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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Captive insurer receives 90 days to make a late section 831(b) election
A newly formed captive insurance company intended to elect taxation under IRC § 831(b) for its first tax year. Its president directed the CPA to make the election, but the CPA omitted the required sta…
Corporation receives late S election and three late QSub elections
A corporation intended to elect S status and to treat three wholly owned subsidiaries as qualified subchapter S subsidiaries from their respective formation dates. None of the required elections was t…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A partner in a limited partnership died, but the partnership filed its return for that year without an IRC § 754 election. Such an election allows basis adjustments under §§ 734(b) and 743(b) followin…
Surviving spouse receives 120 days to make estate's portability election
An estate below the estate-tax filing threshold missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount. No executor or administrator had been appoi…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity had a default classification as an association taxable as a corporation, but its owners intended partnership treatment from formation. A qualified tax professional failed to …
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity had a default classification as an association taxable as a corporation, but its owners intended partnership treatment from formation. A qualified tax professional failed to …
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity had a default classification as an association taxable as a corporation, but its owners intended partnership treatment from formation. A qualified tax professional failed to …
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity had a default classification as an association taxable as a corporation, but its owners intended partnership treatment from formation. A qualified tax professional failed to …
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity had a default classification as an association taxable as a corporation, but its owners intended partnership treatment from formation. A qualified tax professional failed to …
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect disregarded status
A single-owner foreign eligible entity was classified by default as an association taxable as a corporation, but it intended disregarded-entity treatment from formation. A qualified tax professional f…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity had a default classification as an association taxable as a corporation, but its owners intended partnership treatment from formation. A qualified tax professional failed to …
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity had a default classification as an association taxable as a corporation, but its owners intended partnership treatment from formation. A qualified tax professional failed to …
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity had a default classification as an association taxable as a corporation, but its owners intended partnership treatment from formation. A qualified tax professional failed to …
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate below the estate-tax filing threshold missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount. Because the estate was not otherwise requir…
Corporate group receives 60 days to make late consolidated-return election
A corporation became the parent of a new affiliated group and intended to file a consolidated return. Its adviser prepared the return as consolidated, but a valid Form 7004 extension was not filed, so…
Parent receives 60 days for late success-fee safe-harbor election
A financial-services parent paid success-based investment-banking and legal fees in a tax-free acquisition. Its preparer deducted 70 percent of the bank fee and capitalized 30 percent, but omitted the…
REIT and subsidiary receive relief for a late TRS election
A real estate investment trust and a corporation it partly owned intended to elect taxable REIT subsidiary (TRS) status effective from the corporation's formation. A staff administrative oversight cau…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership timely filed its federal return but inadvertently omitted its section 754 election. That election allows basis adjustments under sections 734(b) and …
Corporation receives 60 days to correct its IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation intended to elect interest charge domestic international sales corporation (IC-DISC) status from its formation. Its accounting and law firms miscommunicated about ownership, cau…
Group receives 60 days to attach its omitted Form 3115
A consolidated group decided to change its accounting method for computer-software development costs under the automatic-change procedures. Its tax adviser timely filed the required copy of Form 3115 …
Taxpayer receives 45 days to submit a late accounting-method request
A taxpayer intended to request an accounting-method change on Form 3115 but missed the applicable filing deadline. The proposed change required a section 481(a) adjustment, which ordinarily causes the…
Homeowners association's late tax-year change form is treated as timely
A homeowners association wanted to change from a calendar tax year to a March 31 year-end so its accounting period would align with its revenue cycle. It assigned Form 1128 to outside tax professional…
Partnership receives 120 days to make a late section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership timely filed its federal return but inadvertently omitted its section 754 election. That election allows basis adjustments under sections 734(b) and …
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate …
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate …
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. It represented that the decedent's gross estate plus adj…
Estate receives 120 days to make the 2010 carryover-basis election
A nonresident alien died in 2010, and U.S.-situs property passed to the surviving spouse outside probate. The estate's representatives missed the January 2012 deadline to file Form 8939 and elect the …
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. It represented that the decedent's gross estate, includi…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. It represented that the decedent's gross estate plus adj…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. It represented that the decedent's gross estate, includi…
Taxpayer may make late elections to capitalize property-loan interest
A dual U.S. and foreign citizen living abroad had not filed U.S. returns because he did not realize that he remained subject to U.S. filing obligations. He had acquired foreign real estate with a loan…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. It represented that the decedent's gross estate, includi…
REIT receives 60 days to make a late consent dividend election
A real estate investment trust relied on an accounting firm to prepare and provide its federal returns for filing. The firm omitted one year's Form 1120-REIT from the package, so the trust neither fil…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. It represented that the decedent's gross estate, includi…
Spouses receive 120 days to allocate GST exemption to an old trust gift
A grantor created a trust for descendants and relatives before December 31, 2000, and transferred property to it. The grantor and spouse timely elected gift splitting on their Forms 709, but their acc…
Spouse receives 120 days to allocate GST exemption to old trust gifts
A settlor created an irrevocable trust for children and descendants and made additional transfers before December 31, 2000. The settlor relied on tax professionals but did not timely file gift tax ret…
Settlor receives 120 days to allocate GST exemption to old trust gifts
A settlor created an irrevocable trust for children and descendants and made additional transfers before December 31, 2000. The settlor relied on tax professionals but did not timely file a gift tax r…
Spouse receives 120 days to allocate GST exemption to an old trust gift
A settlor created and funded an irrevocable trust for a child and the settlor's descendants before December 31, 2000. The settlor relied on tax professionals but did not timely file Form 709 or alloca…
Settlor receives 120 days to allocate GST exemption to an old trust gift
A settlor created and funded an irrevocable trust for a child and the settlor's descendants before December 31, 2000. The settlor relied on tax professionals but did not timely file Form 709 or alloca…
Couple receives 120 days to make a late rental real estate grouping election
A married couple filed jointly, and one spouse represented that he qualified as a real estate professional for the relevant year. Their original return inadvertently omitted the statement electing to …
Property company receives relief for a late initial REIT election
A property-holding limited liability company intended to elect real estate investment trust status for the first tax year in which it acquired industrial buildings. Its outside accounting firm mistake…
Property owner receives relief for a late rehabilitation-credit passthrough election
A property owner rehabilitated a leased property and agreed to pass its qualified rehabilitation expenditures through to the tenant. The owner inadvertently missed the deadline to elect under Treasury…
Donor receives more time to allocate GST exemption to a trust
A donor transferred property to an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer potential before December 31, 2000. Her accountant timely filed the gift tax return but reported the gift and GST…
Donor receives more time to allocate GST exemption to a trust
A donor transferred property to an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer potential before December 31, 2000. Her accountant timely filed the gift tax return but reported the gift and GST…
Estate receives more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The decedent's gross estate was represented to be below t…
Estate receives more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The decedent's gross estate was represented to be below t…
Donor receives more time to allocate GST exemption to a trust
A donor transferred property to an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer potential before December 31, 2000. Her accountant timely filed the gift tax return but reported the gift incorre…
REIT and subsidiary receive relief for a late TRS election
A real estate investment trust and an indirectly owned subsidiary intended the subsidiary to be a taxable REIT subsidiary, but the parties and their advisers overlooked the required Form 8875 amid a c…
Foreign subsidiary receives relief for a late corporate classification election
A foreign entity wholly owned by another association intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS accepted t…
Donor receives more time to opt out of automatic GST exemption allocation
A donor made a cash gift to a trust with generation-skipping transfer potential and hired a tax professional to prepare the gift tax return. Both the original return and a later amended return omitted…
Estate receives more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The personal representatives stated that the gross estate…
Estate receives more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse, who also served as executor. The executor stated that the…
Foreign entity receives relief for a late partnership classification election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes from the date it was organized but did not timely file Form 8832. The entity represented that it acted rea…
Foreign entity receives relief for a late partnership classification election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes from the date it was organized but did not timely file Form 8832. The entity represented that it acted rea…
Donor receives more time to allocate GST exemption to a trust gift
A donor created a trust primarily for grandchildren and transferred an asset to it before January 1, 2001. A law firm prepared the donor's gift tax return, but its paralegal omitted the generation-ski…
Housing owner receives relief for a late multiple-building election
An owner intended to treat all buildings in a low-income housing development as one multiple-building project but inadvertently failed to make an effective election for every building on Form 8609. Th…
Estate receives more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The estate stated that the gross estate plus the decedent…
Estate receives more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The estate stated that the gross estate, including taxabl…
Estate receives more time to elect portability of unused exclusion
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount to the surviving spouse. The estate stated that the gross estate plus the decedent…
REIT and hotel subsidiary receive relief for a late TRS election
A real estate investment trust indirectly owned a company formed to lease a hotel property and intended that company to be a taxable REIT subsidiary when the hotel began operating. Outside advisers ag…
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.