Tax Planning and Compliance for Tax-Exempt Organizations, 6th Edition

Preface

I had the good fortune to be at KPMG—then Peat, Marwick—when the Tax Reform Act of 1969 created private foundations and significantly revised the tax code pertaining to nonprofit organizations. I essentially had a blank slate with which to begin to develop practice aids, client checklists, and educational materials for use by directors, trustees, and fellow accountants and lawyers to advise clients and prepare or review the annually expanding Form 990 and 990-PF. My experiences and associations during my years of performing services for nonprofit organizations have been and continue to be enriching.

An important goal in writing this book is to remind the nonprofit community that tax-exempt organizations really are taxpayers. Although tax privileges are afforded to organizations determined to be exempt under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) §501(c), the tax code imposes a wide variety of income and excise taxes and penalties for late filings and noncompliance when the rules are broken. As with most tax provisions, the rules are often gray and the impact based upon the particular facts and circumstances of the particular organization in question.

To compound the wealth of information necessary to comply with the rules, Congress, the courts, and the IRS regularly reform the rules now-repealed to exempt organizations. The important 2017–19 tax legislation, including the “parking tax” and “silo” isolation for net losses are presented, along with many new private letter rulings. ...