‘Forbes’: Donors Can Expect New Giving Rules

Donors and board members can expect big changes as Congress and the Internal Revenue Service take steps to crack down on charity abuses, says Forbes magazine (August 15).

“Problems in the charity sector have been building for years,” the magazine says. The number of charities has been growing quickly, the magazine notes, but the IRS has not been able to keep up with them. The IRS audited one in 149 charities last year, compared with one in 50 in 1995, Forbes reports.

“No surprise that sleazy promoters saw an opening, and even some respectable charities got sloppy,” the magazine says.

The magazine reviews the ideas that the Senate Finance Committee has been considering to tighten giving rules and warns that “if you are either a big donor or a small one who pushes the limits, the legislation may crimp your style.”

In addition it notes that the IRS has been adding staff members to examine charities and foundations as well as donors who have claimed “big deductions of certain types that are known to tempt deduction padders.”

Included on the list of suspicious write-offs, the magazine says: “those for open-space and historic-facade easements, for gifts of anything other than cash and trade securities, for donor-advised funds, and for supporting organizations.”

The article is available at http://www.forbes.com