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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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. The estate represented that the decedent’s gross estate was below the basic exclu…
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. The estate represented that the decedent’s gross estate was below the basic exclu…
Estate receives another 120 days after an incomplete portability filing
An estate missed the original portability election deadline and later filed Form 706 under Revenue Procedure 2014-18, but that filing omitted required information. The estate represented that the dece…
Corporation receives 60 days to file omitted Form 3115
A corporate group intended to make automatic accounting-method changes for repairs, units of property, and materials and supplies. Its tax preparer completed Form 3115 and timely sent the duplicate co…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It requested additional time to make the entity-classification electi…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It requested additional time to make the entity-classification electi…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership for an earlier period but did not timely file Form 8832. It also represented that it later became eligible to be disregarded from its …
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It requested additional time to make the entity-classification electi…
Foreign entity receives extra time to elect partnership classification
A foreign eligible entity intended to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes but did not timely file Form 8832. It requested additional time to make the entity-classification electi…
IRS grants extra time to waive a consolidated net operating loss carryback
A parent corporation intended to elect out of the entire carryback period for its consolidated group's net operating loss, and the group filed its returns consistently with that intent. The required e…
IRS grants 120 days for a late estate-tax portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion to the surviving spouse. The estate represented that its gross value, includin…
IRS grants 90 days for a late partnership-classification election
A domestic limited liability company intended to elect partnership treatment for federal tax purposes, effective on a redacted date, but did not timely file Form 8832. Entity-classification elections …
IRS grants 120 days for a late partnership basis-adjustment election
Two partnerships made liquidating distributions, but their tax advisers did not inform them that an IRC § 754 election was available. After one partnership merged into the other, the surviving entity …
IRS grants surviving partnership 120 days for a late section 754 election
Two partnerships made liquidating distributions, but their tax advisers did not tell them about the IRC § 754 election. After one partnership merged into the other, the surviving partnership discovere…
Investment funds receive relief for elections on late-filed returns
Four regulated investment company funds timely extended their returns, but the employees who coordinated filing at the adviser and custodian both left before the extended due date. The unfiled returns…
Estate receives 120 days to make late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate was bel…
Corporation receives 60 days to file late IC-DISC election
A domestic corporation intended to elect interest charge domestic international sales corporation status from its formation. It represented that it mailed a completed Form 4876-A after following an ac…
Estate receives 120 days to make late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate, includ…
Estate receives 120 days to make late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The surviving spouse, acting as personal representative, repres…
Estate receives 120 days to make late portability election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate was bel…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign entity wholly owned by a resident alien missed the deadline to file Form 8832 electing to be treated as a disregarded entity for federal tax purposes. The entity had acquired real property i…
Foreign entity receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign entity's indirect owner intended the entity to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from its formation date, but the entity inadvertently failed to file Form 8832 on time. The IRS conclud…
Taxpayer receives 60 days to undo an unintended Roth conversion
A taxpayer instructed a financial institution to place an after-tax contribution in a new traditional IRA and later move only that amount to a Roth IRA. The institution instead deposited the contribut…
Estate receives extension to elect portability
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate-tax exclusion. The decedent's gross estate, including lifetime taxable gifts, was represente…
IRS cannot accept late election to waive NOL carryback
The IRS considered whether it could accept an election under section 172(b)(3) after the extended due date for the return reporting a net operating loss. It advised that the election deadline is statu…
Partnership receives extension for housing credit election
A partnership placed a low-income housing building in service but inadvertently failed to make a timely section 42(f)(1) election to begin the building's credit period that year. The IRS concluded tha…
Consolidated group receives extension to waive NOL carryback
A consolidated group intended to waive the carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss, and its other returns were consistent with that intent, but it failed to file a valid election with t…
Success-fee safe-harbor election gets 60-day extension
A taxpayer properly deducted 70 percent of a success-based acquisition fee and capitalized 30 percent under the safe harbor in Rev. Proc. 2011-29, but its tax department omitted the required election …
Late portability election treated as timely
An estate below the estate-tax filing threshold missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate later filed Form 706 and request…
Estate receives 120 days for portability election
An estate below the estate-tax filing threshold failed to file Form 706 by the deadline for electing portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount. Because the estate was not otherwise require…
Housing authority gets 45 days for volume-cap election
A public housing authority received private activity bond volume cap for a qualified residential rental project but failed to file Form 8328 to carry the unused allocation forward. Responsibility for …
REIT gets 90 days for two subsidiary elections
A REIT intended two corporations in its investment structure to be taxable REIT subsidiaries, but outside advisers failed to coordinate the required joint Form 8875 elections. The entities had no empl…
Spouses get 120 days to complete GST allocations
A married couple made split gifts to two irrevocable trusts with generation-skipping transfer tax potential. Their Forms 709 reported amounts of GST exemption, but the accountant failed to attach the …
Couple gets 120 days for trust GST allocations
A married couple treated a gift to an irrevocable trust as made one-half by each spouse and reported amounts of GST exemption on their Forms 709. Their accountant advised them to allocate the exemptio…
Estate receives extra time to elect portability for a surviving spouse
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 elect portability for a surviving spouse
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 failed to file Form 706 by the deadline for electing portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount. The estate represented that the decedent's gross estate, including taxable …
Foreign entity receives 120 days for a late corporate classification election
A foreign entity owned through a qualified Subchapter S subsidiary intended to be classified as an association taxable as a corporation from a specified date. It failed to timely file Form 8832 to mak…
Estate gets 120 days to file a late portability election
An estate missed the Form 706 deadline for electing portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount. It represented that the decedent's gross estate, after considering taxable gifts, was …
REIT and subsidiary receive 90 days for a late TRS election
A real estate investment trust and its wholly owned subsidiary intended to file Form 8875 so the subsidiary would be treated as a taxable REIT subsidiary for an acquired hotel property. Their tax advi…
Estate receives 120 days after missing the portability requirement
An estate did not timely file Form 706 to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. It represented that the decedent's estate, after taxable gifts, w…
Estate receives late portability relief after overlooking the election
An estate missed the deadline to file Form 706 and preserve the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. It represented that the estate, including taxable gifts, was below t…
LLC receives 120 days for a late corporate classification election
A two-member entity converted into a limited liability company and intended to be treated as an association taxable as a corporation from the conversion date. It inadvertently failed to timely file Fo…
Spouses receive 120 days to elect out of automatic GST allocations
A husband and wife made transfers to several irrevocable trusts with generation-skipping transfer tax potential and elected gift splitting on their annual gift tax returns. Their tax professionals fai…
Estate receives 120 days to document a decedent's mental incompetency
A decedent created a revocable trust before October 22, 1986, that later continued for descendants across multiple generations. The estate timely filed Form 706 but did not attach a physician's certif…
Foreign entity receives 120 days for a late change to corporate status
A foreign eligible entity had previously made an entity-classification election and later intended to change its classification to an association taxable as a corporation from a specified date. It did…
Foreign entity receives 120 days to elect corporate classification
A foreign eligible entity owned within a consolidated group did not make an entity-classification election when it was formed. It later sought to be classified as an association taxable as a corporati…
Foreign entity receives 120 days for a late disregarded-entity election
A foreign entity became wholly owned through an individual who became a U.S. tax resident on a specified date. The entity was eligible and intended to be treated as disregarded from that date but fail…
Foreign company receives late disregarded-entity election relief
A foreign entity was wholly owned by an individual who became a U.S. tax resident on a specified date. The entity intended to be disregarded for federal tax purposes from that date but inadvertently f…
Taxpayer receives relief for late debt-and-hedge identification
A corporate group issued convertible notes and bought call options intended to hedge the notes' conversion feature. The taxpayer believed integrated tax treatment was automatic and did not timely crea…
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 for the surviving spouse. The personal representative stated that the estate…
Consolidated group receives more time to elect extended loss carryback
A parent corporation failed to timely elect an extended carryback period for a consolidated net operating loss. The failure occurred after the parent reasonably relied on a qualified tax professional …
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 estate represented that the decedent's gross est…
Estate receives portability election relief
An estate did not timely file Form 706 to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate tax exclusion for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that the gross estate and taxable gifts were …
Taxpayer receives more time to allocate GST exemption
A married couple made several pre-2001 cash transfers to an irrevocable trust with generation-skipping transfer potential and elected gift splitting on their Forms 709. Their accountant failed to allo…
Estate receives more time to elect portability
A decedent's estate did not timely file Form 706 to elect portability of the deceased spousal unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The co-trustees represented that the gross estate, inclu…
Estate receives more time to elect portability
A decedent's estate did not timely file Form 706 to elect portability of the deceased spousal unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that its gross value, including t…
Estate receives more time to elect portability
A decedent's estate did not timely file Form 706 to elect portability of the deceased spousal unused exclusion amount for the surviving spouse. The estate represented that its gross value, including t…
Estate receives more time to elect portability
A surviving spouse serving as executor did not timely file Form 706 to elect portability of the decedent's unused exclusion amount. The spouse represented that the estate was below the section 6018 fi…
Foreign insurer receives more time for domestic corporation election
A regulated foreign insurance company timely filed a section 953(d) election statement with its return, then mailed additional information requested by the IRS. The IRS later reported that it had not …
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.