The tax-exempt sector under section 501(c) of the IRS Code covers over a million-&-a-half tax-exempt entities (TEE) of varying sizes & purposes. Transparency over TEE activities is aided by public access to their annual tax returns. Oversight can help ensure adherence to exempt purposes, protect against abuses, & sustain public support for the sector. This report addressed: (1) the growth of the section 501(c) tax-exempt sector; (2) the role of governance & transparency in ensuring that TEE function effectively & with integrity; (3) IRS's capacity for overseeing the TEE sector, incl. its results & efforts to address critical compliance problems; & (4) states' oversight & their relationship with IRS in overseeing TEE. Charts & tables.

Understanding Nonprofit and Tax Exempt Organizations is a guide for the law student or practitioner who is looking to understand the law governing the nonprofit, tax exempt sector. This text deals with the many types of tax exempt organizations; the rules, regulations and limitations imposed on tax exempt organizations by the courts, the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) and the Treasury Regulations (Regulations); the charitable contribution and fundraising issues affecting tax exempt organizations; the unrelated business income tax, excise taxes and intermediate sanctions imposed on tax exempt organizations; and the rules regarding private foundations. In light of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, this new third edition includes a more detailed chapter on Churches and religious organizations, reflecting recent changes in the law overall for charitable nonprofit organizations and sets out new IRS online filing and reporting requirements put in place during the pandemic. The third edition of Understanding Nonprofit and Tax Exempt Organizations begins with an introduction to nonprofit organizations by discussing the relevant law in general, as nonprofits are governed by state law. Next, tax exempt organizations are discussed, by first giving the reader the background on where such organizations fit in the nonprofit sector; why the organizations are given preferential tax treatment; what form these organizations take; and how such organizations are governed and dissolved. The third edition also provides detailed explanations of the various rules, regulations and tests organizations must follow in order to obtain or retain their tax exempt status as well as the consequences for failure to comply and looks at the court created commerciality and public policy doctrines.

Millions of donors annually give hundreds of billions of dollars to charities. While this giving helps meet charitable purposes, congressional & media concerns have arisen about whether some charities spend too much on fundraising & general management & not enough on program services to meet the charitable purposes related to the tax-exempt status. Such concerns have heightened since the outflow of charitable giving after 9/11. This report focuses on the adequacy of: (1) publicly reported Form 990 data on charity spending in facilitating public oversight of charities, (2) IRS's oversight of charities, & (3) IRS's data sharing with state agencies that oversee charities. Includes reviews of studies on charities from 1994-1999. Charts & tables.

Words of wisdom from American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie Focusing on Carnegie's most famous essay, "The Gospel of Wealth," this book of his writings, published here together for the first time, demonstrates the late steel magnate's beliefs on wealth, poverty, the public good, and capitalism. Carnegie's commitment to ensuring and promoting the welfare of his fellow human beings through philanthropic deeds ranged from donations to universities and museums to establishing more than 2,500 public libraries in the English-speaking world, and he gave away more than $350 million toward those efforts during his lifetime. The Gospel of Wealth is an eloquent testament to the importance of charitable giving for the public good. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.