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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Community property trust receives income, gift, estate, and basis rulings
A married couple transferred community property to an irrevocable trust that could benefit them, their descendants, and other named beneficiaries through powers shared with a power-of-appointment comm…
Community property trust receives income, gift, estate, and basis rulings
A married couple transferred community property to an irrevocable trust that could benefit them, their descendants, and other named beneficiaries through powers shared with a power-of-appointment comm…
Community property trust receives income, gift, estate, and basis rulings
A married couple transferred community property to an irrevocable trust that could benefit them, their descendants, and other named beneficiaries through powers shared with a power-of-appointment comm…
Estate receives 120 days to make a late QTIP election
A decedent left the residuary estate in a trust that paid all net income to the surviving spouse at least quarterly for life, with the remainder later held for descendants. The estate timely filed For…
Estate receives 120 days to elect portability of unused exclusion
A decedent's estate was below the estate tax filing threshold, and the surviving spouse inherited the estate through the marital deduction. The spouse hired an experienced accountant to advise on the …
Estate gets 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return missed the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. Based on the submitted in…
Estate gets 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate that was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return missed the deadline to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused estate and gift tax exclusion. Based on the submitted in…
Estate receives 120-day extension to make QTIP election
A decedent's revocable trust created a marital trust that paid income to the surviving spouse and held only assets intended to qualify for the estate-tax marital deduction. The estate's return listed …
Estate receives extra time for portability election
An estate that was not otherwise required to file Form 706 missed the deadline to elect portability of the decedent's unused estate and gift tax exclusion to the surviving spouse. Because the return d…
Trust reformation preserves charitable estate tax deductions
A decedent's trust paid a unitrust amount to children and descendants, with portions shifting to a foundation as beneficiaries died and the remainder ultimately passing to charity. The trust initially…
Trust modification preserves GST exemption without estate or gift tax
A trust created before September 25, 1985 proposed changing how assets would be held for the grantor's descendants after the primary beneficiary's death. Instead of distributing shares outright at age…
Descendant trust changes retain GST-exempt status
A grandfathered trust proposed replacing age-21 outright distributions to descendants with lifetime separate trusts for each beneficiary. The new terms would permit discretionary support distributions…
Lifetime descendant trusts preserve tax treatment
A pre-1985 irrevocable trust proposed modifying descendant shares that otherwise would have been distributed outright at age 21. The new provisions would keep each share in a lifetime discretionary tr…
Grandfathered trust may create lifetime beneficiary shares
A trust irrevocable before September 25, 1985 proposed converting descendant shares from age-21 outright distributions into lifetime separate trusts. Each trust could make discretionary support distri…
Modified descendant trusts keep GST grandfathering
A grandfathered irrevocable trust proposed holding descendant shares in separate lifetime trusts rather than distributing them outright when beneficiaries reached age 21. The modified terms would auth…
Descendant share modification avoids transfer taxes
A pre-1985 trust proposed changing descendant shares from mandatory income and outright age-21 distributions to separate lifetime discretionary trusts. Beneficiaries would receive testamentary general…
QTIP trust severance isolates spouse's disclaimer
A marital trust had been elected as qualified terminable interest property and divided into GST-exempt and GST-nonexempt shares. The trustee proposed splitting the nonexempt share into a cash trust an…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return because the decedent's gross estate and adjusted taxable gifts were below the filing threshold. The estate nevertheless needed to file…
Estate received 120 days to file a late portability election
An estate represented that it was below the section 6018 filing threshold and therefore was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return. It still needed Form 706 to elect portability of the de…
Estate received 120 days to make a late QTIP election for marital trust
A decedent's trust divided into a marital trust for the surviving spouse and a family trust for the children. The spouse was entitled to all marital-trust income, could receive principal for specified…
Erroneous QTIP election voided and late reverse QTIP relief granted
A decedent's trust divided into Trust A and Trust B, both of which provided income and possible principal for the surviving spouse. Trust B also required recurring payments from corpus to the decedent…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate represented that the decedent's gross estate and adjusted taxable gifts were below the threshold requiring an estate tax return. The estate still needed a timely Form 706 to elect portabilit…
Estate received late QTIP and reverse QTIP election relief
A decedent's revocable trust divided the marital share into generation-skipping transfer tax exempt and nonexempt trusts for the surviving spouse. The spouse was entitled to all income and could recei…
Estate received 120 days to file a late portability election
An estate represented that it was below the section 6018 filing threshold and was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return. It nevertheless needed Form 706 to elect portability of the deced…
Estate received 120 days to make a late portability election
An estate represented that the decedent's gross estate and adjusted taxable gifts were below the threshold requiring an estate tax return. It still needed to file Form 706 to elect portability of the …
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Trust reformation respected for power-of-appointment and GST tax purposes
An irrevocable trust for six children and their descendants contained a drafting error that allowed annual withdrawal rights to lapse beyond the greater of $5,000 or five percent of trust assets. A st…
Estate received late alternate valuation election relief
An estate’s personal representative timely filed Form 706 after relying on a law firm, but the firm did not advise making the section 2032 alternate valuation election. During preparation of the estat…
Estate received 120 days for a reverse QTIP election and trust severance
An estate made a QTIP election for a marital trust, but its accountant failed to attach Schedule R, advise the executor to divide the trust into GST-exempt and nonexempt shares, or make a reverse QTIP…
Formula term qualified charitable lead annuity interest
A revocable trust directed its residue to a charitable lead annuity trust after the deaths of the grantor and spouse, either directly or through a marital trust. The charitable trust would pay a five-…
Charitable lead trust termination avoided private-foundation tax
A testamentary charitable lead annuity trust paid an escalating quarterly annuity to a charity, later divided between two successor foundations, with the remainder passing to the grantor's children. T…
Estate received 120 days to elect portability
An estate was not otherwise required to file an estate tax return because its gross estate and adjusted taxable gifts were below the filing threshold. It nevertheless needed a timely Form 706 to elect…
Missed portability election received a 120-day extension
A surviving spouse's tax advisor did not tell her that the deceased spouse's estate needed to file Form 706 to elect portability of the unused exclusion amount. The estate represented that its value a…
QDOT received 120 days to report surviving spouse's citizenship
A noncitizen surviving spouse established a qualified domestic trust and later became a United States citizen after continuously residing in the country. No principal distributions were made before ci…
Pro rata division of grandfathered trust was tax neutral
An irrevocable pre-September 25, 1985 trust for a son and his issue proposed dividing pro rata into five equal subtrusts, one for each child and that child's issue, because the children had different …
Estate must use death-date values when they produce lower tax
An estate elected alternate valuation believing that the alternate-date values would reduce both the gross estate and the combined estate and generation-skipping transfer taxes. Examination adjustment…
Trust funding stayed incomplete while committee powers avoided transfer tax
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and family members, retaining consent, support-limited, and testamentary appointment powers while a family committee held joint distribu…
Retained trust powers kept the transfer incomplete
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and family members, retaining consent, support-limited, and testamentary appointment powers while a family committee held joint distribu…
Joint trust powers avoided committee transfer tax
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and family members, retaining consent, support-limited, and testamentary appointment powers while a family committee held joint distribu…
Family committee powers did not create taxable gifts
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and family members, retaining consent, support-limited, and testamentary appointment powers while a family committee held joint distribu…
Retained appointment powers prevented a completed gift
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and family members, retaining consent, support-limited, and testamentary appointment powers while a family committee held joint distribu…
Trust committee distributions avoided member gift tax
A grantor created an irrevocable domestic trust for the grantor and family members, retaining consent, support-limited, and testamentary appointment powers while a family committee held joint distribu…
Possession resident treated as nonresident noncitizen for transfer taxes
A taxpayer was born abroad to parents who were not U.S. citizens and later moved to a U.S. possession, where he became a permanent resident and then a naturalized U.S. citizen. The IRS found that he d…
Estate gets 120 days to make late portability election
A decedent's estate was below the filing threshold for a mandatory federal estate tax return but did not timely file Form 706 to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount. The…
Estate gets 120 days to make late QTIP election
A decedent's will funded a marital trust that paid all net income to the surviving spouse at least quarterly and permitted principal distributions for the spouse's health, maintenance, or support. The…
Estate gets 120 days to make late portability election
A decedent's estate was below the filing threshold for a mandatory federal estate tax return but did not timely file Form 706 to elect portability of the deceased spouse's unused exclusion amount. The…
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.