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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Parent receives more time for unified-loss basis election
The parent of a consolidated group transferred stock of a subsidiary in a restructuring and missed the deadline for an election under Treas. Reg. § 1.1502-36. The election would reduce the parent's ba…
Donor receives more time to opt out of automatic GST allocation
A donor made a cash gift to a trust with generation-skipping transfer tax potential and hired tax professionals to prepare the gift tax return. The professionals failed to elect out of the deemed allo…
Corporation receives more time to elect IC-DISC status
A domestic corporation was formed to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation. Its law firm said it would organize the entity and prepare Form 4876-A, but it miscalculate…
Foreign corporation receives more time for branch-profits election
A foreign corporation's timely Form 1120-F calculated branch profits tax consistently with an election to reduce its U.S. liabilities. Its accounting firm omitted the required statement formally makin…
REIT receives more time to make consent-dividend election
A limited liability company elected real estate investment trust treatment on its first tax return but did not claim the dividends-paid deduction required for REIT qualification. Its accounting firm o…
Foreign entity receives more time to elect disregarded status
A foreign eligible entity was wholly owned by an S corporation through a qualified subchapter S subsidiary. The owners intended from formation to treat the foreign entity as disregarded for federal ta…
QDOT trustee receives more time to report spouse's citizenship
A decedent left property in a qualified domestic trust for a surviving spouse who was not a U.S. citizen. The spouse later became a citizen after continuously residing in the United States but did not…
Consolidated group receives more time to waive loss carryback
A consolidated corporate group incurred a consolidated net operating loss and intended to give up the loss carryback period. Its return was prepared consistently with that choice, but a valid election…
Mistaken Roth deposit may be recharacterized as traditional IRA rollover
A former employee directed retirement-plan savings to a newly opened traditional IRA, and the rollover check identified that account. The financial institution mistakenly deposited the money into the …
Estate receives 120 days to elect portability
An 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 executrix represented that the estate, including…
Surviving spouse receives 120 days to elect portability
A surviving spouse serving as executor missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. The spouse represented that the estate was below the fi…
Couple receives 120 days to opt out of automatic GST allocations
A taxpayer created an irrevocable trust for a spouse and four children, then later made cash gifts that the spouses elected to split for gift tax purposes. Their tax professionals prepared the gift ta…
Estate receives 120-day portability extension after missed filing
An estate discovered after the deadline that it had not filed Form 706 to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the dece…
Late Form 706 portability election receives 120-day extension
An estate failed to file Form 706 by its due date to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. It represented that the gross estate and lifetime taxable…
Estate receives relief for missed portability election
An estate discovered after the filing deadline that it had not submitted Form 706 to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. It represented that the gross estate and taxable l…
Executrix receives extension for portability election
A surviving spouse acting as executrix failed to file Form 706 by the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. She represented that the estate was below the filing …
Late general asset account election allowed for nine buildings
An S corporation's disregarded subsidiary acquired and placed nine buildings in service, but the accounting firm preparing the return failed to make the general asset account election under IRC § 168(…
Executor receives 120 days for late portability election
A surviving spouse serving as executor discovered after the deadline that the estate had not filed Form 706 to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion. The spouse represented t…
Partnership receives 120 days to make late § 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership had an ownership interest transferred during a tax year. Its tax adviser did not tell it that a § 754 election was available, so the partnership fail…
Entity receives 120 days to file late corporate classification election
An eligible business entity intended from its formation date to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation. Through inadvertence, it did not timely file Form 8832 to make that classificatio…
Executrix receives 120-day extension to elect portability
An estate did not timely file Form 706 to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The executrix represented that the decedent's gross estate and lifet…
A late deemed-sale election received a 60-day extension
A corporation left its parent's consolidated group after an initial public offering and elected regulated investment company status. The parent should have filed an election under Treasury Regulation …
A late section 336(e) election statement received more time
A disregarded buyer acquired all the stock of an S corporation in a transaction the parties intended to treat as an asset disposition under section 336(e). The seller and target signed the required bi…
A foundation received 60 days to perfect conduit elections
A private foundation intended to qualify as a conduit foundation by treating prior excess qualifying distributions as current distributions out of corpus. Its return preparer calculated carryovers con…
An estate received 120 days to elect portability
An 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 surviving spouse, acting as executor, represente…
A partnership received 120 days to make a section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership purchased portions of several members' interests through installment payments. It filed its return without a section 754 election because it relied o…
An estate received 120 days to elect portability
An 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 its value, including tax…
An estate received 120 days to elect portability
An 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 its value, including tax…
An estate received 120 days to elect portability
An 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 its value, including tax…
A partnership received 120 days to make a section 754 election
Interests in a limited liability company taxed as a partnership passed to several recipients after two partners died. The partnership filed its return without a section 754 election because it did not…
A trust received time for severance and a reverse-QTIP election
A decedent's revocable trust directed the trustee to create one share funded with the decedent's unused generation-skipping transfer tax exemption and another share for the balance. The original trust…
An estate received 120 days to elect portability
An 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 its value, including tax…
A foreign entity received 120 days for a partnership election
A foreign eligible entity whose owners all had limited liability intended to be classified as a partnership from its formation date. It failed to file Form 8832 on time because of inadvertence, while …
A success-fee election statement received 60 days for correction
A corporation acquired a target in a taxable stock purchase and paid a contingent advisory fee. Its return deducted 70 percent and capitalized 30 percent under Revenue Procedure 2011-29, and it attach…
A success-fee election statement received 60 days for correction
A corporate group acquired a target through a disregarded subsidiary and paid a contingent advisory fee. Its consolidated return deducted 70 percent and capitalized 30 percent under Revenue Procedure …
A success-fee election statement received 60 days for correction
A corporation bought an S corporation's stock and joined the seller in a section 338(h)(10) election. Its consolidated return deducted 70 percent and capitalized 30 percent of a contingent advisory fe…
A foreign entity received 120 days for a partnership election
A foreign entity with two owners intended to be classified as a partnership from its formation date but failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS found the section 301.9100-3 relief standards satisfie…
A technically terminated partnership received late section 754 relief
An unrelated buyer acquired more than half of a partnership's interests, causing a technical termination under former section 708(b)(1)(B). The partnership intended to attach a section 754 election to…
An estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate filed Form 706 after the deadline for electing portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that its value, including tax…
Late commodities mark-to-market elections received relief
An entity had long used section 475 mark-to-market accounting for commodities while treated as disregarded. A retroactive entity-classification election made it a new corporate taxpayer, but its advis…
Late partnership-classification election received relief
A foreign eligible entity with two owners intended to elect partnership classification for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. The IRS concluded from the submitted information and …
Estate received 120 days to elect portability
An 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 decedent's gross estate, including taxable gifts…
Estate granted 120-day portability-election extension
An estate failed to file Form 706 by the deadline for electing portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion. The estate represented that the gross estate was below the basic exclus…
QDOT trustee received more time to report spouse's citizenship
A surviving spouse who was not a U.S. citizen received property through a qualified domestic trust and later became a citizen. The U.S. co-trustee did not learn of the citizenship change in time to fi…
Estate received 120-day extension to elect portability
A surviving spouse serving as executrix missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion. She represented that the decedent's gross estat…
Estate granted more time for 2010 carryover-basis election
The estate of a nonresident alien who died in 2010 failed to file Form 8939 by the deadline. That form would elect out of the reinstated estate tax and instead apply the modified carryover-basis rules…
Corporation received 60 days to make IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation was formed solely to operate as an interest charge domestic international sales corporation. Its accounting and law firms each believed the other had filed Form 4876-A, so the c…
QDOT trustee granted late citizenship-notice relief
A qualified domestic trust was established for a surviving spouse who was not a U.S. citizen when the decedent died. The spouse later became a citizen after continuously residing in the United States.…
Dormant LLC's corporate election treated as initial classification
A limited liability company remained dormant after formation, with no assets, income, liabilities, bank accounts, operations, or board meetings. Before it acquired property and began business, it file…
Parties granted late section 336(e) election relief
A purchaser acquired at least 80 percent of an S corporation's stock through a disregarded LLC. The purchaser, seller, and target intended to elect under IRC § 336(e) to treat the qualified stock disp…
Foreign entity granted late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes. It failed to file Form 8832 on time for the desired effective date. The entity requested a…
Foreign company received late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign eligible entity intended to be classified as disregarded from its owner for federal tax purposes. It did not timely file Form 8832 for the intended effective date. The entity asked the IRS f…
Foreign entity allowed a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign eligible entity planned to be treated as disregarded from its owner for U.S. federal tax purposes. It failed to submit Form 8832 by the deadline for its intended effective date. The entity r…
Estates granted relief for GST elections and trust severances
A tax professional mistakenly reported gifts to two trusts as outright gifts to the donors' children, causing the married donors to miss elections out of automatic generation-skipping transfer exempti…
Partnership received 120 days to make section 754 election
A limited liability company taxed as a partnership redeemed ownership interests but inadvertently failed to make a timely IRC § 754 election. That election permits partnership-property basis adjustmen…
Executor granted 120 days to elect portability
A surviving spouse serving as executor failed to file Form 706 by the deadline for electing portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion. The executor represented that the estate w…
Estate received relief for GST allocations and election-outs
A married donor funded five trusts for grandchildren and elected gift splitting with the donor's spouse. Their first tax preparer failed to allocate the spouse's generation-skipping transfer exemption…
Donor receives extra time for GST exemption allocations and an election out of automatic allocation
A donor created five trusts for grandchildren and made later direct-skip gifts. Tax professionals prepared the donor’s gift tax returns but failed to allocate generation-skipping transfer tax exemptio…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect corporate classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a corporation for federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It asked the IRS for additional time to make the entity-classification ele…
Corporation receives late safe-harbor election for acquisition success fees
A corporation paid success-based fees for two acquisitions and deducted the entire amount after relying on two accounting firms. A later auditor determined that the fees should have been substantiated…
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.