Tax, Legal & Compliance

One of the most difficult concepts nonprofit leaders have been trying to comprehend in the last few months is the massive mess that is the new tax code. Before I get into nitty-gritty terminology of the new nonprofit law, let’s lay it all out with an easy and relatable 8-year old analogy: running a lemonade stand...

Humanwire said on its website that donations would go directly to needy refugees, and that “0 percent” would go to operating costs. The scam was exposed by an investigative report in the Denver Post, which chronicled a steady stream of withdrawals from Humanwire’s bank accounts by Andrew Baron...

What’s changed about the itemized deduction though? The biggest one that has left taxpayers “salty” is the capping of the State and Local Tax deduction at $10,000. To an 8-year-old, $10,000 probably seems like a fortune; after all, imagine the amount of video games one could buy with that! To bring it back to the analogy though, we can illustrate that it isn’t good for itemizers at all...

Okay, it’s confession time —I’ll go first. I consider myself to be a pretty bright guy; not Bill Nye the Science Guy smart, but more like Mr. Rogers smart (and not because I talk to puppets—I don’t). The thing that I struggle with though, to put it lightly, is a very challenged attention span...

Nonprofits are responsible for some of the most inspiring acts of goodwill that occur in our world, from offering aid during disasters to paying for children’s healthcare to feeding people in underprivileged communities. Keeping these organizations running smoothly is critical to society’s well-being and keeping up with nonprofit compliance is the key to success...

As development professionals, it generally falls to us (the executive director and the person in charge of finance are often in the boat with us) to keep current on the fundraising regulations of countries and states in which our nonprofit organizations solicit funds to support our missions. It can be difficult to keep up and, sometimes, we may miss things; it happens...

For many Americans the new tax act, now known as Tax Cuts & Jobs Act of 2017, means they will no longer itemize their charitable deductions. While this may make their tax filing simpler, it also means that giving money to charity will no longer be tax deductible...

The Tax Cut and Jobs Act that went into effect on Jan. 1 contains sweeping changes to the entire tax system. Corporate, personal and estate taxes have been revamped entirely, and practitioners are scrambling to adapt to the new regime and to provide the “right” advice for their clients...

The recent reform of the U.S. tax code has been lauded in many circles, but it has left some nonprofits reeling and facing potentially large excise taxes. For tax years beginning on or after Jan. 1, tax-exempt organizations face a 21 percent excise tax on executive compensation that is above $1 million, prompting intense chatter among some nonprofits worried about hefty tax bills...

Tax benefits are icing on the philanthropy cake. What to do when the icing is melting? First, the good news. The sky is not falling. Human beings have given long before the existence of charitable deductions.  Human beings are generous. They like being helpful. They like making a difference. They like doing the right thing.…