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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Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Consent to make a late retroactive QEF election for a PFIC investment
A U.S. investor (a domestic limited partnership) bought a 10-percent interest in a foreign company that turned out to be a passive foreign investment company (PFIC). U.S. shareholders of a PFIC can el…
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
Pre-1942 trust keeps its GST-exempt status through a court construction and modification, and beneficiary disclaimers stay tax-free
An old family trust, created before October 21, 1942 and still irrevocable long before the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax took effect, asked the IRS to bless a set of proposed changes without …
IRS accepts appraisals establishing preferred-stock fair market value for a section 1059(c)(4) extraordinary-dividend election
A corporate shareholder bought newly issued, non-publicly-traded preferred stock and, within two years, received two large quarterly dividends. Because each dividend topped 5% of the stock's basis, th…
IRS rules a state workers'-comp insurer's shift from tax-exempt to taxable status is not a sale or exchange
A state-sponsored workers' compensation insurer had been tax-exempt under IRC § 501(c)(27). State legislation began privatizing it by gradually shifting control of its board to its policyholders. Once…
IRS lets a fund drop mark-to-market treatment of two foreign investments after they started issuing PFIC statements
A U.S. regulated investment company (a RIC, essentially a registered fund) invests in foreign corporations that are "passive foreign investment companies" (PFICs). U.S. owners of PFIC stock generally …
Reverse termination (break-up) fees on abandoned deals are section 165 losses, capital under section 1234A, not section 162 expenses
A company agreed to acquire a target, then had to abandon the deal and a related asset sale, paying "reverse" termination (break-up) fees. On its return it deducted those fees as ordinary business exp…
Company gets more time to make the identification needed to integrate convertible notes with a hedge under Reg. § 1.1275-6
A corporation issued convertible notes and, at the same time, bought call options on its own stock to hedge the notes' conversion feature. Treasury Regulation § 1.1275-6 lets a taxpayer treat a qualif…
Company gets more time to make the identification needed to integrate convertible notes with a hedge under Reg. § 1.1275-6
A corporation issued convertible notes and, at the same time, bought call options on its own stock to hedge the notes' conversion feature. Treasury Regulation § 1.1275-6 lets a taxpayer treat a qualif…
A drug-distribution pharmacy is a "qualified trade or business" for the small business stock gain exclusion, not a health-services business
Section 1202 lets investors exclude much or all of their gain when they sell "qualified small business stock" held more than five years, but only if the company is engaged in a "qualified trade or bus…
Married couple allowed to make a retroactive QEF election for a foreign fund their tax preparers failed to flag as a PFIC
U.S. investors in a passive foreign investment company (PFIC) face punitive tax rules unless they elect to treat the company as a "qualified electing fund" (QEF), which is normally due with the tax re…
Securities-trading partnership gets extra time to make a late "mixed straddle account" election after a tax-software glitch
A partnership that trades securities regularly makes a "mixed straddle account" election, which is a way to net gains and losses on offsetting positions under the Section 1092 straddle rules. The elec…
Married investors get consent to make a retroactive QEF election for a foreign fund their advisors failed to flag as a PFIC
When a U.S. person owns shares in a "passive foreign investment company" (PFIC), the default tax rules are punitive, but the investor can soften them by making a "qualified electing fund" (QEF) electi…
Moving 1042 replacement property into a grantor trust is not a disposition that triggers deferred gain
Section 1042 lets someone who sells company stock to an ESOP defer the capital gain if they reinvest the proceeds in "qualified replacement property" (QRP). That deferral is clawed back under § 1042(e…
A property-leasing matchmaker website performs "brokerage services," so its stock is not QSBS
An investor sold stock in a company that runs a website matching people who want to lease facilities with owners who list them. The owners pay the company a recurring listing fee plus a commission tie…
Bankruptcy claims trusts are qualified settlement funds; operating subsidiary deducts settlement funding and recognizes no gain on transferring parent stock
A regulated operating company and its holding-company parent went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy because of massive damage claims tied to their failure to maintain their property. Under the confirmed p…
Consent granted to make retroactive QEF elections for foreign investments the taxpayers' accountants never flagged as PFICs
U.S. investors in a passive foreign investment company (PFIC) face a punitive tax regime unless they elect to treat it as a "qualified electing fund" (QEF) and pay tax on their share of its income eac…
Retroactive QEF election allowed for a PFIC after the preparer missed it
A U.S. investor who owns shares in a passive foreign investment company (PFIC) faces harsh default tax rules unless the investor elects to treat the company as a "qualified electing fund" (QEF), which…
Late identification for integrating convertible notes with a hedge allowed under 9100 relief
Tax rules let a company combine ("integrate") a qualifying debt instrument with a hedge so the pair is taxed as if it were a single fixed-rate note, but only if the company records and identifies the …
Splitting a QTIP marital trust in two, then disclaiming one, is a gift but not a taxable sale and keeps QTIP status
After a decedent's death, the marital share of his revocable trust was treated as qualified terminable interest property (QTIP), giving his surviving spouse a lifetime income interest. The spouse, as …
A medical-software company counts as a "qualified trade or business," so its stock can qualify for the section 1202 gain exclusion
Section 1202 lets a taxpayer exclude much of the gain (50, 75, or 100 percent depending on when the stock was bought) from selling "qualified small business stock," but only if the company runs a "qua…
Deferred divorce-settlement payments receive nonrecognition and transfer-tax relief
Two spouses used a written settlement agreement to divide their marital property through equal annual payments over a redacted number of years, with an option for a discounted lump-sum prepayment. Som…
Deferred divorce-settlement payments receive nonrecognition and transfer-tax relief
Two spouses used a written settlement agreement to divide their marital property through equal annual payments over a redacted number of years, with an option for a discounted lump-sum prepayment. Som…
IRS accepts appraised preferred-stock values for an extraordinary-dividend election
A taxpayer acquired nonpublicly traded preferred stock and received four quarterly dividends within two years. Each dividend exceeded five percent of the taxpayer’s adjusted basis and otherwise qualif…
Division of grandfathered trust preserves GST exemption and avoids transfer-tax and income-tax consequences
A trust created under a settlor's will before September 25, 1985 proposed dividing one child's share into two equal trusts, one associated with each of that child's children. The new trusts would have…
Pro-rata division into separate family trusts preserves income-tax attributes and GST exemption
Two grantors created a trust for their children and allocated enough generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to give it an inclusion ratio of zero. As the family grew and beneficiaries' financial n…
Early pro-rata trust division preserves income-tax attributes and GST exemption
Two grantors created a trust for their descendants and allocated enough generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to give it an inclusion ratio of zero. After one grantor died and family members deve…
Partnership receives retroactive QEF election for PFIC stock
A domestic partnership received stock in a foreign corporation that was a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC. Two successive tax professionals were unaware of the corporation's PFIC status an…
Individual receives retroactive QEF election for family PFIC
An individual owned stock in a foreign family corporation that was a passive foreign investment company, or PFIC. Two successive tax professionals were unaware of the corporation's PFIC status and did…
FCC C-band payments qualify for involuntary conversion relief
Two satellite communications taxpayers had to clear part of the C-band spectrum under an FCC order and relocate their services to the remaining band. The FCC arrangement provided reimbursement for rel…
Medical product manufacturer is a qualified trade or business
A domestic C corporation manufactured custom products prescribed by independent health care providers. Its employees evaluated and fitted individuals for the products, but the corporation earned its r…
Bitcoin, Ether, and Litecoin exchanges were not like kind
Chief Counsel considered whether exchanges among Bitcoin, Ether, and Litecoin completed before 2018 qualified for nonrecognition under the former personal-property version of Section 1031. It conclude…
Fund receives relief for two elections on a late-filed return
A regulated investment company prepared a return containing two elections: one to treat certain later distributions as paid during the prior tax year, and another to accrue market discount using a con…
Fund receives relief for three elections on a late-filed return
A fund prepared its first regulated investment company return with three elections: to be treated as a RIC, to treat certain later distributions as paid during the prior tax year, and to accrue market…
Deemed asset sales qualify, but anti-churning limits amortization
A corporate group planned to distribute two target companies to an upper-tier subsidiary, elect to treat those distributions as deemed asset sales under Section 336(e), and then sell the distributing …
IRS identifies flaws in monetized installment sales
Chief Counsel advised that the common promoter theory behind monetized installment sale transactions was flawed, while noting that structures can vary. A purported unsecured, nonrecourse loan may not …
Convertible-note hedge identification receives extension
A corporate taxpayer issued convertible notes and bought call options as part of a hedge intended to raise the notes' effective conversion price. It intended to integrate the notes and call options fo…
Company receives late debt-and-hedge identification relief
A corporation issued convertible notes and simultaneously bought capped call options involving its stock. It was initially unaware that the notes and options could be integrated under Treasury Regulat…
Court correction of trust errors has no transfer-tax or income-tax effect
A trust created before the generation-skipping transfer tax effective date contained scrivener's errors that made its multigenerational distribution provisions ambiguous. A state court conditionally a…
Court correction of trust errors has no transfer-tax or income-tax effect
A trust created before the generation-skipping transfer tax effective date contained scrivener's errors that made its multigenerational distribution provisions ambiguous. A state court conditionally a…
Court correction of trust errors has no transfer-tax or income-tax effect
A trust created before the generation-skipping transfer tax effective date contained scrivener's errors that made its multigenerational distribution provisions ambiguous. A state court conditionally a…
Taxpayers may restore installment reporting after preparer's mistake
A business owner sold the business for an installment note and expected the gain to be reported under the installment method. A new accountant instead reported the entire gain in the sale year, inadve…
Appraisals support fair-market-value test for preferred dividends
A taxpayer received two quarterly dividends on nonpublic preferred stock. Each dividend exceeded 5 percent of the taxpayer's adjusted basis, so the taxpayer elected under Section 1059(c)(4) to substit…
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.