The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted today to hold Lois Lerner, former IRS exempt organizations division head, in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer the Committee’s questions regarding her involvement in the 501(c)(4) scandal. The news is certainly no surprise after the damning report the Committee released last month about Lerner. It …
Posts By: Jessica Shofler
Retroactive Deductions for Philippines Relief Donations
The Philippines Charitable Giving Assistance Act, enacted March 25, 2014, allows taxpayers who make cash contributions on or before April 14, 2014 for Philippines typhoon relief to claim charitable deductions for the contributions on their 2013 returns. Eligible contributions may be claimed on either a 2013 or 2014 return, but not both. “Cash” contributions include …
Florida Considering Tightening the Reigns on Charities and Fundraisers
Remember when we told you about the nation’s 50 worst charities? Florida’s lawmakers noticed that 11 of those worst offenders were based in Florida. In an effort to clean up Florida’s charities, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam has proposed a plan to tighten regulations on Florida’s charities and for-profit fundraisers. (The state charity registrar in Florida …
Data Breaches Aren't Just for For-Profits
What does the data breach that happened at Target last year have to do with your nonprofit? You may remember that the breach enabled access to the credit and debit accounts of 40 million Target shoppers. This reportedly caused Target to incur $61 million in expenses. But Target’s insurance is expected to cover $44 million …
Effectiveness of Small Family Foundations
You have probably heard of behemoth family foundations, like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, taking on huge causes, like fighting AIDS and malaria. Is it possible for smaller family foundations to also make an impact? YES, according to the Wall Street Journal. In a recent article, the WSJ reported that small family foundations are …
IRS Fixes Retroactive Automatic Revocation Catch-22
You probably know that it can take a very long time for the IRS to review your organization’s exemption application. What you may not know is that a new nonprofit is required to file its Form 990, 990EZ, or 990N-ePostcard even while its application is pending. This means that it is possible that by the …