Useful information on 501(c)(4)s and 527s and the IRS’s scrutiny dilemma

by Linda Beale

Useful information on 501(c)(4)s and 527s and the IRS’s scrutiny dilemma

A fellow tax professor at Loyola University, Ellen Aprill, has put together a useful powerpoint on the way political activity comes into play in deciding whether an organization is eligible for 501(c)(4) status or should instead be treated as a 527 organization that is required to disclose donors.

Download Aprill. Primer on political activity of 501(c)s and 527s. May 2013.

Perhaps if most people understood the importance of this distinction (and the difficulties created by the lenient tax administration position that an organization can be “exclusively” focused on social welfare activities as long as it “primarily” is), some of the brouhaha over the IRS use of “tea party” and other terms to select applications for extra scrutiny would fade away.

Related articles

IRS sharkfest continues: Media rampages; Obama scolds; Holder investigates

Bogus IRS scandal actually a Supreme Court scandal

Room for Debate: Should 501(c)(4)’s Be Eliminated?

cross posted with ataxingmatter