Congressional Hearing to Examine Complex Charity Operations

A Congressional panel will hold the second in a series of hearings on tax-exempt organizations next week, this one focusing on charities that have complicated operations such as profit-generating arms.

“Over the last two decades, the organizational structures of public charities have become increasingly complex, creating compliance and transparency issues,” said Rep. Charles Boustany Jr., a Louisiana Republican who heads the oversight subcommittee of the House Ways and Means committee.

He said his subcommittee wants to learn more, for example, about the rules governing the unrelated-business income tax, or UBIT, which applies to money charities raise through commercial activities not directly related to their missions.

It also will explore whether the revised Form 990 tax document that charities must file, introduced in 2008, has made it easier for the Internal Revenue Service to monitor the activities of tax-exempt organizations.

The hearing is scheduled for July 25 at 9:30 a.m.

The subcommittee’s first hearing, which took place in May, focused on issues including oversight of universities and nonprofit hospitals.

Mr. Boustany told The Chronicle this winter he was concerned that the IRS had not been aggressive enough in monitoring charity abuses.

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