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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IRS grants 60 days to add an omitted success-fee election to an amended return
A corporate group completed a taxable stock acquisition and paid contingent fees to two financial advisers. Its return deducted 70 percent of the fees and capitalized 30 percent, consistently with the…
IRS grants extra time to make the "success-based fee" safe-harbor election after the required statement was left off a return
When a company is bought or reorganized, fees that are contingent on the deal closing ("success-based fees") are presumed to be capital costs that must be capitalized rather than deducted, unless the …
IRS grants an LLC extra time to elect REIT status after its accountants missed the filing deadline
An LLC intended to be taxed as a corporation and to elect real estate investment trust (REIT) status by filing a Form 1120-REIT for its first year. A REIT election is made simply by filing that return…
Late-election relief to identify convertible notes and call options as an integrated transaction
Tax rules let a company treat a debt instrument and a related hedge as a single "integrated" transaction, which changes how the interest and cash flows are taxed, but only if the company writes down a…
Late notice extension to treat two subsidiaries as separate lines of business for retirement-plan testing
An employer that runs genuinely separate businesses can test its retirement plans for coverage and nondiscrimination line-by-line instead of across the whole controlled group, but only if it files a n…
Late election to defer the start of a low-income housing credit period
A partnership owns and operates a multi-building low-income housing project and claims the low-income housing credit under Section 42. The credit runs for a 10-year "credit period." A building owner c…
IRS grants 90 days to file a late consolidated-return election for 52-53-week tax years
A corporate parent filed consolidated returns for an affiliated group whose members included corporations using a 52-53-week tax year. After acquired subsidiaries joined the group, all members' tax ye…
IRS treats a regulated investment company's late dividend election as timely
A regulated investment company prepared and signed its Form 1120-RIC with an election under IRC § 855(a) to treat qualifying dividends as paid during the prior tax year. Its fund administrator intende…
IRS grants 90 days for late consolidated-return and de minimis safe-harbor elections
A domestic parent corporation and its affiliated group failed to timely make two elections with their federal return. One election was to file a consolidated return with the corporation as common pare…
IRS grants 90 days to make a late consolidated-return election
A domestic parent corporation and its affiliated group failed to timely elect to file a consolidated federal income tax return. The parent requested discretionary relief while the assessment periods f…
IRS grants more time to elect the success-based fee safe harbor
A corporation paid a success-based fee to a financial adviser in connection with a nontaxable acquisition and merger. Its return deducted 70 percent of the fee and capitalized 30 percent, consistent w…
IRS grants more time for a corrected success-based fee election
A corporation incurred financial adviser fees while acquiring and merging with a related company. Its return preparer applied the Rev. Proc. 2011-29 safe-harbor percentages but omitted the required el…
IRS grants a partnership more time to elect the success-based fee safe harbor
A partnership incurred success-based transaction fees when a buyer acquired the stock of its two corporate owners. Its tax professional prepared a return that deducted 70 percent of the fees and capit…
IRS allows a late success-based fee election after an attachment was omitted
A limited liability company paid a transaction fee to a financial adviser when its owners sold their interests to an acquirer. The company's return preparer determined that the fee qualified for the R…
IRS grants 120 days for a late corporate-classification election
A domestic limited liability company intended to be treated as a corporation for federal tax purposes from a specified date. Because of inadvertence, it did not timely file Form 8832 making the entity…
IRS grants 60 days to file an omitted duplicate Form 3115
A taxpayer timely filed its federal return with the original Form 3115 requesting an automatic change to the cash method of accounting. The return reflected the requested method, but an administrative…
IRS grants a foreign entity 120 days for a late corporate-classification election
A foreign eligible entity intended to elect corporate treatment for U.S. federal tax purposes from a specified date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the entit…
IRS allows a late election to waive target losses' carryback to a former group
A consolidated group acquired a target corporation that had previously belonged to another consolidated group. The acquiring group intended to elect under the consolidated-return rules to relinquish t…
IRS allows a late investment-income election for one open year but denies two closed years
A married couple failed to elect to treat net capital gain from investment property as investment income for three tax years. That election would allow investment interest expense to offset the electe…
Parties receive extra time to make a section 336(e) election for an S corporation stock sale
Shareholders sold all the stock of an S corporation to purchasers and intended the transaction to be treated as an asset sale under section 336(e). The parties did not timely sign the required binding…
A mining group receives extra time to elect out of bonus depreciation
A consolidated mining group decided not to claim additional first-year depreciation for any class of qualified property placed in service during a loss year. Its return reflected that decision, but th…
A new fund's late RIC and dividends-paid elections are treated as timely
A new series of an investment company intended to qualify as a regulated investment company and to make a section 855 election for dividends declared and distributed after year-end. The company respon…
A company receives extra time to attach the success-based fee safe-harbor election
A company paid two financial advisers success-based fees in connection with the sale of its business. Its tax consultant recommended the Rev. Proc. 2011-29 safe harbor, and its return deducted 70 perc…
A fund's late RIC and dividends-paid elections are treated as timely
A new series of an investment company intended to qualify as a regulated investment company and make a section 855 election for dividends declared and distributed after year-end. The company responsib…
Three foreign insurers receive more time to elect domestic treatment
Three foreign insurance companies writing U.S. risks intended to elect under section 953(d) to be treated as domestic corporations for federal tax purposes. Their professional adviser prepared returns…
IRS grants 60 days to file an IC-DISC election not found in its records
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation for a partnership that manufactured and sold products. Its accounting firm prepared Form 487…
Consolidated-group members receive 60 days to make a value-restoration election
A parent corporation underwent an ownership change while it and a subsidiary were members of the same controlled group. The section 382 rules reduced the parent's value by the value of its subsidiary …
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return failed to timely file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. Because t…
Mining group receives relief for depreciation and expenditure-amortization elections
A consolidated mining group intended both to elect out of additional first-year depreciation for all qualified-property classes and to amortize mining exploration and development expenditures over ten…
Taxpayers receive 60 days to revoke an excessive investment-income election
Two retired taxpayers self-prepared their return and elected to treat qualified dividends and net long-term capital gain as investment income so they could deduct investment interest expense. They ina…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late QTIP election
A revocable trust became irrevocable at the decedent's death and divided property between a survivor's trust and a marital trust. The marital trust required all net income to be paid to the surviving …
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late § 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership expected to redeem a deceased member's interest, so it did not make a section 754 basis-adjustment election for the year of that death. The interest …
Foreign entity receives 120 days to file a late classification election
A foreign eligible entity intended to elect disregarded-entity status for federal tax purposes but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the entity satisfied the stand…
Couple receives 60 days to make a late investment-income election
A married couple had investment-interest expense and capital gain from property held for investment, but their longtime accountant did not advise them to elect on Form 4952 to include part of the gain…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect disregarded status
A foreign eligible entity failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect disregarded-entity status with its requested effective date. The IRS found that the entity met the standards in Treas. Reg. §§ 301.9…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect disregarded status
A foreign eligible entity failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect disregarded-entity status with its requested effective date. The IRS found that the entity met the standards in Treas. Reg. §§ 301.9…
Parties receive extra time to complete a section 336(e) election
A partnership purchased at least 80 percent of an S corporation's stock from its shareholders, after which the target converted to an LLC. The parties intended to make a section 336(e) election so the…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent's estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because the represented gross estate and adjusted taxable gifts were below the filing threshold. The estate had unused exclusion availab…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
A decedent's estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because the represented gross estate and adjusted taxable gifts were below the filing threshold. The estate had unused exclusion availab…
S corporation receives 120 days to make a late QSub election
An S corporation wholly owned one subsidiary, which in turn wholly owned a second subsidiary. The parent had elected to treat the first subsidiary as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary and intended t…
LLC receives 120 days to make a late corporate classification election
A limited liability company intended from its formation to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation for federal tax purposes. It did not timely file Form 8832 to make that entity-class…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because the decedent's gross estate and adjusted taxable gifts were below the filing threshold. The decedent left a surviving spouse and an unused…
LLC receives relief for late corporate classification and S elections
A limited liability company intended to be treated as an S corporation from a redacted effective date but inadvertently failed to file Form 2553 properly and on time. Because an LLC must first be clas…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to make a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign entity wholly owned by a U.S. citizen was formed to hold interests in another entity. It became relevant for U.S. tax purposes on a redacted date and intended to be classified as disregarded…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to make a late partnership election
A foreign entity owned by a U.S. citizen and another investor was formed to hold interests in another entity. It became relevant for U.S. tax purposes on a redacted date and intended to be classified …
Estate receives relief for late alternate valuation election
An estate's personal representative intended to elect the alternate valuation method under section 2032 after receiving advice about its potential benefits. The necessary alternate-date appraisals wer…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign entity intended to elect disregarded-entity treatment but did not timely file Form 8832. It represented that it was eligible for the election, acted reasonably and in good faith, did not use…
Taxpayer may elect out of automatic GST allocation for two GRATs
A taxpayer created two grantor retained annuity trusts, transferred company stock to them, and intended to elect out of automatic generation-skipping transfer exemption allocation. The taxpayer's atto…
S corporation received more time to make a QSub election
An S corporation acquired all the stock of a subsidiary and intended to treat it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary (QSub) from the acquisition date. The corporation failed to file Form 8869 on ti…
Taxpayer received 45 days to file a duplicate Form 3115
An S corporation timely attached an original Form 3115 to its federal return for two accounting method changes affecting its QSub subsidiaries. Its accounting firm was also supposed to send the requir…
Affiliated group received more time to elect consolidated filing
A domestic parent corporation and its affiliated group failed to make a timely election to file a consolidated federal income tax return. The limitations period remained open, the parent was not tryin…
Taxpayer received more time for success-fee safe harbor election
A corporation paid contingent financial-advisor fees in connection with a taxable acquisition of all its stock. Its return preparer applied the Revenue Procedure 2011-29 safe harbor, which treats 70 p…
Estate received more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
A decedent's estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because of the represented value of the gross estate and taxable gifts. The estate nevertheless needed a timely estate tax return to ele…
Taxpayer received 45 days to file a duplicate Form 3115
An S corporation timely attached an original Form 3115 to its federal return for two accounting method changes affecting its QSub subsidiary. Its accounting firm was also supposed to send the required…
Taxpayer receives 45 days to file a success-fee safe-harbor election
A partnership paid success-based financial advisory fees in connection with acquisitions of broadband businesses. Its return preparer analyzed the fees under Revenue Procedure 2011-29 and prepared the…
Late section 336(e) election statement receives filing relief
A buyer acquired all the stock of an S corporation in a transaction represented to be a qualified stock disposition. The S corporation and its shareholder timely signed a binding agreement to make a s…
Taxpayer receives 60 days to correct a success-fee election
A taxpayer incurred success-based fees when its ownership interests were sold and intended to use the Revenue Procedure 2011-29 safe harbor. Severe weather prevented its return-extension form from bei…
Estate receives 120 days to elect portability
An estate was not otherwise required to file Form 706 because its gross estate and adjusted taxable gifts were below the section 6018(a) filing threshold. The decedent left a surviving spouse and an u…
LLC receives 120 days to file a corporate classification election
A domestic limited liability company intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation from a specified date. It failed to file Form 8832 within the normal election period and reque…
Investment company receives 90 days for a foreign-tax pass-through election
A regulated investment company intended to elect under section 853 to pass through foreign taxes to its shareholders. Its timely Form 1120-RIC consistently reflected that election, but the contractor …
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.