Professor Challenges ‘Parsonage Exemption’
A law professor has filed a court motion challenging a longstanding tax law that allows ministers and other religious leaders to receive an income-tax deduction on money they receive from their employers to pay for housing. Erwin Chemerinsky, a law professor at the University of Southern…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Health Groups Face ‘Intermediate Sanctions’
The Internal Revenue Service has won its first big test of a 1996 law designed to crack down on people who receive improper financial benefits through their involvement with nonprofit organizations. A Mississippi family and the group of health organizations it oversees are subject to so-called…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Charity Bills Under Review in Congress
Numerous bills affecting charities are now pending in Congress, but time ALSO SEE:Outlook for Philanthropy: Legislation Pending in Congress is growing short for legislators to act on the measures. Less than four months remain to work on bills during this session, since lawmakers will be out for the…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Private foundations and charitable trusts distributed $19.7-billion to charitable projects in 1998, an 18 percent increase from a year earlier, the IRS reported. The 56,658 returns filed in 1998 by private foundations represented an increase of nearly 3 percent over the number of returns filed in…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
IRS Says Heirs May Undo Charity Trusts
Three recent rulings by the IRS allow charities and donors or their heirs to terminate charitable trusts before they would normally have ended. The rulings have surprised some planned-giving experts who thought such trusts would be more difficult to end. As a result of the rulings, Christopher…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
New Law Limits Housing Exemption
A new statute limits the income-tax deduction that ministers, priests, rabbis, and other religious leaders can claim for the housing allowances they receive from their parishes. The law, which takes effect this month, allows religious leaders who receive a housing allowance to write off the sum on…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Businesses Owe No Tax on Disaster Assistance
Businesses hurt by the September 11 attacks may deduct from their income taxes the gifts they receive from charities to help them recover, the IRS said in a letter to the American Bar Association. The association wrote the IRS that some charities have already provided small and medium-size…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Charitable Deductions Rose 6.2% in 1999, IRS Says
Deductions claimed by Americans for charitable contributions rose from $125.8-billion in 1999 to ALSO SEE:Charitable Deductions Claimed on Tax Returns an estimated $133.6-billion in 2000, an increase of 6.2 percent, the Internal Revenue Service said. The increase would mark the first time in five…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
Committee Says Donors Exaggerate Value of Artwork
The Internal Revenue Service’s Art Advisory Panel has recalculated the value of hundreds of pieces of artwork for which deductions were claimed by taxpayers who donated them to charities or left them to heirs. As it has in the past, the advisory panel found that many people exaggerated the value of…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor
IRS Issues Final Rules on Corporate Sponsorship
Elizabeth Schwinn The Internal Revenue Service has issued final regulations designed to guide charities that enlist corporations to support nonprofit events. The government’s proposal clarifies when charities can accept corporate sponsorships and avoid paying unrelated-business income tax on…
By Elizabeth Schwinn
Contributor