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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Late consolidated return election receives 60-day extension
A new corporate parent failed to timely elect to file a consolidated federal income tax return with its subsidiaries and members of an acquired group's former consolidated group. It requested discreti…
Corporate group gets 45 days to make late consolidated election
A corporate parent failed to timely elect to file a consolidated federal income tax return with its affiliated group. The parent showed that it had reasonably relied on a qualified tax professional wh…
Estate gets 120 days to elect portability
A decedent's estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the gross esta…
Donor gets 120 days to allocate GST exemption
A donor transferred interests in real property to an irrevocable trust for a child, the child's spouse, and their descendants. The donor's enrolled agent timely filed Form 709 but reported the transfe…
Partnership gets 120 days to make section 754 election
A limited partnership intended to elect under IRC § 754 to adjust the basis of partnership property but inadvertently omitted the election from its timely filed return. The partnership and all affecte…
Late estate tax portability election receives relief
An estate failed to file Form 706 by the deadline needed to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The surviving spouse represented that the decedent…
Late success-fee safe harbor elections approved
An acquiring corporation and its target sought extra time to elect the safe harbor in Revenue Procedure 2011-29 for success-based transaction fees. Their return had allocated the fees under the safe h…
Estate receives 120-day portability extension
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the gross estate, including tax…
Late QSub election receives 120-day extension
An S corporation owned all the stock of a subsidiary and intended to elect qualified subchapter S subsidiary status effective when the subsidiary was formed. It failed to file Form 8869 because of ina…
Spouse gets 120 days to complete QDOT annuity transfers
A noncitizen surviving spouse received payments from a nonassignable pension annuity and later established a qualified domestic trust. She transferred the corpus portion of the payments to the QDOT, a…
Taxpayers get 60 days for late investment income election
Married taxpayers had investment interest expense and carryovers that exceeded their net investment income. Their return preparer omitted earlier carryovers and failed to advise them that they could e…
S corporation received more time to file original accounting-method forms
An S corporation hired an accounting firm to implement two automatic accounting-method changes involving its inventory. The firm prepared both Forms 3115, timely filed the required copies with the IRS…
Partnership received 120 more days to make a § 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership intended to elect under § 754 to adjust the basis of partnership property. It timely filed its partnership return but inadvertently omitted the elect…
Estate received 120 more days 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 representative represented that the gross es…
Property insurer received more time to make the small-company tax election
A property and casualty insurer relied on a tax professional to prepare its first Form 1120-PC and the election under § 831(b) to be taxed only on investment income. Oversights at the professional's o…
Corporation received 60 more days to elect IC-DISC status
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation. Its accounting firm prepared Form 4876-A, an officer signed it, and another officer was ask…
Acquired company received more time for success-based fee safe harbor
A corporation incurred success-based fees while arranging its acquisition by another company. Its merger agreement required the Rev. Proc. 2011-29 safe harbor election, and its return treated 70 perce…
Partnership received conditional relief for a late § 754 election
A limited partnership failed to make a timely § 754 election for the year in which one of its partners died. The partnership represented that it acted reasonably and in good faith and that late relief…
Consolidated group received more time to waive loss carryback
A consolidated corporate group incurred a consolidated net operating loss and intended to waive the entire carryback period for that loss. The common parent failed to file a valid election with the gr…
Corporation received S election and subsidiary election relief
A corporation's S election was ineffective because spouses with community property interests did not consent and the ownership information on Form 2553 was inaccurate. The corporation also failed to t…
Spouse received more time to opt out of automatic GST allocations
A married couple made cash gifts to three family trusts and elected to treat certain gifts as made one-half by each spouse. Their accountant failed to timely prepare several gift tax returns, so the w…
Donor received more time to opt out of automatic GST allocations
A husband made annual cash gifts to two family trusts, and the spouses elected to treat certain gifts as made one-half by each spouse. Their accountant failed to timely prepare several gift tax return…
Late entity classification election granted 9100 relief
A limited liability company asked for additional time to elect disregarded-entity status after its sole owner acquired it. The company and its owner had filed their relevant returns consistently with …
Estate received more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse, acting as executor, asked for more time to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate had missed the Form 706 deadline but represented that …
Late duplicate Form 3115 filing received an extension
A taxpayer timely filed its original income tax return with Form 3115 for an automatic accounting method change, but did not send the required duplicate Form 3115 to the designated IRS office. The tax…
Late Form 1128 treated as timely filed
A corporation filed Form 1128 late when seeking to change its annual accounting period from a June 30 year-end to a March 31 year-end. It missed the due date tied to the short-period return but filed …
Estate received more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse, acting as executor, asked for more time to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate had missed the Form 706 deadline but represented that …
Estate received more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse, acting as executor, asked for more time to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate had missed the Form 706 deadline but represented that …
Estate received more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse, acting as executor, asked for more time to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate had missed the Form 706 deadline but represented that …
Estate received more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse, acting as executor, asked for more time to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate had missed the Form 706 deadline but represented that …
Estate received more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse, acting as executor, asked for more time to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate had missed the Form 706 deadline but represented that …
Estate received more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse's representative asked for more time to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate had missed the Form 706 deadline but represented that its …
Estate received more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse's representative asked for more time to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate had missed the Form 706 deadline but represented that its …
Estate received more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse's representative asked for more time to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate had missed the Form 706 deadline but represented that its …
Estate received more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse's representative asked for more time to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate had missed the Form 706 deadline but represented that its …
Estate received more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse's representative asked for more time to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate had missed the Form 706 deadline but represented that its …
Late IC-DISC election received a 60-day extension
A domestic corporation intended to elect interest charge DISC status for its first tax year. The corporation and its owner relied on an accounting firm to arrange the election, but a misunderstanding …
Entity received extensions for corporate classification and tax-exempt control elections
A limited liability company wholly owned by a section 501(c)(3) organization missed two intended elections. It failed to file Form 8832 for corporate tax classification and also failed to elect under …
Late corporate classification election received a 120-day extension
A limited liability company intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation before later converting into a state-law corporation. It failed to file Form 8832 on time and requested…
Estate received more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse, acting as executor, asked for more time to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate had missed the Form 706 deadline but represented that …
Estate received more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse, acting as personal representative, asked for more time to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate had missed the Form 706 deadline but re…
Estate received more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse, acting as executrix, asked for more time to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate had missed the Form 706 deadline but represented that…
Estate received more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse, acting as personal representative, asked for more time to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate tax exclusion. The estate had missed the Form 706 deadline but re…
Trust received more time to divide a reverse QTIP election
An estate had made a reverse QTIP election for a marital trust and allocated the decedent's remaining generation-skipping transfer tax exemption to that trust. A later transitional regulation allowed …
Foreign entity received more time to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It requested an extension under Treasury Regulation § 301.9100-3 to mak…
Foreign entity received more time to elect partnership status
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It requested an extension under Treasury Regulation § 301.9100-3 to mak…
Estate receives more time to make QTIP election after revaluation
An estate timely filed Form 706 to elect portability but did not make a qualified terminable interest property election because the surviving spouse believed the estate was too small to fund the marit…
Estate receives 120 days to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. The surviving spouse represented that the gross estate was below the basic …
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign eligible entity wholly owned by a U.S. corporation intended to be treated as a disregarded entity but failed to timely file Form 8832. The IRS found that the entity met the standards for dis…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign eligible entity wholly owned by a U.S. corporation intended to be treated as a disregarded entity but failed to timely file Form 8832. The IRS found that the entity met the standards for dis…
Trust may revoke accidental investment-income election
A trust's accounting firm accidentally elected to treat all qualified dividends and net capital gain as investment income when preparing Form 4952. The elected amount greatly exceeded the trust's actu…
Estate receives more time to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. The surviving spouse, acting as executor, represented that the gross…
Parent receives more time to request consolidated-return waiver
A corporate parent sold a subsidiary and later reacquired it within 61 months, when section 1504(a)(3) ordinarily barred the subsidiary and another company from rejoining the parent's consolidated gro…
Estate receives 120 days to elect portability
An estate did not file Form 706 by its deadline and therefore missed the election that would let the surviving spouse use the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. The estate represented th…
Late portability election receives 120-day extension
An estate missed the deadline for filing Form 706 and electing portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion to the surviving spouse. It represented that the gross estate, includi…
Estate receives extension for portability election
An estate failed to file Form 706 by the deadline for electing portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion to the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gr…
Export corporation receives more time for IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed solely to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation, or IC-DISC. Its managers hired an accounting firm and a law firm to handle the requi…
Estate receives 120-day portability extension
An estate did not timely file Form 706 to transfer the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion to the surviving spouse through portability. The estate represented that its gross value, includi…
Foreign entity receives late partnership-classification relief
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as a partnership for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It represented that it was eligible to elect partnership status effecti…
Executor receives more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse, acting as executor, requested relief after the estate missed the Form 706 deadline for electing portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. The executor rep…
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.