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

Acknowledgments

The response to the fifth edition of this book was positive and encouraging; I am grateful for the opportunity to comprehensively update and to consider many issues in more depth. In 1969, when KPMG gave me the task of studying, interpreting, and communicating the new private foundation rules to our Houston clients, I began a search for information to interpret the nonprofit organization tax laws and procedures and often found it lacking. This book represents a compendium of checklists, client memoranda, and interpretive materials developed over the years to provide guideposts for compliance and tax planning for exempt organizations.

My experience has been enriched by a myriad of wonderful people with ideas for improving the human condition and saving the earth. The wealth of altruism and kindness shared by benefactors and volunteers in the nonprofit community is an inspiration. From the vantage point of the funder who wants to create a private foundation, the healer who senses the ability to cure a disease, and the artist who wants to paint a public mural, among many others, I have had the privilege of working with many people to figure out the best financial and tax mode in which to establish an entity that can accomplish those goals. My years as a KPMG tax specialist under the able tutelage of John Herzfeld and Lloyd Jard taught me that tax rules are not black and white; answers are complex and often gray. Achieving the best tax answer requires an exacting ...