In 2008, the IRS conducted a survey of colleges and universities in a number of areas including executive compensation and unrelated business income. About 400 organizations received the survey. Based on the questionnaire responses, the IRS decided to open further investigations into 34 of the surveyed colleges and universities. The results were shocking. A large …
Posts Tagged: IRS
IRS Waives Eligibility Requirements for Employee Reclassification Program
Is your nonprofit incorrectly classifying employees as independent contractors? This has been an area of hot attention by the IRS and Employment Development Department in the last few years and it’s about to get even worse. California employers who willfully misclassify employees are fined between $5,000-$15,000 per incident, in addition to any other penalties or …
IRS Seeks Information from Self-Declarers
Do you know that nonprofits other than 501(c)(3)s (except 501(c)(9), 501(c)(17), and 501(c)(20) orgs) can self-declare their tax exempt status when they file their first Form 990? If you think this can lead to abuse, the IRS agrees. That’s why the IRS has commenced a study of self-declarers. As part of its study, the IRS …
The History of the Charitable Deduction
As happens intermittently in Congress, the charitable deduction is once again closing in on the chopping block. But before you get involved with the debate, have you ever wondered where the charitable deduction came from? The charitable deduction first appeared during World War I, when it was enacted to help charities survive the war since …
The News Makes News
Several years ago, the Law Firm for Non-Profits obtained exemption for an online investigative newspaper. Despite this exemption, a print newspaper was still unsure as to whether the IRS would recognize it as exempt under section 501(c)(3). After 2 ½ years, the IRS has answered this question in the affirmative. Last month the IRS issued …
Avoid the Payroll Tax Plague
When we recently spoke at CalCPA’s nonprofit committee meeting, we mentioned a big issue plaguing nonprofits – failure to pay payroll taxes. For cash flow or other reasons, nonprofits often fail to make these payments to the IRS and the EDD. These agencies have taken notice and are going after nonprofits that fail to make …