IRS engaged in political-speech crackdown?

Church Executive Magazine asks whether the IRS is amping up enforcement this year.

IRS reaches out to charities to aid in economic stimulus

From the IRS:

The IRS is encouraging various partners and stakeholders such as charities, churches and governmental organizations to assist in efforts to reach out to those Americans who may be eligible for the 2008 economic stimulus payment but who normally have no requirement to file a tax return. People who receive certain Social Security, Veterans Affairs, Railroad Retirement or wages from earned income or combat pay may be eligible and not know it.

It's good to see that the IRS is trying to make it easier for low-income individuals receive the allocated funds. Asking charities to aid in the process strikes me as a good idea to facilitate the effort... more about this program here.

Housecleaning

We'll be having some downtime here at the site as we shift servers on March 20th (next Thursday as I type this). You might experience some delays in getting in touch with us during that process, but everything should be operational in short order. Thanks!

Senate deepens financial review of television ministries

NBC is reporting that the Senate Finance committee is renewing its demands for certain churches to provide detailed financial information. The letters sent today are a follow-up to letters sent last year to a virtual who's who of large televangelist ministries, including Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland.

These ministries are 501(c)(3) organizations that are required to turn over certain financial information through their Form 990s upon public request. The Senate investigation is turning up the heat on the financial practices of some of these organizations.

Ethics and nonprofits

If you're in Atlanta, this looks like a great opportunity to learn about running an ethical organization:

Seminar Announcement

What: The Nonprofit Studies Program of the Andrew Young School of Policy at Georgia State University presents its Brown Bag Seminar Series in Nonprofit Research.

Who: John Knapp of The Center for Ethics and Corporate Responsibility at the J. Mack Robinson College of Business will address the topic: "Fostering Ethical Cultures in Non-Profit Organizations"

When: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 12:30 PM

Where: Seminar Room #749 at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Building at 14 Marietta Street, NW

The purpose of these seminars is to discuss research-in-progress by faculty associated with the nonprofit program.

We invite students, faculty and interested members of the community to join us!

Drinks and cookies will be served.

All that and cookies too... I wish I could swing the trip down for this one! Hat tip to the good folks at the Nonprofit Law Profs blog for the original pointer.

Still more on churches and politics

The Wall Street Journal is the latest to report on the various issues related to churches and politicking... I was happy to see that it noted that there have only been two revocations since 1954. One of them (the more recent... 1992) was a church in Binghamton that took out full page ads telling readers to vote for Bob Dole. Good old Branch Ministries... I don't know if they had any inkling how badly they violated tax law, but they didn't jsut cross the line... they jumped over it!

Nonprofit Law Podcast #34: What triggers an IRS audit?

Nonprofit Law Podcast #34 covers the murky world of IRS audit procedures (now less murky!).

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