EO Tax Journal

Weekend reading thanks to Victoria Bjorklund and Phil Hackney. Their outline was sent out yesterday.

Update on Supporting Organizations and Donor-Advised Funds

What follows are the April 28 remarks of Victoria Bjorklund, Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, New York, and Phil Hackney, Office of Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service, Washington, as delivered to attendees of the annual Georgetown Law program on Representing & Managing Tax-Exempt Organizations. The moderator is Celia Roady, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Washington. Continue…

Truth is often funnier than fiction. Yesterday my hometown newspaper, the Baltimore Sun, had a story about attorney Stanley Needleman (wasn’t he in Animal House?) who is accused of stealing a judicial clerk’s textbook while in court. Seems Needleman was caught on the court’s surveillance cameras taking the textbook valued at $41. Needleman is claiming his innocence of course, but in April his home was raided by DEA agents who seized $600,000 in cash. While allegedly engaged in the textbook theft, Needleman was also representing a client who got a ten-year sentence for possessing drugs with intent to distribute. I wonder how the client feels about his representation? And why is Needleman still representing clients in court? Probably best not to ask.

The IRS has officially announced that the TE/GE Advisory Committee will hold its annual public meeting on June 15. See IR-2011-60 for details if you wish to attend (photo identification required, body scans optional). The EO members will be presenting their report, “Group Exemptions — Creating a Higher Degree of Transparency, Accountability, and Responsibility.” The TEB members’ report is “The Role of Conduit Issuers in Tax Compliance.”

Today I’m sending along Victoria Bjorklund’s outline that she prepared as background for her queries to Phil Hackney at the recent Georgetown program on tax-exempt organizations. Phil left the IRS for academia (LSU Law School) on May 20 but he had been one of the IRS’s experts on SOs and DAFs. Folks who are familiar with SOs and DAFs can skip the General Overviews and go directly to Victoria’s Current Developments and Questions. Tomorrow I will have a transcript of her remarks and Phil’s responses to her questions. Continue…

1 – Capitol Hill Update

2 – Recent Employee Plans Posting on www.irs.gov of Interest to Higher Education Organizations Continue…