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.
Partnership receives time to make a late section 754 election
A limited partnership had partnership interests transferred during a tax year and timely filed its return, but inadvertently omitted the section 754 election. That election permits basis adjustments u…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late QTIP election
A decedent left the residuary estate in a trust that paid all net income to the surviving spouse at least quarterly for life, with the remainder later held for descendants. The estate timely filed For…
S corporation receives 120 days to file a late QSub election
An S corporation intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary treatment for a wholly owned subsidiary but failed to file Form 8869 on time. It reported all relevant tax years consistently with …
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A partnership distributed property to a retiring partner and intended to elect under section 754 to adjust partnership property basis, but it inadvertently omitted the election from its timely return.…
Parties receive 45 days to file a late section 336(e) election statement
Purchasers acquired all stock of an S corporation from its shareholders, and the parties had timely signed a binding agreement to make a section 336(e) election that would treat the stock sale as an a…
Consolidated group receives 60 days to correct its Form 3115 filing
A corporate group intended to use the automatic-consent procedures to change its accounting method for certain prepaid expenses to the 12-month rule. Its tax adviser attached Form 3115 to the timely e…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to make a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect disregarded-entity status from its intended effective date. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the standards for regulatory-ele…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to make a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect disregarded-entity status from its formation date. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the standards for regulatory-election rel…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to make a late partnership election
A foreign eligible entity failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect partnership status from its formation date. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the standards for regulatory-election relief and…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to make a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect disregarded-entity status from its formation date. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the standards for regulatory-election rel…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to make a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity failed to file Form 8832 on time to elect disregarded-entity status from its formation date. The IRS found that the entity satisfied the standards for regulatory-election rel…
Estate receives 120 days to allocate unused GST exemption
A married couple created a revocable trust that later divided into separate trusts, and the trust became irrevocable at the surviving spouse's death. The estate timely filed Form 706 but failed to all…
Estate receives 120 days to elect portability of unused exclusion
A decedent's estate was below the estate tax filing threshold, and the surviving spouse inherited the estate through the marital deduction. The spouse hired an experienced accountant to advise on the …
Tax-exempt controlled entity received 45 days to make late election
A corporation wholly owned by a section 501(c)(3) organization intended to elect under section 168(h)(6)(F)(ii) not to be treated as a tax-exempt controlled entity. Its tax preparer filed the corporat…
Foreign entity received 120 days to file late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its formation date but did not timely file Form 8832. It represented that the omission occurred despite reasonable, good-faith cond…
Foreign entity received 120 days to file late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its formation date but did not timely file Form 8832. It represented that the omission occurred despite reasonable, good-faith cond…
Foreign entity received 120 days to file late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its formation date but did not timely file Form 8832. It represented that the omission occurred despite reasonable, good-faith cond…
Parties receive more time to file a section 336(e) election statement
A purchaser acquired all the stock of an S corporation target through a disregarded entity. The seller and target had a timely written agreement to make a section 336(e) election, but the target's tax…
Taxpayer gets 60 days to file omitted success-fee safe-harbor election
A taxpayer acquired a company and used the Rev. Proc. 2011-29 safe harbor to deduct 70 percent of its success-based transaction fees and capitalize the other 30 percent. Its timely filed return report…
Estate gets 120 days to make a late portability election
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 and gift tax exclusion. Based on the submitted in…
Consolidated group gets 60 days to waive its loss carryback period
A consolidated corporate group intended to waive the entire carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss, and its returns consistently reflected that intent. A qualified tax professional fai…
Parties get extra time for a section 336(e) asset-sale election
A disregarded buyer acquired all the stock of an S corporation, and the parties intended to treat the transaction as an asset sale under section 336(e). They missed the deadline to execute the require…
S corporation gets extra time to file its section 336(e) election statement
A buyer acquired more than 80 percent of an S corporation's stock, and the sellers and target timely signed an agreement to elect asset-sale treatment under section 336(e). The target's return and req…
Foreign entity gets 120 days for a late corporate-classification election
A foreign eligible entity had filed an erroneous election to be treated as a partnership and sought to elect corporate tax status effective on the same redacted date. The entity represented that it ac…
Foreign entity gets 120 days for a late disregarded-entity election
A single-owner foreign eligible entity was classified by default as a corporation because its owner had limited liability. During a reorganization, the entity transferred its assets and liabilities to…
Estate gets 120 days to make a late portability election
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 and gift tax exclusion. Based on the submitted in…
Taxpayer receives 60-day extension to complete accounting-method filing
A corporate taxpayer requested extra time to complete the procedural filing for an automatic accounting-method change. It had timely attached Form 3115 to its return to switch a subcontractor payable …
Trust receives 120-day extension for charitable-contribution election
A trust made charitable contributions during one tax year and intended to elect under section 642(c) to treat them as paid in the preceding year. Its tax adviser inadvertently failed to file the trust…
Trust receives 120-day extension for charitable-contribution election
A trust made charitable contributions during one tax year and intended to elect under section 642(c) to treat them as paid in the preceding year. Its tax adviser inadvertently failed to file the trust…
Trust receives 120-day extension for charitable-contribution election
A trust made charitable contributions during one tax year and intended to elect under section 642(c) to treat them as paid in the preceding year. Its tax adviser inadvertently failed to file the trust…
Estate receives 120-day extension to make QTIP election
A decedent's revocable trust created a marital trust that paid income to the surviving spouse and held only assets intended to qualify for the estate-tax marital deduction. The estate's return listed …
REIT receives 90-day extension for taxable-subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust and a subsidiary intended to elect taxable REIT subsidiary status effective from the subsidiary's formation. Their outside law firm believed the accounting firm would fi…
Tax-exempt controlled corporation receives late section 168 election relief
A corporation wholly owned by a tax-exempt organization was a limited partner in a partnership formed to operate low-income housing. The partnership agreement required the corporation to elect under s…
Tax-exempt controlled corporation receives late section 168 election relief
A corporation wholly owned by a tax-exempt organization was the general partner of a partnership formed to operate low-income housing. The partnership agreement required the corporation to elect under…
Foreign entity receives 120-day extension for corporate classification election
A foreign eligible entity failed to timely file Form 8832 to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation from its requested effective date. It represented that it acted reasonably and in goo…
LLC receives late corporate-classification and S corporation election relief
A domestic limited liability company intended from formation to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation and to elect S corporation status. It inadvertently failed to timely file both …
LLC receives late corporate-classification and S corporation election relief
A multi-member limited liability company intended from formation to elect corporate classification and S corporation status rather than use its default partnership classification. It inadvertently fai…
Donor receives 120-day extension to elect out of automatic GST allocation
A donor and spouse created four irrevocable trusts primarily for their grandchildren, and the donor later transferred the same redacted amount to each trust. The donor did not intend to allocate gener…
Donor receives 120-day extension to elect out of automatic GST allocation
A donor and spouse created four irrevocable trusts primarily for their grandchildren, and the donor later transferred the same redacted amount to each trust. The donor did not intend to allocate gener…
Foreign company receives 120-day extension for partnership classification election
A foreign eligible entity with multiple owners had a default classification as an association taxable as a corporation. It intended to elect partnership treatment but relied on a tax professional who …
Foreign company receives 120-day extension for partnership classification election
A foreign eligible entity with multiple owners had a default classification as an association taxable as a corporation. It intended to elect partnership treatment but relied on a tax professional who …
Tax-exempt controlled corporation receives late section 168 election relief
A corporation wholly owned by a tax-exempt organization was a limited partner in a partnership formed to operate low-income housing. The partnership agreement required the corporation to elect under s…
Tax-exempt controlled corporation receives late section 168 election relief
A corporation wholly owned by a tax-exempt organization was the general partner of a partnership formed to operate low-income housing. The partnership agreement required the corporation to elect under…
REIT receives 90-day extension for taxable-subsidiary election
A real estate investment trust and a subsidiary intended the subsidiary to be a taxable REIT subsidiary from its formation. An outside firm recommended filing Forms 8832 and 8875 but believed the part…
S corporation receives 120-day extension for QSub election
An S corporation purchased all of the stock of another S corporation and intended to treat the acquired company as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. It failed to timely file Form 8869 for the QSub …
Affiliated group gets 60 days to elect consolidated filing
A domestic parent corporation and its 18 subsidiaries failed to make a valid election to file a consolidated federal income tax return by the applicable deadline. The parent requested regulatory relie…
Parent gets 45 days for late Section 338(g) election
A consolidated group's foreign subsidiary acquired all the stock of another foreign corporation in a transaction intended to receive section 338(g) asset-acquisition treatment, but the parent failed t…
S corporation gets 60 days to attach omitted Form 3115
An S corporation commissioned a cost-segregation study and intended to change its depreciation accounting method under the automatic procedures of Revenue Procedure 2015-13. A signed copy of Form 3115…
Foreign insurer gets time for domestic and small-company elections
A foreign property-and-casualty insurer relied on a professional adviser to make elections under sections 953(d) and 831(b), treating it as a domestic corporation and a qualifying small insurance comp…
Partnership gets 120 days for late Section 754 elections
A foreign-law general partnership failed to make timely section 754 elections for two taxable years after an investor acquired an interest in an upper-tier partnership that owned part of it. The partn…
Partnership gets 120 days for late Section 754 elections
A foreign-law general partnership failed to make timely section 754 elections for two taxable years after a purchaser acquired an interest in it. The partnership represented that it acted reasonably a…
LLC gets 120 days for Section 754 election after member's death
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership failed to make a section 754 election for the year in which a member died and the member's interest passed to four other owners. Its professional tax…
Bankrupt loss group gets 45 days to elect out of Section 382(l)(5)
A consolidated loss group underwent an ownership change while under a court's jurisdiction in a title 11 case. The parent intended to elect out of the special section 382(l)(5) bankruptcy rule but fai…
Foreign LLC gets 120 days for retroactive disregarded status
A foreign limited liability company intended to elect disregarded-entity classification effective from its formation date but did not timely file Form 8832. Its ownership later changed from two U.S. p…
Partnership gets 120 days for election after partner's death
A limited partnership failed to make a section 754 election after a deceased partner's interest passed to an estate. The partnership had relied on its tax adviser and did not know it was eligible to m…
Reverse-acquisition group gets 45 days for consolidated election
A foreign corporation contributed a subsidiary chain to another subsidiary in a transaction represented to qualify as a reverse acquisition, creating a new affiliated group with the recipient as commo…
Late success-based fee election statement allowed
A corporation used Revenue Procedure 2011-29's safe harbor to deduct 70 percent and capitalize 30 percent of success-based fees from a covered transaction. Its tax professional intended to attach the …
Late corporate classification election allowed
An eligible business entity intended to be treated as a corporation for federal tax purposes from the date it was formed, but it inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The entity represented …
Partnership allowed late section 754 election
A foreign limited partnership made liquidating distributions to three partners but did not attach a section 754 election to its timely filed return because its tax preparers failed to explain the elec…
Estate receives extra time for portability election
An estate that was not otherwise required to file Form 706 missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion to the surviving spouse. Because the return d…
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.