IRS Examines Donors' Use of Foundations as Shelters

By Grant Williams

The Internal Revenue Service has embarked on an aggressive investigation into whether rich people are using foundations as tax shelters, part of a new, wide-ranging effort to stop very wealthy individuals from using "complex financial arrangements" to avoid paying taxes.

Douglas H. Shulman, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, said in a Washington speech that the IRS has created a Global High Wealth Industry unit to focus on "high-wealth individuals and their related entities, which