On the Record: Charity Laws Face Changes

1. Five-year review of tax-exempt status
The staff report proposes that every five years a tax-exempt organization must submit detailed information justifying its exempt status. This information would include conflicts of interest policies; management policies regarding best practices; financial statements; and a detailed narrative about all the organization’s policies and practices. This information would be made available to the public, and failure to file would result in loss of exempt status. Currently, exempt organizations have no such requirement, and many in the nonprofit community believe this will place an undue burden on organizations.