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News
Notes
Commentary
Links to Sites of Interest
News
REMOVING THE GAG:
FEC Permits Some Speech
Hidden under last year’s Christmas tree was a tiny present from the Federal Election Commission: a revision of the rules on “electioneering communications” to permit exempt organizations to run ads mentioning federal candidates even close to elections. http://www.fec.gov/law/cfr/ej_compilation/2007/notice_2007-26.pdf. It was a grudging gift, forced by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. v. FEC, 127 S.Ct. 2652 (June 25, 2007).
Removing the Gag...more
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RECOMMENDED CGA RATES TO DROP
APPARANTLY IN RESPONSE TO ECONOMIC DOWNTURN
The American Council on Gift Annuities (ACGA) today altered its recommended rates for charitable gift annuities issued after June 30, 2008. This is a significant development for planned giving. While ACGA has not made any statement to this effect, it appears that the weakening economy and the inability to get combined returns sufficient to support the higher rates to be paid under the old tables (for at least the near term) prompts this action.
CGA rates to drop...more
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Landmark case of FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life II
In the landmark case of FEC v. Wisconsin Right to Life II, challenging the constitutionality of overly broad regulatory provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 ("BCRA"), this firm assisted several nonprofit organizations in preparing an Amicus brief for submission to the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court Brief ..more (.PDF)
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CHARITABLE GIVING FROM YOUR IRA
UNDER THE PENSION PROTECTION ACT OF 2006
Under the new Pension Protection Act of 2006, one who is over 70.5 years of age can cause a distribution to be made from their IRA to a charity that will not cause any income to be taxed to the donor and will cause otherwise taxable amounts remaining in the IRA to be significantly reduced. It is called a Qualified Charitable Distribution or QCD
CHARITABLE GIVING FROM YOUR IRA ..more
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Major Exempt Organization Provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006
On August 3, 2006, Congress passed the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Title XII of the
PPA contains 24 provisions affecting tax-exempt organizations. Some of these provisions are
broadly significant; others affect only a narrow group of organizations. This memo describes
some of those significant changes.
The biggest news is that the changes could have been far worse. For more than two years,
Congress has considered many sweeping changes in the laws governing exempt organizations.
Most of those provisions did not appear in the PPA, and thus appear to be dead for the remainder
of 2006.
http://wjlaw.com/PensionProtectionActFinal.htm
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Sweeping Proposed Changes to Nonprofit Laws
The Senate Finance Committee, which oversees the Internal Revenue
Service's regulation of tax-exempt organizations,
has released a staff draft report suggesting many dramatic changes
in laws governing charities and other exempt organizations.
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Chairman of the Committee,
announced that he intends to introduce bipartisan legislation this fall
to incorporate at least some of these changes.
http://wjlaw.com/SENATEFinanceStaffLetterMemo.htm
W&J Expands Contacts With South African
Charitable and Educational Organizations
Weinberg & Jacobs has
expanded its contacts with South African charitable and educational
organizations. Mark Weinberg now speaks on a daily basis with representatives of
the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the University of Natal. Support for these
organizations is being focused to exclusively charitable and educational programs
through domestic "Friends" organizations. Anyone who is aware of corporations,
individuals or private foundations having an interest in supporting programs of
this type, please contact us.
W&J Develops Expertise in State Licensing
for Collection Agencies
Through its representation of several major collection agencies, the firm
has developed substantial expertise in state licensing requirements.
Ronald D. Jacobs leads the group of attorneys and staff that provide new
licensing and renewal licensing services on an ongoing basis for our
clients. Interested corporations, partnerships, limited liability
companies and limited liability partnerships should contact us to discuss
their specific needs and requirements.
Notes
Public Disclosure Requirements
for Tax-Exempt Organizations
To enhance accountability and maintain its tax privileges, a
tax-exempt organization must meet certain transparency
requirements. Essentially, it must allow the public to inspect
core documents. To successfully discharge this obligation, the
tax-exempt needs to identify those documents that must be
released for inspection, set aside other documents or sections
contained therein that may be excepted or privileged, specify
locations where inspection may take place, navigate through time
constraints, balance resultant costs with reasonable fees, and
avoid penalties for non-compliance. This article is meant to
provide a helpful roadmap. It neither covers the subject
exhaustively, nor is it legal advice. Interested parties should
consult their legal counsel for definitive advice.
With the new regulations that became effective on March 13, 2000,
the IRS subjected private foundations to practically all the
public inspection requirements applicable to other tax-exempt
organizations. In pertinent IRS "speak," a private foundation is
an organization that meets the definition of section 509(a), or
an organization subject to the reporting requirements of section
6033 of the Internal Revenue Code (pursuant specifically to
section 6033(d)), i.e. a non-exempt private foundation.
Overview of the Philanthropy Protection Act of 1995
The Philanthropy Protection Act of 1995 limits the scope of a class
action law suit brought against certain charities and protects charities
in the future from claims of securities violations under certain
conditions. Charitable organizations should follow the link in the
heading and read the full text of the note to determine if they are
affected by this legislation.
Commentary
Separate Penalty Taxes On Management:
A Close Look At How Managers Are Jeopardized
By Intermediate Sanctions
The new legislation attempts to build upon lessons learned from
administration of the Private Foundation rules that have been in place
for over 25 years, plugging loopholes that appeared over that time. As
with the Private Foundation rules, however, administrative difficulties
will be encountered in applying the Intermediate Sanctions. Some of
these are obvious now, others will appear in time. An Organization
Manager is at risk for transactions in which he or she participates that
provided excess benefit either to a disqualified person or to
themselves. The interrelationship between the two exposures is complex
and confusing; considerable effort by the Service, counselors and the
leaders of nonprofit organizations will be required to clarify this
situation. Organization managers should follow the link in the
heading and read the full text of the commentary to determine if they are
affected by this legislation.
Links to Sites of Interest
There are many indexes to the web. Rather than present a
comprehensive list of links, we believe it is more useful to highlight
selected links in specific areas of interest. Our current list of links
focuses on Federal, state and local governments:
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