Two senators are sponsoring legislation which would require the IRS to give nonprofit organizations more advanced notice that they are at risk of losing tax-exempt status. This measure was introduced this past week by Republican Dan Coats and Democrat Ben…
President Obama has once again pushed to limit charitable deduction in the budget he sent to Congress this past Monday. This budget is the seventh budget President Obama has sent to Congress that calls for a limit on tax breaks…
One of the most essential aspects of starting a nonprofit is the organizational governance. Governance starts with the board of directors. Not surprisingly, setting up the original board of directors trips up people right from the start. We often have…
In one of our recent articles, we discussed the importance of having a strong organizational structure and the role of a board of directors within a nonprofit organization. That article will give you a general introduction to the various pieces of…
If your nonprofit is in the midst of shopping for new accounting software, here are a few tips to keep in mind for a pain-free switch. Selecting the right nonprofit accounting system: Accounting software is not one size fits all, so…
Dean Karlan, professor of economics at Yale University, recently wrote an article about determining if a charity is wasting donated money on overhead expenses. In this article, he discusses the “overhead ratio,” which we have discussed in a previous article…
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that audits of tax-exempt groups have been on the decline. Due to its lack of resources and a dwindling workforce, the IRS has only reviewed 0.7 percent of filing charities’ tax returns. Based…
We reported several weeks ago that the U.S. Senate was planning to vote on an extension of three lapsed tax breaks for charitable contributions. The three tax breaks include enhanced deduction for conservation easements, donations from retirement accounts, and breaks…
An article published yesterday by the online newspaper, ProPublica (which claims to focus on stories with “moral force”), is getting a lot of attention. In the essay entitled, The Wall Street Takeover of Charity, writer Jesse Eisinger goes to great…
Ron Wyden, U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman, expects Congress to pass legislation to extend three lapsed tax breaks for charitable contributions. Such extensions would be made permanent. The three tax breaks include the following: enhanced deduction for conservation easements, donations…