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Thursday, June 29, 2006

Chronicle Article Details the Details of the Grassley Tax Bill
The Chronicle of Philathropy provides a good overview of the Grassley tax bill. It can be found here.

The article quotes lobbyist Rick Grafmeyer's view on the packageThe chairman is letting the charitable community know that unless there is action on the larger package, he will start moving on his own to pass the reforms he thinks are needed, without the other provisions," said Rick Grafmeyer, a Washington lawyer who lobbies Congress on behalf of several nonprofit groups.

More details can be found here as well. 501cstrategies says:

Chairman Grassley unexpectedly rolled these reforms into S. 1321 though a manager’s amendment. Chairman Grassley’s action - moving select charitable reforms in a piecemeal fashion — likely illustrates his frustration that comprehensive legislation to crack down on nonprofit abuses of tax law has stalled in the Senate and not moved in the House due to fierce opposition from many in the nonprofit sector. This piecemeal approach, however, threatens to leave behind many of the charitable giving incentives that have been paired with charitable reforms in the past.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 03:18:28 PM

Grassley Puts Charitable Reforms In Catch-All Tax Bill
The Senate Finance Committee yesterday approved a number of charitable reforms. The reforms, which were unexpectedly rolled into a tax-adminstration bill via Sen. Chuck Grassley's (R-IA) manager's amendment, includes increased excise taxes, requiring electronic filing of Form 990, and a requirement that non-profits that currently do not file tax returns at all to provide the IRS with general information every three years.

Grassley issued a press release on the bill on Wednesday. He talked about the broad probe he has been conducting at abuses by tax-exempt groups. The press release says:

In addition, he is looking at problems raised by the charitable foundations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and a group called the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), which some allege sets up non-profit groups to receive federal grants and engage in political advocacy.

He has asked the IRS to describe plans to step up enforcement in the various areas of concern in the tax-exempt arena. According to the press release, he expects a response in the next several days to determine what will be the committee's "next steps".

For a more detailed summary of the bill, see the JCT report

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 12:38:19 PM

Roll Call Says Oversight Needed
From Roll Call:

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee has set a standard for what Congressional oversight should be, but often isn’t, with its investigation of the fleecing of American Indian tribes by disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Now, it’s time for the Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees to follow up with probes of his, and others’, misuse of tax-exempt foundations.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 11:41:45 AM

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

IRS Modernizes Website's E-File Page
Check it out.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 10:18:49 AM

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Shays-Meehan To Introduce New Lobby Reform Bill
From Roll Call:

[Reform] groups are set to rally around a bill expected this week from Reps. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) that will include reform provisions that were dropped or blocked from the leadership-approved overhaul measures.
The bill would create an Office of Public Integrity to oversee compliance with new lobbying rules; require more frequent and fuller disclosures by lobbyists of their activities; ban gifts to lawmakers; and force them to pay fair market value for rides they catch on private planes.
“This will serve as a marker for the reform groups who will be criticizing the conference report,” said Public Citizen’s Craig Holman.
To try to keep campaign and ethics reform measures front and center in this fall’s midterm elections, a coalition of watchdog and issue groups on Wednesday plan to launch a program designed to get Congressional candidates to sign a pledge that they’ll support public financing of elections as well as anti-corruption and lobbying reforms, Holman said.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 02:58:27 PM

Friday, June 16, 2006

Form 990 Revisions Will Be Available for Comment in May 2007
According to BNA, the IRS will be making a draft of a redesigned Form 990 available for comment by May 2007 for the 2008 tax year. Exempt Organizations Director Lois Lerner, at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants conference on June 14 said that the "form is being completely redesigned so that, first and foremost, it can be used as a compliance tool for IRS". And,she said, "We are trying to make the form make sense".

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 05:45:24 PM

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Grassley Wants Examination of Executive Pay at Smithsonian
Sen. Charles Grassley has asked the Smithsonian Institution's Inspector General to investigate executive pay throughout the museum.

According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy:

The Smithsonian, which has legal status as a tax-exempt charity, receives nearly 80 percent of its funds from federal sources. It has requested more than $600-million in federal appropriations this year. In 2004, the most recent year for which figures are available, it raised $122-million from private sources, placing it among the top 400 charities in fund raising, according to The Chronicle's annual survey of the charities that raise the most money.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 04:29:34 PM

Friday, June 09, 2006

Report Recommends Changes to the Form 990
The Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT) presented its fifth annual report of recommendations to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). One section of the report, “Policies and Guidelines for Form 990 Revision,” contained seven broad recommendations, including eliminating the $25,000 threshold for registering.

According to 501cstrategies:

IRS officials indicated support for most of the recommendations. Lois Learner, Director of the the Exempt Organizations Divisions, said the ACT’s Form 990 recommendations “all make sense” but added that it would certainly be too expensive to make all the proposed changes at once.
As has taken place with ACT recommendations from previous reports, some have been implemented while others continue to be discussed in the hopes of being implemented. According to Robert E. Donovan, Chair of the ACT, the same will occur for this year’s recommendations. Some can be implemented immediately he said, while others may take years.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 02:49:50 PM

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Report on Privately Funded Trips on Capitol Hill
A Washington Post article on a report issued by the Center for Public Integrity, American Public Media and Northwestern University's Medill News Service.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 11:53:08 AM

Friday, June 02, 2006

Grassley Looking at Tax-Exempt Organizations Again
An article in BNA this morning indicates that Grassley is interested in looking at the 501c4 - 527 connection.

Grassley's letter said that, as the Justice Department continues its investigation into congressional corruption, the Finance Committee has reviewed numerous documents relating to charities and social advocacy organizations directly or indirectly related to former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, as well as similar groups with "patterns akin to those associated" with Abramoff. Grassley said he is concerned that some of those groups are disguising lobbying and political activities, in violation of their tax-exempt status.
While not related to Abramoff, Grassley said he is most concerned about the circumvention of the requirements of Internal Revenue Code Section 527 by the use of 501(c)(4) organizations. Grassley wrote about a number of concerns, among them that some of the organizations' activities might generate unrelated business taxable income, and asked Korb to detail whether he receives cases or ruling requests involving these issues and if IRS plans to issue any guidance in the area.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 02:10:34 PM

Thursday, June 01, 2006

DC Seeks More Power Over Nonprofits
From the Examiner:

D.C. government wants to give prosecutors more power to enforce laws against organizations that abuse their tax-exempt status or mishandle their money, but some nonprofit groups are saying they are already sufficiently regulated.

Posted by Jennifer Lowe, 03:45:31 PM

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