CATEGORY

Nonprofit Tax

Self-Declared Exempt Organizations
IRS

Self-Declared Exempt Organizations – A Guide to Ensure IRS Compliance

In its 2012 workplan, the IRS announced it will be paying closer attention to self-declared 501(c)(4), (c)(5) and (c)(6) organizations. These groups include social welfare organizations; labor, agricultural and horticultural groups; as well as business leagues and chambers of commerce. Such organizations consider themselves to be tax-exempt because of the nature of their activities, but they have not filed for nor received a formal determination letter from the IRS. These groups are allowed to operate without an official IRS determination because, unlike the 27 month filing deadline for 501(c)(3) charities, they are not subject to a deadline for filing an application for exemption.

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April 10, 2012 No Comments
Form 8989
Nonprofit Tax

Form 990 Filing Requirements Reminder

As the time for calendar year nonprofits to file their annual tax return approaches, many nonprofits will need to remember which Form 990 their organization is required to file. As a refresher, the threshold requirements a different for each organization and depend on both revenue and assets.

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March 6, 2012 No Comments
IRS 2012 Work Plan
IRS

IRS 2012 Work Plan – What’s New for Nonprofits

Each year, the IRS publishes a report detailing what its focus will be regarding nonprofit organizations and compliance during the year to come. The following are some of the highlights from the 2012 Exempt Organizations Work Plan.

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February 27, 2012 No Comments
Late Form 990
Nonprofit Tax

Nonprofits Filing Late Form 990 Face Steep Penalties

Fortunately, for nonprofits with reasonable cause for filing late, there is a silver lining. Code Section 6652(c)(3) provides that penalties assessed for late filing may be waived when the late filing was due to reasonable cause. Accordingly, the IRS will consider waiving the penalties (but not the interest) where the organization can prove the late filing was due to reasonable cause.

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January 3, 2012 No Comments
Unrelated Business Income
Nonprofit Tax

Nonprofit Law Jargon Buster – What is Unrelated Business Income?

Even if you end up having to pay some tax on it, having more income is always a good thing. The primary challenge for tax-exempt organizations is ensuring its unrelated business income is maintained within a relatively safe range of its overall exempt activity. It is acceptable for a tax-exempt organization to operate an unrelated business so long as operating the unrelated business is not its primary purpose. Unfortunately, there is no crisp test for determining when this threshold has been crossed. In determining whether the unrelated business has morphed into the organization’s primary purpose, all of the circumstances must be considered including the size and extent of the organization’s exempt purpose activities.

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August 1, 2011 No Comments
News and Avoiding Scams

Deductions for Nonprofit Volunteers

The Court reasoned that the most important consideration in determining deductibility of unreimbursed expenses is whether or not the volunteer work causes or necessitates the expense. If the expense is incurred solely in connection with one’s duties as a volunteer, such as buying food for a foster pet, the expense is deductible. If, however, the expense is one that would have been incurred regardless of one’s duties as a volunteer, such as repairs or insurance for a car that is used for personal transportation as well as transportation related to volunteer duties, the expense will be considered to have been incurred regardless of any volunteer service, thus it is not a deductible expense.

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July 6, 2011 No Comments
News and Avoiding Scams

Relief for Revoked Nonprofits

Today, the IRS has made public the long awaited list of organizations that automatically lost their tax-exempt status due to their failure to file a Form 990, 990-EZ or 990-N for three consecutive years. The IRS announced that it has revoked the tax-exempt status of approximately 275,000 such organizations, including over 4,000 in Arizona.

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June 9, 2011 No Comments
Corporate Sponsorship
Nonprofit Tax

Corporate Sponsorship or Taxable Advertising?

Generally, exempt organizations are taxed on income from any unrelated trade or business activities regularly carried on by the organization, less any permitted deductions. Promotion of private companies is generally considered advertising – an unrelated business activity. If the recognition given to corporate sponsors is deemed to be advertising, then the sponsorship payment may be taxed as unrelated business income and will not be counted as public support for purposes of qualifying as a public charity.

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May 20, 2011 No Comments

How to Keep your Non-Profit Compliant in All 50 States

Most states require you to register your organization if you solicit donations from their residents. Many states also require registration if your organization collects substantial or ongoing donations from their residents, even if you aren’t specifically targeting donors in that state. Download our comprehensive list of each state’s requirements.

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