Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Guidance Expected on Political Activity For 501(c)(3) Organizations

According to BNA Money and Politics ($$) the Exempt Organizations Division in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will issue precedential guidance on what constitutes political activity based on the IRS fact sheet published in February 2006, but will hopefully provide more precise information for tax exempt organizations going into the 2008 election season. The guidance on political activity for 501(c)(3) organizations was a part of the IRS's first update of its 2006-2007 priority guidance plan.

IRS has not yet cleared the books from its 2004 referrals--complaints from watchdog groups, individuals or others who allege improper campaign activity by tax-exempt organizations. "There were some difficult issues," [Judith Kindell, IRS tax law specialist] said. Moreover, IRS has not finished looking into referrals from the 2006 elections. The service is seeking to avoid falling behind again as it looks toward the 2008 election year. "We are still meeting fairly frequently and looking at the allegations this year, to make sure we are caught up with it," Kindell said.