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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Consolidated group receives 90 days to make a late intercompany-stock election
A consolidated corporate group inherited deferred gains from stock distributions completed before new intercompany-transaction regulations took effect in July 1995. The former parent had missed the el…
Acquired corporation receives 60 days to file a late success-fee safe-harbor election
A corporation paid financial and transaction advisers success-based fees in connection with a cash acquisition. It intended to use the Rev. Proc. 2011-29 safe harbor, which generally treats 70 percent…
Export corporation receives 60 days to file a late IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation in connection with its parent's exports. Its law firm prepared Form 4876-A, but the IRS rece…
Newly formed export corporation receives 60 days to correct its IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed late in a calendar year to operate as an IC-DISC for a related agricultural-equipment exporter. Its law firm filed Form 4876-A using the corporation's first full cale…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late Section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership had a partner that was a grantor trust. After the grantor died, the partnership relied on an adviser to file a section 754 election for that year, bu…
Parties receive 45 days to file a late Section 336(e) election statement
A partnership-taxed buyer acquired all shares of an S corporation through a disregarded entity for cash. The parties intended the stock transaction to be treated as an asset sale under section 336(e),…
Foreign foundation receives late disregarded-entity election for investment vehicle
A foreign tax-exempt private foundation held its U.S. investment portfolio through a single-owner foreign investment vehicle whose custodians had withheld U.S. tax from dividends. The foundation had r…
Acquired group receives 60 days for success-based fee safe-harbor election
A corporate group was acquired in a taxable stock purchase after a subsidiary engaged an investment banker under a success-based fee arrangement. When the group's tax preparer filed the final short-ye…
S corporation receives 45 days to file late Section 336(e) election statement
An S corporation recapitalized into voting and nonvoting shares before two purchasers acquired its stock. A second shareholder received shares before the sale, sold them to one purchaser, and then bou…
Entity receives 120 days to make two late tax elections
A tax-exempt organization's wholly owned limited liability company managed partnerships that owned and rehabilitated low-income housing. The company intended from its inception to elect corporate tax …
Foreign entity receives 120 days to correct its classification election
A buyer acquired all interests in a foreign entity and made a section 338 election. The parties intended the acquired entity to become a disregarded entity on a later date, but its Form 8832 mistakenl…
Corporation receives 60 days to file omitted success-fee election statement
A corporation incurred a success-based fee when it acquired another corporation. Its return treated 70 percent of the fee as non-facilitative and capitalized the remaining 30 percent under the safe ha…
LLC receives 120 days to correct mistaken corporate classification
A two-owner limited liability company intended to be taxed as a partnership and filed its federal returns on that basis. It mistakenly submitted Form 8832 electing treatment as an association taxable …
Export corporation receives 60 days to file IC-DISC election
A parent formed a domestic corporation solely to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation for export transactions. The parent relied on an accountant and law firm to orga…
Trust may revoke ESBT election and restore QSST treatment
A trust that owned stock in an S corporation had originally elected qualified Subchapter S trust treatment. Its trustee later converted the trust to an electing small business trust and then asked to …
Shareholder trust may switch back from ESBT to QSST status
A trust holding S-corporation stock originally elected qualified Subchapter S trust treatment, then later converted to an electing small business trust. The trustee asked the IRS to revoke the ESBT el…
Trust receives consent to replace ESBT status with QSST status
A trust that held shares in an S corporation had used qualified Subchapter S trust status before its trustee elected electing small business trust treatment. The trustee later sought consent to revoke…
Estate receives 120 days to allocate a decedent's GST exemption to an earlier trust gift
A decedent created and funded an irrevocable trust for the decedent's children and their descendants. The decedent and spouse elected to split the gift on their Forms 709, but the decedent's return di…
Investment partnership receives 60 days to make late PFIC mark-to-market elections
An investment portfolio taxed as a partnership owned stock in six passive foreign investment companies and decided to make section 1296 mark-to-market elections for them. Its accounting firm prepared …
Investment partnership receives 60 days to make late PFIC elections for seven companies
An investment portfolio taxed as a partnership owned stock in seven passive foreign investment companies and decided to make section 1296 mark-to-market elections for them. Its accounting firm prepare…
Investment partnership receives 60 days to make late PFIC elections for four companies
An investment portfolio taxed as a partnership owned stock in four passive foreign investment companies and decided to make section 1296 mark-to-market elections for them. Its accounting firm prepared…
Investment partnership receives 60 days to make late PFIC elections for 12 companies
An investment portfolio taxed as a partnership owned stock in 12 passive foreign investment companies and decided to make section 1296 mark-to-market elections for them. Its accounting firm prepared a…
Individual receives 60 days to file a late family-attribution waiver for a stock redemption
An individual was treated as owning corporate stock held by a grantor trust, while family members also owned or were treated as owning stock in the corporation. The trust's stock was redeemed for cash…
Married real estate taxpayers receive 120 days to make a late rental-activity grouping election
A married couple filed a joint return for a year in which one spouse was engaged in a real property business. They qualified to elect under section 469(c)(7) to treat all rental real estate interests …
Partnership receives 120 days to file a late section 754 basis-adjustment election
A partnership timely filed its federal return but inadvertently omitted a section 754 election to adjust the basis of partnership property. Such an election applies section 734 adjustments to property…
Newly affiliated charity receives 30 days to revoke an old section 501(h) lobbying election
A health charity affiliated with another exempt health organization and changed its name after the affiliation. Within weeks, the organizations discovered that the charity had made a section 501(h) lo…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect partnership classification from formation
A foreign eligible entity's indirect owner intended the entity to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes from its formation date. The entity did not timely file Form 8832 to make that…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect disregarded status from formation
A foreign eligible entity's indirect owner intended the entity to be disregarded as separate from its owner for federal tax purposes from its formation date. The entity did not timely file Form 8832 t…
Corporate acquirer receives 45 days to make a late success-based-fee safe-harbor election
A corporate group acquired an engineering and design company in a taxable stock purchase and paid a contingent transaction fee to an adviser. An attorney told the foreign parent's tax director that 70…
Trust receives extra time for charitable-contribution election
A trust made charitable contributions in one year and reported them as deductions for the preceding year, as section 642(c) permits when a timely election is filed. The trust inadvertently omitted the…
Donor receives extra time for GST allocations and trust election
A donor made stock and cash gifts over many years to an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer potential. Although the donor intended the trust to be GST-exempt and had enough exemption a…
Donor receives extra time for GST allocations and trust election
A donor made stock and cash gifts over many years to an irrevocable trust for a child that had generation-skipping transfer potential. The donor consistently intended the trust to be GST-exempt and ha…
Late accounting-period application is treated as timely
A taxpayer sought to change from a calendar tax year to a tax year ending March 31 under the automatic procedure in Revenue Procedure 2006-46. It missed the deadline for Form 1128 but requested relief…
Late accounting-period application is treated as timely
A taxpayer sought to change from a calendar tax year to a tax year ending March 31 under the automatic procedure in Revenue Procedure 2006-46. It missed the deadline for Form 1128 but requested relief…
Late accounting-period application is treated as timely
A taxpayer sought to change from a calendar tax year to a tax year ending March 31 under the automatic procedure in Revenue Procedure 2006-46. It missed the deadline for Form 1128 but requested relief…
Late accounting-period application is treated as timely
A taxpayer sought to change from a calendar tax year to a tax year ending March 31 under the automatic procedure in Revenue Procedure 2006-46. It missed the deadline for Form 1128 but requested relief…
Affiliated group receives extra time to elect consolidated filing
A parent corporation intended to file a consolidated federal income tax return with three subsidiaries but did not file a valid return by the election deadline. The group requested relief before the I…
Parties receive extra time for section 336(e) election
A purchaser acquired all stock of an S corporation from its shareholders, and the parties intended the stock sale to be treated as an asset sale under section 336(e). They failed to execute the requir…
REIT receives extra time for two taxable-subsidiary elections
A company intending to qualify as a real estate investment trust acquired a building containing offices, a hotel, an athletic club, and restaurants. Two subsidiaries leased and operated the hotel and …
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election
A foreign entity's sole owner intended the entity to be disregarded for federal tax purposes, but the entity did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS found that the entity met the standards for regulato…
Wife receives extra time to allocate GST exemption to two trusts
A married couple created two irrevocable descendant trusts and intended to allocate generation-skipping transfer exemption to their gifts. They also intended to split eligible gifts between the spouse…
Husband receives extra time to allocate GST exemption to three trusts
A husband created three irrevocable trusts for his spouse and descendants and intended to allocate generation-skipping transfer exemption to gifts made over five years. He and his wife also intended t…
Estate receives extra time to make a 65-day distribution election
An estate made a distribution during the first 65 days of a fiscal year and intended to treat it as paid or credited on the last day of the preceding tax year under section 663(b). The estate failed t…
LLC receives extra time to elect partnership classification
A limited liability company had previously elected S corporation treatment but later intended to change its federal tax classification to a partnership. It failed to file Form 8832 by the intended eff…
Partnership receives extra time for a deemed-sale election on a REIT contribution
A two-member limited liability company treated as a partnership contributed property to a subsidiary that had elected REIT status. Because part of the property's gain or loss would be allocated to a c…
Partnership receives extra time for a deemed-sale election on a REIT contribution
A two-member limited liability company treated as a partnership contributed property to a subsidiary that had elected REIT status. Because part of the property's gain or loss would be allocated to a c…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect disregarded status
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The entity represented that it was eligible for disregar…
Manufacturer receives extra time to file its LIFO election
Several related companies had used the last-in-first-out inventory method and later combined in mergers. The surviving company then transferred its manufacturing business, operating assets, and invent…
Estate receives extra time to allocate GST exemption to a family trust
A decedent's residuary trust created an irrevocable subtrust for the decedent's spouse and descendants. The spouse was entitled to the subtrust's net income and held a limited power to appoint princip…
Consolidated group gets more time to waive loss carryback
A parent corporation intended to waive the carryback period for its consolidated group's net operating loss, and the group's returns were filed consistently with that intent. A valid election statemen…
Foreign entity gets more time for disregarded status election
A foreign entity's indirect owner became a U.S. tax resident and intended the entity to be classified as disregarded for federal tax purposes. The entity did not timely file Form 8832 to make that cla…
Foreign entity gets more time for disregarded status election
A foreign entity's owner became a U.S. tax resident and intended the entity to be classified as disregarded for federal tax purposes. The entity did not timely file Form 8832 to make that classificati…
Foreign entity gets more time for partnership election
A foreign entity owned by a U.S. citizen and foreign persons intended to be classified as a partnership from its formation date. It was eligible to make that classification election but failed to file…
REIT successors get more time for subsidiary elections
Two predecessor REITs intended to elect taxable REIT subsidiary status for their respective subsidiaries and filed Forms 8875 by the intended deadlines. During a later acquisition, their successors di…
New affiliated group gets more time for consolidated election
A parent acquired eight subsidiaries and intended the resulting affiliated group to file a consolidated return. The group filed a consolidated return by the extended deadline that would have applied, …
Corporation gets more time for IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed solely to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation under a commission arrangement with its parent. Its accounting firm prepared Form 487…
Parties get more time for section 336(e) election
A partnership purchased all the stock of an S corporation for cash, and the parties intended the stock sale to be treated as a deemed asset sale under section 336(e). They did not timely execute the r…
Foreign entity gets more time for corporate classification election
A foreign entity was initially classified as disregarded for federal tax purposes. Its owner intended it to become an association taxable as a corporation on a later date, but the entity did not timel…
Estate gets more time to make QTIP election
An estate timely filed its federal estate tax return but did not elect qualified terminable interest property treatment for a marital trust. The executor, a CPA whose accounting firm prepared the retu…
Corporation gets more time for success-fee safe harbor
A corporate group paid an investment bank a success-based fee when its parent was acquired in a taxable stock transaction. Its accounting firm prepared the short-year consolidated return using Revenue…
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.