What happens when a reporter calls your nonprofit and asks for its most recent IRS Form 990 information return? Must you provide it to the reporter? A complete version? How soon? And what if you refuse the request?
As most nonprofit leaders recognize, tax-exempt organizations must file an annual IRS Form 990. Until now, e-filing was available only to very large or very small nonprofits. In addition, a nonprofit could lose its tax-exempt status without prior IRS notice, upon three consecutive years’ failure to file Form 990s. But under the newly enacted Taxpayer First Act (H.R. 3151) (“Act”), effective July 1, 2019, the Form 990 filing landscape has changed significantly.
Is it campaign finance reform, or yet another threat of harm to First Amendment rights affecting donors and tax-exempt organizations? This spring, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an “omnibus” campaign finance bill called “For the People Act,” (H.R. 1) which addresses a wide range of election and related matters. The Act expressly excludes Section 501(c)(3) public charities from its donor disclosure and reporting requirements, but not Section 501(c)(4) social welfare or other tax-exempt organizations. While the proposed legislation likely will go nowhere in the Senate, it warrants notable mention in the following ways.