EO Tax Journal

Well, Animal Kingdom didn’t win the Preakness on Saturday, but neither did the world come to an end — apocalypse deferred, I suppose. A couple of weeks ago I had an interview of Heidi Neff Christianson, who gave us a Minnesota EO perspective. Today readers get the New York perspective in the person of Dave Shevlin, whom I got to interview earlier this month at the Washington gathering of the ABA Tax Section. Continue…

Weekend reading while waiting to see if Animal Kingdom can win the Preakness (of course, if tomorrow is truly Judgment Day, we may not have a Preakness). The Viralam case, reprinted below, seems to have escaped notice for a number of reasons, but I think it makes for interesting reading. Continue…

1 – Six Senate Republicans Query IRS on Section 501(c)(4) Gift Tax Enforcement

The IRS has brought this potential brouhaha on itself by years of inaction.

2 – Accountable Care Organizations

Everything you always wanted to know about ACOs but were afraid to ask. Continue…

EO Litigation Developments – Part 2

Last week I mentioned in email update 2011-80 that I had gone to the D.C. Bar luncheon program on “Litigation Developments for Exempt Organizations.” I’m hoping to have a transcript of this program in the near future — as opposed to “soon.”

In the meantime, I’ve been doing my own research into what is going on at the Tax Court, egged on by the Tax Court’s efforts to keep us all in the dark. I’m sending along today information that I have collected on cases that are currently active. I expect to have additonal information as my requests for documents are fulfilled. Continue…

Recently-released PLR 201119036, reprinted below, deals with an organization planning on providing student housing. The IRS denial letter appears correct, but I find it interesting because it is the latest iteration of the IRS’s position regarding organizations providing student housing. And the IRS ruling position has, I believe, applicability beyond student housing and beyond universities, such as:

When is providing help to an exempt organization aiding its exempt mission and when is it a trade or business? When do you need a charitable class and when do you need to provide goods or services at below cost? When do you need control by a charitable organization, say, a university or hospital, and when can you be independent of such control? When does private benefit to vendors and service providers who are in control of an exempt organization outweigh the public benefit of their activities? Under what circumstances will a conflict of interest policy be ignored as a barrier to private benefit or inurement?

Obviously, we could have a daylong program on just these questions, and still not have any firm answers. That’s what makes EO tax law so fascinating and maddening. I’m also including my history of IRS pronouncements and case developments in this area. If anyone is aware of any other developments, please let me know.

Collegiate Housing Developments over the Years Continue…