[EL] IRS report on actions and next steps

[Daniel Abramson]

One notable item from this report - the IRS has apparently settled on 40%
as the threshold for determining whether an organization is "primarily
engaged in social welfare activity."  See:

"Initiated a new process whereby certain taxpayers whose applications for
501(c)(4) tax exempt status had been identified for potentially
inappropriate
campaign intervention and have been in our backlog for more than 120 days
have the option of obtaining an approval if they self-certify that no more
than 40% of their expenditures and voluntary person-hours will go toward
political campaign intervention activities and that at least 60% of their
expenditures and voluntary person-hours will go toward promoting social
welfare;" Page 14.

"5. We chose the thresholds described here (below 40% for political
campaign intervention activity and above 60% for social welfare
activity) and provided special instructions for measuring activities
in order to provide a basis for determining what is meant by
“primarily” engaged in social welfare activities (with the
understanding that no precise definition exists in relevant revenue
rulings, cases, or regulations for “primarily” in this specific context
and that the statute does not provide clear guidance on how the
determination should be made). Organizations that wish to be
evaluated under all the facts and circumstances rather than to
conduct their own measurements retain that option via Path 1"  Page 25.

Presumably this is all subject to change, but for now it adds significant
clarity.

Daniel


On Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 2:01 PM, John Pomeranz
<jpomeranz at harmoncurran.com>wrote:

>  Acting IRS Commissioner Werfel has released his promised 30-day report
> outlining the problems found, the measures taken to address them to date,
> and the next steps.  Here’s the IRS release, with links to the longer
> report and associated documents.****
>
> ** **
>
>
> http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/Report-Outlines-Changes-for-IRS-To-Ensure-Accountability,-Chart-a-Path-Forward;-Immediate-Actions,-Next-Steps-Outlined
> ****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> John Pomeranz
> Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg, LLP
> 1726 M Street, NW, Suite 600
> Washington, DC  20036
> office: 202.328.3500
> mobile: 703.597.7663
> fax: 202.328.6918
> e: jpomeranz at harmoncurran.com ****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
> http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20130624/102cc620/attachment.html>