Current News and Developments

1 – The EOTJ Mailbag

2 – Universities Still Drawing Senator Grassley’s Ire

5 – Leaders of Islamic Charity Lose Appeal

6 – Deduction Lost, But Donor Acted in Good Faith

7 – ECFA Seeks Public Input on Church Tax Issues

1 – The EOTJ Mailbag

5 – PRIs — Threat to Charity Sector?

1 – Who Says the IRS Doesn’t Answer its Mail?

4 – IRS Letter and Form 990 Survey to Selected Participants

1 – To Think It All Began in 1964

4 – ACGA Seeks Expanstion and Permanent Extension of IRA/Charitable Rollovers

It looks like Harvey Dale, Director, National Center on Philanthropy and the Law (NCPL), and I are at loggerheads. On Friday, November 4, 2011, I prepared today’s email update, which follows. Yesterday I received an email from Harvey voicing his displeasure with my prior reporting. I have reprinted, per his request, his email to me, which follows today’s report. I think we have both made our positions clear, and I’m open to readers’ input on the issues that have been raised.

Yesterday I went to the annual conference of the National Center on Philanthropy and the Law at New York University School of Law. (The conference will conclude today.) The approximately 50 invited guests are a Who’s Who of EO practitioners and academics. The agenda for the conference was “Border Patrol: Charitable Status Despite Inurement or Private Benefit?”

Today members of the EO Committee of the ABA’s Tax Section meet in Denver. I’ll have a transcript of the six panels in the near future. For your weekend reading, I’m sending along the outline to be used by panelists at the session on “Tax Issues Affecting Disaster Relief,” as well as a Fact Sheet on ACOs just released by the IRS.

1 – The EOTJ Mailbag

3 – Senate Finance Committee to Review Incentives for Charitable Giving

1 – The EOTJ Mailbag

2 – Latest EO Committee Meeting Preview

As part of the panel on Healthcare Reform under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, it appears Elizabeth Mills will be discussing joint ventures at the October 21 meeting of the EO Committee of the ABA’s Tax Section. As one can tell from her outline, reprinted below, this is an important area that has largely been ignored by the IRS in recent years. Thirteen years ago we got Rev. Rul. 98-15 and its two extreme examples — good Situation 1 and bad Situation 2. Then we had a couple of court cases and, as Mills notes, we had Rev. Rul. 2004-51, “the most recent Service pronouncement on joint ventures.” Since this is a no-rule area, there are no private letter rulings. It has been reported that the IRS has accepted some joint venture arrangements in the context of applications for exemption, but we’ve learned few details.

Yesterday I went to day one of the annual tax program of the American Health Lawyers Association. The tone of the conference seemed to me to be set by the first session, “Through the Looking Glass,” featuring Theresa Pattara, Tax Counsel to Senator Charles Grassley, and Ron Schultz, who spearheaded the revised Form 990 effort when he was with the IRS, but who now resides within the hallowed halls of PricewaterhouseCoopers. As backdrop, we really needed David Fish’s musical accompaniment, with him singing, a la Mary Hopkins: “Those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end, we’d sing and dance forever and a day.”

As it is, peace reigns in the valley, now that the big bad wolf, Chuck Grassley, has moved to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and his sidekick, Dean Zerbe, to private practice. While Theresa reminded us of those days of lightning bolts, now section 501(r) and the defanged Schedule H are looked upon mostly as profit opportunities for accountants and attorneys, certainly not the feared Armageddon. Ron Schultz reminded us that the worst that came out of those fearful days was the need for a hospital to do a community health needs assessment. Other than some misguided folks in Illinois, all is well in the hospital community, at least from a tax perspective, in year 2011.

Following Pattara and Schultz was Steve Clarke, who is now the IRS’s ultimate authority on all Form 990 matters. He brought with him two colleagues, Judy Kindell and Garrett Gluth. Judy said that for the IRS folks it’s Happy New Year. Again, we needed David Fish, this time to sing Auld Lang Syne to mark the end of the IRS’s fiscal year. Not surprisingly, the EO Division is starting its new year without a workplan, but Judy promises it “soon,” which probably means we can expect it in time for Valentine’s Day. Speaking of the EO Division, my latest roster is already out of date, as Melaney Partner has been selected as the new Customer Education & Outreach director, and Holly Paz will be going on maternity leave, with the aforementioned David Fish acting for her, and Mary Jo Salins acting for him. The good news coming out of the EO Division is that, of the 300,000 automatic revocations, only 4,000 have sought reinstatement to date, indicating that most revoked organizations are defunct, hopefully abating Bill Brockner’s fears that these mass revocations would be cataclysmic for his beloved garden clubs and similar organizations clueless as to their tax obligations. 

1 – The EOTJ Mailbag

2 – Oprah Nudged Out by Gates and Buffett

4 – Whither the EO Division?

1 – EOTJ Mailbag

6 – IRS Revoking Credit Unions by Mistake?

1 – EOTJ Mailbag

3 – ECFA Announcement

With Labor Day approaching, I’m clearing off my desk of old business today so I can start fresh next week. If I missed anything, including your missives, my apologies, but in the last few weeks I’ve survived an earthquake, a hurricane, a power outage, and having my garage struck by lightning, so those are my excuses and I’m sticking with them.

1 – The EOTJ Mailbag

2 – Ellen Aprill Explains All

3 – New GuideStar Publication

1 – More on Compensation

5 – Calling Nan Downing — Have These Guys Been Audited?

1 – Response to Beth Kingsley Interview

4 – Is This Organization a Good (c)(3)? 

1 – Reaction to Latest ACT Committee Report

2 – EO Committee to Meet in the Mile High City