EO Tax Journal

No ‘Hail Mary’ Pass by Grassley to End the Game

Okay, football fans, it’s fourth and 27, with only a few minutes left to play, and your team is behind by five points. Do you punt and hope your team gets the ball back before time runs out or do you throw the ‘Hail Mary’ pass? If Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) were the coach, I’m guessing he would punt.

On Friday, I had Grassley’s news release on his review of media-based ministries and on his request to the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) to consider the issues raised by his investigation and to spearhead a discussion about how to address those issues.

Today I’m adding my thoughts as to these developments. I’m assuming folks have reviewed the related materials on the Senate Finance Committee website (www.finance.senate.gov) and the ECFA website (www.ecfa.org). My conclusion is that Grassley has essentially walked away from the results of his investigation after clearly biting off more than he could chew in taking on these media-based ministries. For anyone coming to this party late, the focus of the investigation was on six media-based ministers preaching a gospel of prosperity which, to one such as myself raised as a Roman Catholic, sounds like an effort to turn the biblical Sermon on the Mount on its head. Evidence uncovered by Grassley’s investigation indicates that much of the prosperity generated by this preaching redounded to the personal financial benefit of the preachers. Continue…

Latest Developments re Six Media-based Ministries

In addition to issuing a press release late yesterday (reprinted below), Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has announced the formation of a commission to go over the tax policy issues involved in media-based ministries. The commission, to be spearheaded by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), will be called the Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations.

The commission will be chaired by Michael Batts, founder and managing shareholder of Batts Morrison Wales & Lee, P.A., an Orlando-based CPA firm exclusively serving nonprofit organizations and their affiliates. Dan Busby, the ECFA’s president, will serve on the commission in an ex-officio capacity. The commission will have seven-to-nine members and other members will be named in the coming days.

The ECFA will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on January 7 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. in the Murrow Room. The ECFA will post information about the commission’s work on its website at: www.ECFA.org/commission. Continue…

1- Proposal to Limit Retroactive Effect of Revocation

The IRS folks in EO should be happy that they mostly escaped the attention of Nina Olson, the Taxpayer Advocate, last year. Legislative Recommendation #6, reprinted below, appears at pages 391-395 of the National Taxpayer Advocate’s 2010 Annual Report to Congress.

2 – Comments on Bond-Financed Grants

Our friends in the tax-exempt bond community give us one more thing to worry about. For their letter to the IRS, see below. Continue…

1 – Love is in the Air — Baucus May No Longer Check “Single” Box

2 – No More Free Lunches and No Cyber Assistant in 2011, But Rulings Remain a Steal at $10,000 Continue…

Seems appropriate we should be talking about football bowl games this time of year, but first some roster changes for the EO Division.

1 – As 2011 Begins, Lots of Actors in EO Division at the IRS

3 – Bowl-bound Schools Spend Millions on Football Continue…