Write-Offs: Giving by Private Foundations Increases; and the IRS Gives Nonprofit Political Groups More Time to File Reports

May 30, 2002 | Read Time: 1 minute

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 1997. The IRS published the data in its Statistics of Income Bulletin for winter 2001/2002.
The IRS is giving some tax-exempt political groups extra time to file informational returns with the service and to correct returns already filed without penalty. Groups organized under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code have until July 15 to turn in overdue Forms 8872 and other returns without paying fines or interest. The revenue service said it was offering the extension because many groups found the filing requirements, many of which took effect in July 2000, confusing.