-entity status
A foreign entity wholly owned by a single member wanted to be treated as a disregarded entity (ignored as separate from its owner) for U.S. federal tax purposes from the date it was formed. That requi…
A low-income housing project got more time to make its 40-60 minimum set-aside election
A taxpayer owns a single-building low-income housing project and claims the low-income housing tax credit under Section 42. To qualify, a project must commit to a "minimum set-aside": renting enough u…
A company got more time to fix the effective date of its REIT election
A limited liability company wanted to be taxed as a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) under Section 856. A REIT election is made on the company's tax return (Form 1120-REIT) for the first year it wa…
Widowed spouse gets 120 more days to make a missed QTIP election after the estate's accountant failed to advise it
A married person set up a revocable trust and left their whole estate to it. When they died, the trust became irrevocable and was designed to pay all its income to the surviving spouse for life, the c…
Buyers and seller of an S corporation get extra time to file the late election that treats their stock purchase as an asset purchase under section 336(e)
When someone buys all the stock of an S corporation, a section 336(e) election lets the parties treat the deal as if the company sold its assets instead of its stock, which usually gives the buyer a s…
Trustee gets 120 more days to certify that a non-citizen surviving spouse became a U.S. citizen, ending the special estate tax on a QDOT
When someone dies leaving property to a surviving spouse who is not a U.S. citizen, the estate normally cannot claim the unlimited marital deduction unless the property goes into a "qualified domestic…
A foreign partnership gets 120 more days to make the section 754 election it forgot to file with its return
A section 754 election lets a partnership adjust the tax basis of its assets when a partner's interest changes hands or when the partnership distributes property, so that the inside basis of the asset…
S corporation received inadvertent-termination relief after trust transfers
Two shareholders transferred S corporation stock to trusts that were mistakenly treated as grantor trusts. Because the trusts did not qualify as eligible S corporation shareholders, the transfers term…
Estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return missed the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate requested regulatory re…
Corporation received 90 days to file its IC-DISC election
A corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation for an affiliated manufacturer's exports. Its advisers and staff prepared Form 4876-A and believed th…
Partnership received 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A decedent held a partnership interest through a grantor trust, and the trustee later distributed that interest equally to the decedent's children. The partnership timely filed its return but did not …
Estate gets extra time to make the section 642(c)(1) election to claim a charitable deduction it missed
An estate that pays part of its income to charity can deduct that payment under section 642(c)(1), and a special timing rule lets a fiduciary elect to treat a charitable payment made in the following …
Buyers and seller of an S corporation get extra time to make the section 336(e) election that treats a stock sale as an asset sale
When someone buys the stock of a corporation, the tax law normally treats it as a purchase of stock. But a section 336(e) election lets the parties treat a qualifying stock sale as if the corporation …
Trust gets extra time to elect to deduct a charitable gift in the earlier year it was meant to count
A trust (or estate) that pays money to charity out of its income can deduct that payment under section 642(c)(1). There is a special timing rule: if the charitable payment is actually made in the year…
Estate that didn't have to file an estate tax return gets extra time to make a "portability" election so the surviving spouse can use the unused exclusion
When someone dies, any unused portion of their federal estate/gift tax exclusion can be transferred to their surviving spouse (the "deceased spousal unused exclusion," or DSUE) through a "portability"…
Estate gets extra time to make QTIP and "reverse" QTIP elections its attorney botched on the estate tax return
When a married person dies, an estate can defer estate tax on assets left in trust for the surviving spouse by making a "QTIP" election (qualified terminable interest property) under section 2056(b)(7…
S corporation with trust shareholders gets to fix mistaken ESBT elections, make late QSST elections, and keep its S status after an inadvertent termination
An S corporation was owned through trusts that were split into separate shares for individual family beneficiaries. To keep S-corporation eligibility, each separate trust share needed to be a permissi…
S-corporation's inadvertent termination (shares held by non-qualifying trusts) is forgiven
An S corporation can only have certain kinds of shareholders. A trust generally qualifies only if it is a "grantor trust" treated as owned by an individual. Here two shareholders each set up a trust f…
S-corporation's inadvertent termination (shares held by non-qualifying trusts) is forgiven
An S corporation can only have certain kinds of shareholders. A trust generally qualifies only if it is a "grantor trust" treated as owned by an individual. Here two shareholders each set up a trust f…
S-corporation's inadvertent termination (shares held by non-qualifying trusts) is forgiven
An S corporation can only have certain kinds of shareholders. A trust generally qualifies only if it is a "grantor trust" treated as owned by an individual. Here two shareholders each set up a trust f…
Estate gets extra time to elect estate-tax "portability" for a surviving spouse
When one spouse dies without using up their federal estate-tax exemption, the estate can elect "portability" to pass the unused amount (the DSUE) to the surviving spouse. That election is normally mad…
120-day extension granted for a surviving spouse's estate to make a portability (DSUE) election
A surviving spouse's representative asked the IRS for more time to make a "portability" election under section 2010(c)(5)(A), which lets a surviving spouse use the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax …
LLC granted extensions to elect corporate (association) status and late S corporation status
An LLC intended, from its formation date, both to be treated as a corporation (an "association taxable as a corporation") and to be taxed as an S corporation, but it never filed the required Form 2553…
120-day extension granted for an estate to make a portability (DSUE) election
A deceased person's estate asked the IRS for more time to make a "portability" election under section 2010(c)(5)(A), which lets a surviving spouse use the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion…
Extension granted to make a section 336(e) election treating an S corp stock sale as an asset sale
When a buyer acquires all the stock of a corporation, the parties can elect under section 336(e) to treat the stock sale as if it were a sale of the company's assets, which can give the buyer a steppe…
120-day extension for a partnership to make a GILTI high-tax exclusion election for its CFC
US shareholders of a controlled foreign corporation (CFC) generally must include the CFC's "global intangible low-taxed income" (GILTI) in their income each year, but they can elect a "high-tax exclus…
120-day extension for a partnership to make a GILTI high-tax exclusion election for its CFC
US shareholders of a controlled foreign corporation (CFC) generally must include the CFC's "global intangible low-taxed income" (GILTI) in their income each year, but they can elect a "high-tax exclus…
120-day extension for a partnership to make a GILTI high-tax exclusion election for three CFCs
US shareholders of a controlled foreign corporation (CFC) generally must include the CFC's "global intangible low-taxed income" (GILTI) in their income each year, but they can elect a "high-tax exclus…
120-day extension for a partnership to make a GILTI high-tax exclusion election for three CFCs
US shareholders of a controlled foreign corporation (CFC) generally must include the CFC's "global intangible low-taxed income" (GILTI) in their income each year, but they can elect a "high-tax exclus…
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.