The IRS has ruled privately that a university's issuance of units from charitable remainder trusts for which it serves as trustee, the making or receipt of payments with respect to the units, and the holding or redemption of the units, will not generate unrelated business taxable income to the university.  MORE »

The Service has determined that an organization that helps offset the cost of burial and funeral expenses for members of a particular religious community does not qualify for exemption from Federal income tax as an organization described in IRC section 501(c)(3).  MORE »

The IRS has ruled privately that a trust is granted an extension to elect a section 642(c) charitable deduction for a gift made during a prior tax year.  MORE »

The IRS has ruled privately that a private foundation which received a charitable bequest of 100% of the outstanding shares of a company from its founder, which constitute an excess business holding, will be granted an additional five years to dispose of said holdings based on a reasonable expectation the disposition will occur.  MORE »

The Service has ruled privately that a private foundation's scholarship grants to certain academically-qualified students will not be considered taxable expenditures to the foundation and will be excludable from the gross income of the recipients subject to the limitations provided by section 117 of the Code.  MORE »

The IRS has approved the reformation of charitable remainder unitrust to permit a private foundation to be named as a remainderman. During the process of administering the trustor's estate, the trustor's son/trustee discovered the trust required a public charity be named as remainderman in direct conflict with his father's and surviving mother's wishes. The Service ruled a judicial reformation to eliminate reference to § 170(b)(1)(A) in the definition of "qualified organization" will not cause the trust to fail to qualify as a charitable remainder trust; and, the retention by the decedent trustor to substitute the remainderman will cause only the charitable remainder interest to be includible in father's gross estate under § 2036. Further ruled, father's interest will qualify for a charitable deduction under § 2055.  MORE »

The Service has approved a judicial reformation to correct a miscommunication between a trustor and the trustor's advisors that resulted in the omission of a Flip provision from a charitable remainder unitrust with net income provision. The reformation of the trust from inception will not affect the trust's initial or continued qualification; nor will it result in an act of self-dealing.  MORE »

The Service has ruled privately that a proposed judicial reformation of a charitable remainder unitrust to remove a net income with makeup provision will not constitute an act of self-dealing as defined in section 4941 of the Code. According to affidavits submitted by the parties, the drafting error was based on a misunderstanding as to the liquidity of the trust's underlying assets. Read on to see how this could have been prevented.  MORE »

In a complex fact pattern, the Service has ruled privately that an estate's sale of timber properties to a third-party assignee of a holding company that is a disqualified person with respect to a private foundation created by the decedent, followed by the assignee's cash sale of the property to the holding company, will not be an act of self-dealing. The ruling is based on the "estate administration exception" of the regulations which provides that transactions during the administration of an estate regarding a foundation's interest or expectancy in property held by such estate are not self-dealing if certain conditions are met.  MORE »

The Service has ruled privately that a judicial reformation of two trusts that were created by a revocable living trust following the death of the testator is a qualified reformation under section 2055(e)(3). The reformed trusts will qualify as charitable remainder annuity trusts for which estate tax charitable deductions are allowed under section 2055(a) for the present value of the remainder interests passing to charity.  MORE »