Bruce R. Hopkins
Published: 2008-04-18
Total Pages: 194
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The 2008 Supplement generally covers developments since the book was published, which basically means developments during 2007 such as: The new Form 990. Despite its size, complexity, and overreaching, this thing is a work of art. For large organizations, proper preparation of this return is going to be a mighty feat. Much new "law" is embedded in this form. In the context of nonprofit law, there has never been anything like this new Form 990.Other sets of rules are flowing, such as those pertaining to tax-exempt organizations and prohibited tax shelter transactions. (The biggest misstep by the agency in 2007 emerged, nonetheless, in the form of the draft of the IRS' good governance principles an unhelpful, poorly written, sometimes wacky document that should never have been issued, if only because the Division has more important things to do, and perhaps may be allowed a quiet demise.)Private letter rulings, some of them quite interesting, continue to tumble out of the agency. The IRS has made great progress in reducing its inventory of pending applications for recognition of exemption. IRS audits of exempt organizations, along with a host of compliance check projects, are on the rise.Back to the IRS, there are two momentous developments in the making. One is the forthcoming research and compliance initiative involving tax-exempt colleges and universities, with emphasis on these institutions' adherence to the unrelated business rules and operation of endowment funds. The other is the IRS' growing reliance on technology in the exempt organizations area, such as development of an electronic determinations case processing and tracking system (the TE/GE Determination System (TEDS)), the emerging Cyber Assistant to guide preparers of applications for recognition of exemption, and Internet-based workshops and educational material.
