Charitable giving, nonprofit tax rules, and what donors and organizations need to know to give (and receive) the right way.
Making charitable gifts got a little easier this year. Well, for seniors anyway. On August 17, 2006, President Bush signed what was dubbed the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Among other things, the Act finally allows taxpayers the option of making a charitable gift directly from retirement assets without incurring an income tax liability. The…
Everybody in the US (and beyond) seems to agree that the Tax Code is broken. What we can’t seem to agree on is how to fix it. Here’s your chance to offer your two cents… This week’s question: Following up on recent posts about tax breaks for college sports, considering the amount of money available…
Madeline had previously posted an interesting query about the economics and tax implications of (gulp) college football. It’ worth another look in light of this recent post by DevilGrad on a similar issue. There’s even more analysis here. The real question is “Why is a multi-million dollar business, which is not effectively related to a…
You can’t raise taxes in an election year. That wouldn’t be wise. You can raise fees. So, of course, IRS did. As of June 2006, the user fee for an organization with annual gross receipts which have exceeded or are anticipated to exceed $10,000 annually over a 4-year period will be $750. For those organizations that…
You can’t turn on the TV lately without seeing those ads from so-called “debt counseling” services that offer to reduce or eliminate your credit card debt by consolidating your debt, among other plans. Often, those services included significant fees for “helping you” with your debt. Income to the companies that run those gigs? Of course…
For tax year 2003 (the most recent tax year for which data is available), individuals reported noncash donations valued at $36.9 billion. These donations were reported on federal form 8283, Noncash Charitable Contributions, which is required when a taxpayer makes noncash donations which exceed a total $500. Not surprisingly, corporate stock was the largest percentage,…
As reported previously, the IRS will be stepping up efforts to curb election year campaign activities from nonprofit organizations following a particularly active 2004 election season that saw all manner of controversy ranging from targeting church speeches to the infamous Swift boat ads. The IRS released a statement reminding charitable organizations that, as a rule,…
The IRS has announced increases in a number of user fees for tax-exempt organizations, effective July 1, 2006. Specifically of interest, the fee for an initial application for exemption (federal form 1023) for organizations with anticipated annual gross receipts of less than $10,000 will increase from $150 to $300. The fee for organizations with anticipated…
The deadline for tax-exempt organizations to file the Form 990 or Form 990-EZ (informational returns) is May 15. Tax-exempt organizations that cannot meet the deadline may request an automatic three-month extension using Form 8868. In 2006, for the first time, exempt organizations are required to file electronically if the organization has more than $100 million…
The madness of March just got a little… madder? In an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, it was reported that an inquiry has been launched in Congress as to a number of potential tax abuses. We all know that college sports are money-makers. The amount of revenue generated by ticket sales, merchandising, broadcast rights…