Archive for July, 2010
EO Tax Journal 2010-103
The IRS has become an enthusiastic user of questionnaires, so I figured it was time to turn the tables and do a questionnaire on them. All responses will remain confidential unless you indicate that you are willing to have your comments attributed to you. You need not respond to all questions. Please send your responses by July 31 to pstreckfus@aol.com and list subject as “IRS Questionnaire.” Responses will be tallied and summarized for an August report.
EO Tax Journal 2010-102
1 – Old, Old Business
2 – PLR 201028044
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While Gmail has been a great improvement over AOL, I’m still having trouble with what I call Gmail’s stacking. When I send out an email update, I may get five immediate responses, “stacked” on top of the email update that I just sent out. I of course read them. So far so good. But if a sixth response comes in a couple of days later, I have to notice that my “stack” has grown from five to six. Multiply this by numerous email updates and I have stacks all over the place, and not knowing which ones may contain a new response. As I suggested in the past, instead of hitting reply, if you start a new email to me, that will go to the head of the class and have its own separate entry. I know, that’s a pain. I once again give this long-winded explanation because I owe Professor Ellen Aprill of Loyola Law School an apology because I lost in a stack her response to an email update last month, and only recently came across it as I was doing a compilation of email updates for the print issue.
EO Tax Journal 2010-101
Today I’m sending along excerpts of three news items I found of interest, with my comments in CAPS.
1 – Praying or preying for Terri Schiavo
Gary Snyder’s Nonprofit Imperative (gary.r.snyder@gmail.com) had this item in a recent post. Hopefully the IRS has taken note:
EO Tax Journal 2010-100
Record Retention Requirements for Nonprofit Organizations, by Jay Rotz
Mr. Rotz was Assistant Director for the Exempt Organizations Division of the Internal Revenue Service before serving as Tax Manager for George Washington University.
Continue…
EO Tax Journal 2010-99
I have been joking about the frequent bar quips to end EO Committee meetings, and have even suggested members bring their own doctored water bottles — and now I find this time-honored practice is even favored by royalty:
“The royal family is not without its quirks. When Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, came to visit us, they requested glasses of ice before we began a long receiving line. The staff dutifully produced them, and the prince removed a flask from his pocket and added to each a small splash of what I presume was straight gin, so that they might be fortified before the hour or more of shaking hands.”
Excerpt from Spoken from the Heart, by Laura Bush
Good news of two sorts today. One, if you don’t care about section 501(c)(6), you can skip today’s email. Two, if you do care about section 501(c)(6), you should find today’sBluetooth case of interest.
I’ve never considered myself a (c)(6) expert, but I have to wonder why Bluetooth appealed. It seemed to me that the district court had pretty much knocked down all of Bluetooth’s arguments. Of course I’m still wondering why VSP is still litigating. And I guess we shouldn’t be surprised if Free Fertility Foundation also decides to appeal. Maybe a recent comment by a baseball player explains the motivation: “I may strike out a lot but if I connect, it’s a home run.” I suppose hope springs eternal. Continue…