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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Grants extension for missed IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation for its parent. A misunderstanding over which adviser would file Form 4876-A caused the corp…
Grants more time to file a loss-property basis election statement
A corporate parent requested extra time to file the statement required for a joint election under section 362(e)(2)(C). A subsidiary had transferred stock with a tax basis above fair market value to a…
Grants more time for a foreign subsidiary's loss-property basis election
A corporate parent requested extra time to file the statement required for a joint election under section 362(e)(2)(C). A controlled foreign corporation had transferred stock with a tax basis above fa…
Grants time to divide a trust and make a QTIP election
A decedent's revocable trust became irrevocable at death and held the residuary estate, including a retirement account, for the surviving spouse during life with the remainder going to charities. The …
Late election to defer a low-income housing credit period
A partnership placed a single-building low-income housing project in service but inadvertently failed to elect to begin its 10-year credit period in the following taxable year. It asked the IRS for an…
Late success-fee safe-harbor election granted
A corporation acquired another company and treated its success-based investment banking fees under the safe harbor in Revenue Procedure 2011-29. It deducted 70 percent of the fees and capitalized 30 p…
A partnership gets to keep its straight-line depreciation election after filing late
An LLC taxed as a partnership built a mixed-use real estate development and, based on a cost segregation study, broke it into 5-year, 7-year, 15-year, and real property. It wanted to depreciate the sh…
A private foundation gets extra time to make a missed corpus-distribution election
A private foundation received large stock contributions from substantial donors and made grants, but it did not distribute a full 100 percent of those contributions in the same year. To help its donor…
Foreign entity receives late corporate-classification relief
A foreign eligible entity's owner intended the entity to be classified as a corporation for federal tax purposes, but the entity did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded that the entity met th…
Partnership received 120 days to make late Section 754 election
A professional-services limited liability company treated as a partnership missed the deadline to make a Section 754 election for the year in which a buyer acquired a partnership interest. The partner…
Company received 60 days to file late LIFO election
A parent company transferred LIFO inventory to an indirectly owned subsidiary in a Section 351 transaction. The subsidiary consistently used LIFO for tax and financial reporting, but the group's tax p…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late QDOT election
A decedent left the residue of his estate to his surviving spouse, who was not a United States citizen. Tax advisers told the spouse that a qualified domestic trust was needed for the estate to claim …
Late success-based-fee safe-harbor election granted
A consolidated corporate group paid a contingent adviser fee for an acquisition and reported the fee using Revenue Procedure 2011-29’s safe harbor, deducting 70 percent and capitalizing 30 percent. It…
Grants 120 days for late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its formation date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The entity initially had one owner and later became wholly o…
Grants late disregarded-entity election before partnership conversion
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its formation date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It initially had one owner and later became a multiple-membe…
Grants 120 days for foreign entity's late classification election
A foreign eligible entity had been indirectly wholly owned by the same taxpayer since its formation. It intended to elect disregarded-entity status from that date but inadvertently failed to file Form…
Grants 120 days for wholly owned foreign entity's late election
A foreign eligible entity had been wholly owned by one taxpayer since it was formed. It intended to be treated as disregarded from its formation date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time…
Grants late election before foreign entity became a partnership
A foreign eligible entity intended to be disregarded from its formation date but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. It was initially wholly owned by one taxpayer and later became a multip…
Grants 45 days for late success-fee safe-harbor election
A corporation paid a success-based financial advisory fee in connection with a stock acquisition. Its tax preparer did not advise it to elect the Revenue Procedure 2011-29 safe harbor, which generally…
Grants 60 days for late consolidated-return election
A corporation became the parent of a new affiliated group after acquiring a subsidiary. The group intended to file a consolidated federal return but failed to make a valid election under Treasury Regu…
Grants 45 days to attach omitted success-fee election
A foreign entity taxed as a partnership incurred success-based fees when buyers acquired its direct and indirect ownership interests. Its return treated 70 percent of the fees as nonfacilitative and c…
Grants foreign subsidiary's late disregarded-entity election
A foreign limited liability company formed a wholly owned foreign subsidiary and intended to treat it as disregarded from formation. The subsidiary did not timely file a valid Form 8832, but its owner…
Grants 120 days for late estate portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion to the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's g…
Grants late Section 336(e) stock-disposition election
A partnership-taxed buyer acquired all stock of an S corporation from its shareholders for cash. The parties later decided to make a Section 336(e) election so the qualified stock disposition would be…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late Section 754 election
A partnership failed to make a Section 754 election for the year in which one owner sold its interest to the remaining and incoming owners. The election would permit a transferee-specific adjustment t…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late Section 754 election
A partnership failed to make a Section 754 election for the year in which one owner sold its interest to the remaining and incoming owners. The election would permit a transferee-specific adjustment t…
Estate receives 120 days to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A decedent transferred cash to an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential but did not intend to allocate GST exemption to the transfer. The accounting firm preparing the gift…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late Section 754 election
A partnership failed to make a Section 754 election for the year in which one owner sold its interest to the remaining and incoming owners. The election would permit a transferee-specific adjustment t…
Parent receives extra time for a Section 338(g) election on a foreign acquisition
A U.S. consolidated group intended to make a Section 338(g) election for a controlled foreign corporation's purchase of a foreign target and deemed purchases of six foreign subsidiaries. The election …
LLC receives extra time to elect corporate tax classification
A single-owner domestic limited liability company intended to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation, but inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found that the company …
Estate receives 120 days to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A decedent transferred cash to an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential but did not intend to allocate GST exemption to the transfer. The accounting firm preparing the gift…
Estate received 120 days to sever a trust for GST exemption allocation
A decedent's revocable trust directed tax-efficient use of the generation-skipping transfer tax exemption and favored trusts with inclusion ratios of either zero or one. The estate's law and accountin…
Entity received 120 days for a late partnership classification election
An eligible entity had elected to be taxed as a corporation and later experienced a change of more than 50 percent in its ownership. It wanted to change to partnership classification within the usual …
Taxpayer received 120 days for two late drilling cost elections
A taxpayer held interests in two oil exploration and production partnerships and incurred intangible drilling costs in two tax years. An accounting firm advising the taxpayer failed to explain that Se…
New group received 60 days to perfect its consolidated return election
A corporation became the common parent of a new affiliated group after another corporation distributed its stock. The group filed a consolidated return, but the return and related election were not ti…
Parent received 60 days to waive the consolidated NOL carryback period
A newly formed affiliated group intended to relinquish the carryback period for its consolidated net operating loss, and it filed all returns consistently with that intent. A qualified tax professiona…
Companies received 60 days for a protective Section 336(e) election
A consolidated group's parent distributed all the stock of a target corporation in a transaction intended to qualify under Section 355 and potentially described in Section 355(d) or (e). The parties i…
Estate received 120 days for a late alternate valuation election
An estate's co-executors hired an attorney to prepare a timely Form 706, but the attorney failed to make the Section 2032 alternate valuation election. The executors later filed a supplemental return …
Foreign entity received 120 days for a late partnership election
A foreign eligible entity defaulted to association status because all of its members had limited liability, but its partners intended partnership treatment from formation. A qualified tax professional…
Foreign entity could elect partnership status from formation
A foreign entity with multiple limited-liability members defaulted to association status even though its partners intended partnership treatment from the date of formation. The entity relied on a qual…
Late Form 8832 relief preserved intended foreign partnership status
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership from formation, but its limited-liability members caused corporate default classification unless it filed Form 8832. A qualified tax p…
Foreign partnership election received 120-day filing relief
A foreign eligible entity intended partnership treatment from the day it was formed, but its members' limited liability caused it to default to corporate classification. Its tax professional failed to…
Captive insurer received 90 days for a late Section 831(b) election
A captive insurer had filed property and casualty insurance company returns without electing the alternative tax available to qualifying small insurers under Section 831(b). Its accounting firm told a…
Foreign single-member entity received late disregarded-status relief
A foreign eligible entity was formed with one owner that had limited liability. The owner intended the entity to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from formation, but the entity failed to file F…
New parent received 60 days to waive a consolidated NOL carryback
A newly formed corporation acquired the old common parent of a consolidated group in a reverse acquisition and became the group's new common parent. The group later sustained a consolidated net operat…
Taxpayer received 60 days for the success-based fee safe harbor
A target company incurred a contingent financial-adviser fee when an acquirer completed a taxable reverse subsidiary merger. The target's final short-period return omitted the fee because its accounti…
Parties received 45 days to make a late Section 336(e) election
An individual bought all the stock of an S corporation from its shareholder for cash. The parties intended to elect under Section 336(e) to treat the qualified stock disposition as an asset dispositio…
Foreign entity received 120 days for a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes but did not file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded that the entity met the standards for disc…
Foreign entity received 120 days for a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity formed under the laws of a U.S. territory intended to be treated as disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes but did not file Form 8832 on time. The IRS concluded …
S status preserved and late QSub election allowed
An S corporation owned all the stock of a subsidiary and consistently treated it as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary, but failed to file Form 8869. Separately, three trusts holding all of the paren…
Lower-tier partnership received 120 days for late Section 754 election
A partner in an upper-tier partnership died. The upper-tier partnership timely elected under Section 754, but a lower-tier partnership in which it held an interest inadvertently failed to make the sam…
Developer receives extension to file alternative cost method request
A real estate developer used Revenue Procedure 92-29's alternative cost method for common improvements and attached the required request and limitations consent to its timely return. Its employee comp…
Developer receives extension to file alternative cost method request
A real estate developer used Revenue Procedure 92-29's alternative cost method for common improvements and attached the required request and limitations consent to its timely return. Its employee comp…
Developer receives extension to file alternative cost method request
A real estate developer used Revenue Procedure 92-29's alternative cost method for common improvements and attached the required request and limitations consent to its timely return. Its employee comp…
Developer receives extension to file alternative cost method request
A real estate developer used Revenue Procedure 92-29's alternative cost method for common improvements and attached the required request and limitations consent to its timely return. Its employee comp…
Developer receives extension to file alternative cost method request
A real estate developer used Revenue Procedure 92-29's alternative cost method for common improvements and attached the required request and limitations consent to its timely return. Its employee comp…
Developer receives extension to file alternative cost method request
A real estate developer used Revenue Procedure 92-29's alternative cost method for common improvements and attached the required request and limitations consent to its timely return. Its employee comp…
Developer receives extension to file alternative cost method request
A real estate developer used Revenue Procedure 92-29's alternative cost method for common improvements and attached the required request and limitations consent to its timely return. Its employee comp…
Developer receives extension to file alternative cost method request
A real estate developer used Revenue Procedure 92-29's alternative cost method for common improvements and attached the required request and limitations consent to its timely return. Its employee comp…
Developer receives extension to file alternative cost method request
A real estate developer used Revenue Procedure 92-29's alternative cost method for common improvements and attached the required request and limitations consent to its timely return. Its employee comp…
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.