EO Tax Journal

1 – Fresh Off the Wire

The New York Times continues its review of 501(c) organizations involved in politicking and the IRS that seemingly does nothing. Today’s article, “Hidden Under Tax-Exempt Cloak, Political Dollars Flow,” focuses on Americans for Job Security, “a pro-business group based in the Washington suburbs that had spent tens of millions of dollars since the late 1990s roughing up Democrats with negative advertisements around election time” that is “a front for a coterie of political operatives, devised to sidestep campaign disclosure rules.” Americans for Job Security is another nonprofit advocacy group that critics say “allow moneyed interests to influence elections without revealing themselves” by devoting itself “to politically charged ‘issue advocacy,’ much of it negative.”

Emboldened by Citizens United, Americans for Job Security, according to the Times, “paid close to $4 million for ads directly attacking nine Democratic candidates for Congress. That made it among the first to abandon the old approach of running ads that stopped just short of explicitly urging voters to elect or reject individual candidates.”

The article asks “whether, under cover of its tax-exempt mission ‘to promote a strong, job-creating economy,’ the group is largely a funnel for anonymous donations.” A director at Public Citizen is quoted as saying: “A lot of nonprofits game the system, but A.J.S. is unusual in that they so blatantly try to influence elections and evade disclosure. By any common-sense, reasonable interpretation of what they do, they are in violation of the rules.”

According to the article, “In 2007, Public Citizen filed complaints with the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Election Commission, contending that Americans for Job Security spent the vast majority of its resources electioneering — running ads close to elections — contrary to I.R.S. guidelines for tax-exempt, nonprofit business groups. Public Citizen said it never heard back from the I.R.S.”

2 – Yesterday’s Update Continued

Today I am following up on the Associated Press story, “Tax-Exempt Status of 3 Bowls Challenged,” noted yesterday. What follows are a new release and excerpts from the complaint filed by Caplin & Drysdale on behalf of Playoff PAC. Continue…

1 – More on 501(c)(4) Politicking

2 – Alliance Defense Fund and Americans United Square Off Over Pulpit Freedom Sunday

3 – Devilish Plot to Destroy American Way of Life Continue…

I’ll focus on subscribers today. It’s nice to see that a goodly number of U.S. News “Best Tax Law Firms” subscribe to these missives. I can’t take credit for their rankings, but I hope I’m adding a little to their knowledge base. Speaking of subscribers, two were in the news yesterday — Jim Bopp on CBS News and Marc Owens in the New York Times. Marc probably wasn’t too happy to have his firm described as “a law firm popular with liberals seeking to set up nonprofit groups.” And it was great to see Sarah Hall Ingram quoted, as we haven’t heard from her since April. Sounds like the TE/GE Commissioner is advocating a “vote for” or “vote against” standard for political intervention. Continue…

1 – Alaska’s Sandy Deja’s Latest Interesting Tidbit — 990-N Filings

2 – “Most Disturbing Story of This Year’s Election” — New York Times Editorial

3 – Tax Issues in International Philanthropy — Outline Prepared for Friday’s ABA Meeting in Toronto Continue…

1 – More on Milton Hershey School

2 - Times Editorial on Charities and Their Corporate Sponsors

3 – IRS Releases Draft Form EOs Will Use to Calculate New Health Care Tax Credit; Form 990-T To Be Revised to Allow EOs to Claim Credit.

4 – How Many Deja Vus Can There Be? (Bartels Trust v. U.S.)

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