The IRS Tax Exempt Organizations Division has recently made available on their website a list of valuable resources to help managers, founders, board members and organizers of new nonprofit organizations learn more about tax exemption issues. The resource list entitled, “ABC’s for Exempt Organizations” may be found at http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=187787,00.html. Resources include:

• Life Cycle of an Exempt Organization Helpful information about points of intersection between tax-exempt organizations and the IRS, including access to explanatory information and forms that an organization may need to file with the IRS. Separate life cycle sites are provided for different types of nonprofit organizations.
• Applying for Tax-Exempt Status (brochure) Criteria and procedures for applying for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
• Compliance Guide for 501(c)(3) Public Charities (brochure) Activities that may jeopardize a charity's exempt status, federal tax filings, recordkeeping, changes to be reported to the IRS, required public disclosures, and IRS resources. Separate guides are available for private foundations.
• Frequently Asked Questions About Tax-Exempt Organizations
• EO Forms and Publications IRS forms, publications, and internal training materials relating to tax-exempt organizations.
• Employment Taxes for Exempt Organizations Links to information about employment taxes for tax-exempt organizations.
• Schedule of Events Workshops and conferences for exempt organizations.
• On-Line Workshops and Mini-Courses An on-line version of IRS workshop for small and mid-sized exempt organizations, and mini-courses on applying for exemption, foundation status, annual return preparation (Form 990), deductibility of contributions, and resources for exempt organizations.
• Retirement Plan Information for Exempt Organizations Information and resources for tax-exempt organizations interested in establishing retirement plans for employees.
• Exempt Organizations Products and Services Navigator (brochure) Resources for exempt organizations.
• Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations Form 990-N (e-Postcard)

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Nonprofit organizations can provide assistance to disaster or emergency hardship victims in a variety of ways that accomplish charitable purposes. Disaster relief generally takes the form of one or two activities: 1. Aid to individuals, and 2. Aid to businesses. In order for the aid to be seen as a proper 501(c)3 tax-exempt activity, it should fall within the following guidelines:
Aid to individuals—assistance in the form of funds, services, or goods to ensure that victims have the basic necessities, such as food, clothing, housing (including repairs), transportation, and medical assistance (including psychological counseling). The type of aid that is appropriate depends on the individual’s needs and resources.
Aid to businesses—assistance to individual business owners who are financially needy or otherwise distressed to combat community deterioration and to lessen the burdens of government.

Learn more from the IRS by viewing Publication 3833, Disaster Relief: Providing Assistance Through Charitable Organizations, at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p3833.pdf

Please contactus@dandridgelaw.com should you have any questions regarding this post or our services.

Labels: 501c3, disaster relief, emergency, lawyer, nonprofit, tax exempt

If your 501c nonprofit tax-exempt organization has annual gross receipts normally $25,000 or less, it most likely has a new annual filing requirement: Form 990-N. Before the Pension Protection Act of 2006 recently added this filing requirement, small nonprofits had no obligation to file an annual return. The IRS says that this filing requirement was added to ensure that they and potential donors have current information about the organization. The first Form 990-N’s started becoming due in May, 2008 for tax years ending on or after December 31, 2007. Small nonprofit organizations must file Form 990-N annually to avoid penalties and the possible loss of tax-exempt status.

Please contactus@dandridgelaw.com should you have any questions regarding this post or our services.

Labels: 501c3, 990N, attorney, IRS, lawyer, nonprofit, tax-exempt

Taken directly from LegalZoom.com’s website, their disclaimer reads, “LegalZoom is not a law firm, and the employees of LegalZoom are not acting as your attorney. LegalZoom's legal document service is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.” It further reads that, “LegalZoom is prohibited from providing any kind of advice, explanation, opinion, or recommendation to a consumer about possible legal rights, remedies, defenses, options, selection of forms or strategies.”

If you use LegalZoom.com or other do-it-yourself document preparation service with a legal-sounding name to prepare your Nonprofit, Trademark or Copyright application, you run the risk of filing an extremely flawed document. As these types of services merely take otherwise publicly available forms and plug in the blanks with information you provide to them, without the benefit of legal advice and guidance, you may as well give a go at it yourself. Should you choose to have your documents prepared this way, you run a huge risk of filing a flawed application, for which the IRS, US Patent and Trademark Office and Copyright Office may reject for legal reasons outside the scope of this non-legal service.

See the following links for LegalZoom Customer Complaints, Allegations of Consumer Fraud and Critiques

LegalZoom Mistake In Forming Non-Profit Delaware Corporation
LegalZoom Deceptive Trademark Practice
LegalZoom Applied For A Copyright and Never Received It
LegalZoom.com Faces Consumer Fraud Class Action Over Trademark Filing Fees
Zoom Past LegalZoom
What is LegalZoom?

Labels: attorney, copyright, lawyer, LegalZoom, LegalZoom.com, nonprofit, trademark

Many IRS 501(c)(3) churches & religious organizations are not aware that they may risk losing their tax-exempt status by becoming involved in certain political campaign activity. For starters, all 501(c)(3) organizations are explicitly prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) candidates for public office. Some prohibited activities include posting a candidate sign on the church lawn, public statements of candidate preference made by religious leaders, and financial contributions made to political campaign funds.

However, certain political campaign activities are allowed, depending on the facts and circumstances. Allowable activities are generally non-partisan voter education projects, such as non-partisan voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives, the presentation of public forums, and the publication of voter education guides.

Learn more from the IRS about the DOs and DON’Ts of Political Campaign Activity for 501(c)(3) Churches & Religious Organizations (see pages 7-15) at: www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1828.pdf

Labels: 501c3, church, nonprofit, political campaign