tim-mooney.com

Check out Alliance for Justice’s NPAN update here.

Last week, the IRS released T.A.M. 200908050 (Feb. 20, 2009). The gist of the memorandum is that the IRS may take a stricter look at affiliated 501(c)(3)-501(c)(4) entities sharing websites when the 501(c)(4) is engaged in political activity that is prohibited for 501(c)(3)s.

Here’s what we’ve always thought (and remember, the IRS rarely gives a lot of spot-on advice, so “what we’ve always thought” is based on educated conjecture based on existing precedent)… a 501(c)3) and it’s affiliated 501(c)(4) can share the same website so long as corporate formalities were followed. In other words, the (c)(4) can be on the (c)(3)’s website, but there had to be some kind of way for the (c)(4) to reimburse the (c)(3) for using that space. The (c)(4) also had to be the entity making the communications as well.

The IRS in this T.A.M. basically added some details to this. The entities involved here had the (c)(4) reimbursing the (c)(3) for the space, but the (c)(3)’s logo and copyright information were splashed all over the (c)(4) page content. That seemed to be a compelling thing for the IRS… more compelling than which entity paid for the communications (endorsements and candidate questionnaires).

Where does this leave us? It does not appear that the IRS is closing to door to shared sites, but it is clear that details matter beyond which group cuts the check for which content. The safest thing would be separate websites altogether – and these days, it’s certainly less of a cost issue to maintain 2 domain names and 2 design schemes than in year’s past. I suspect, although it’s not 100% clear from the T.A.M., that the (c)(3) and (c)(4) could share a domain hosting package so long as they split the costs, and maintain separate websites with separate communications. Linking between the two should still be acceptable under earlier law, but it cannot rise to the level of campaign intervention, so the links are best left as, “we have an affiliated organization and you can read more about that work here.”

I’ll address all of this in an upcoming Nonprofit Law Podcast…

More information – Caplin & Drysdale, IRS Articulates New Standards for Nonprofit Websites

Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards

Download: Nonprofit Law Podcast #51 (mp3, 6:49)

Download: Nonprofit Law Podcast #43 (mp3, 9:11)

Craigslist Foundation Nonprofit Bootcamp
Highly recommend this great day of learning about nonprofits, including nonprofit law
Alliance for Justice session on lobbying was excellent
NYC 2008 Podcasts should be up soon – in the meantime, check out past ones
If you’re in the Bay Area, I highly encourage you to attend the west coast version on October 18, 2008 in San Mateo, CA

IRS revamps Pub 1828, the Guide to Churches and Religious Organizations

- IRS Publication 1828 (PDF) – Designed for religious organizations, but this guide is an excellent parallel resource for secular charities as well
- Inurement and Private Benefit
- No special deals for insiders
- No charitable dollars to individuals’ “private benefit”
- Employment Tax – The basic ins and outs of withholding and other issues
- Payment Of Employee Business Expenses – How to properly reimburse
- Recordkeeping Requirements – Simple rules for keeping the IRS happy if you’re audited
- Substantiation and Disclosure Rules for Donations – What you have to do when you receive tax-deductible donations
- A great index to other relevant IRS pubs (special note to my silver medal for best IRS pub: Publication 557)
- Update reflects some of the examples and guidance from Rev. Rul. 2007-41
- Examples illustrating the application of the facts and circumstances test for campaign intervention
- If you’re a non-religious org, check out the Revenue Ruling… Pub 1828 focuses on the religious org examples

Resources

- IRS Publication 1828 (PDF)

This podcast provides general information about legal topics but it is not a complete discussion of all legal issues that arise in relation to nonprofits nor is it a substitute for legal advice. This podcast does not create an attorney-client relationship. This is general legal information and the contributors make no warranties regarding the general legal information provided in this podcast , and disclaim liability for damages resulting from its use to the fullest extent permitted by the applicable law

Gomez v. Commissioner just came down from the federal Tax Court, and it reinforces something you should absolutely be on top of as a charity… if you receive a contribution over $250, send a letter to your donors stating so. If not, the contribution is technically not deductible and if the donor’s audited, they run a substantial risk of ending up in the same (losing) boat as the taxpayer in this case… more from the Nonprofit Law Prof blog here.

We’ll be having some downtime here at the site as we shift servers on March 20th (next Thursday as I type this). You might experience some delays in getting in touch with us during that process, but everything should be operational in short order. Thanks!

I'm on another bandwidth-limited excursion, so posts may be limitedthis week. In the meantime, check out the latest episode of the podcast on voter guides…

Check out Jed Bodger’s blog focusing on tax-exempt issues… Jed’s an LLM student and a Nonprofit Law Podcast listener. The blog has some great information for anyone interested in this area of law.

I’ll be out and about in upstate New York for the next week or so, so posting might be a little lighter than normal. Those of you who are Nonprofit Law Podcast listeners, the next show will be posted Sunday as usual Saturday night. August seems to bring insane heat and a dearth of news on the nonprofit law front, so enjoy the quiet times!

Some malevolent beast out there is giving the IRS a bad name…. Ok, a worse name (although I think the IRS is cute as a button, quite frankly). CNN reports:

The Internal Revenue Service is warning businesses across the country of two new and potentially devastating e-mail scams which could silently take over their computer hard drives.

The e-mails contain official-looking IRS logos and information, falsely notifying the reader of IRS action against them or their company. A link for further information is actually a hot button that would secretly launch an insidious computer program. That program, known as a Trojan horse, could cause a variety of paralyzing problems as it directly accesses the hard drive.

I hasten to note… the virus almost certainly won’t work on a Mac. But… be careful of IRS emails today people…