IRS Eyes Big Donors who can’t (c)(4) ever anymore?
I’ve bolded the key provision - lobbyists for industry groups and political think tanks might begin to feel a pinch since little or nothing that they do can be considered “Charitable.” This will put a crimp in both left and right big donor anonymous funding.
The IRS has begun enforcing an oft-ignored tax on contributions to nonprofit advocacy groups, potentially creating large gift tax liabilities for donors who wrote big checks last year and throwing a wrench into the fundraising push leading up to the 2012 elections.
The IRS for decades has done little to enforce a statute that requires individuals to pay a tax on money given to organizations that are tax-exempt but not charitable in mission. But attorneys say donors who gave generously to the type of influential nonprofit group known as a 501(c)(4) organization, which proliferated during the last election cycle thanks to their ability to shield donors from public disclosure, are now receiving notices from the IRS that their tax returns are being examined.