More than 300 lawmakers are asking the Internal Revenue Service to scale back the reporting requirements for nonprofit hospitals when the tax agency adopts a new version of the Form 990 informational tax form.

The new form, which would take effect in 2009, includes a schedule that would require hospitals to disclose more information about their finances and the benefits they provide to the cites and towns they serve.

Many groups, including the American Hospital Association, have told the IRS that the changes would create unnecessary costs for hospital administrators and that some of the changes do not paint an accurate picture of how these institutions operate.

That message is now being delivered by Congress, as well.

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, an Ohio Democrat, and Rep. Jon Porter, Republican of Nevada, wrote the IRS to ask the agency to “streamline” the schedule and to delay...

How far should the Internal Revenue Service go in making sure the public isn’t getting taken when it donates to charity?

That question took center stage at the annual meeting of the Philanthropy Roundtable in Dana Point, Calif., following a presentation by Steven T. Miller, the commissioner of the IRS’s tax-exempt and government-entities division.

Said Mr. Miller: “Efficiency and effectiveness have obvious implications when you consider the level of subsidy being provided here. Should the public be able to rely on the Internal Revenue Service and the states to be sure when they make a contribution to an organization that the contribution is being put to good use and not squandered?”

Mr. Miller also said he is concerned that some charities and foundations are allowing donors to stash money tax-free in donor-advised funds and other entities without any requirement to put that money ...

A prominent association of donors and grant makers says it will not support an effort to create a set of governing principles for charities and foundations.

The Philanthropy Roundtable says in a document released today that Independent Sector’s proposed principles could be used as a blueprint for federal and state lawmakers for creating burdensome new regulations for nonprofit groups.

“There is a danger, however, that some of the more problematic Independent Sector principles will not remain voluntary but will be codified into law or regulation, if it is perceived that there is a wide consensus in favor of them within the charitable community,” wrote Adam Meyerson, president of the organization. “This is no idle threat.”

Because of this issue — and several others — Mr. Meyerson writes that the organization will not endorse the Independent Sector document and it will encourage...

The United States Tax Court ruled that a lawyer who represented the convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was not eligible to receive a charitable contribution tax deduction for the thousands of trial documents he donated to the University of Texas in 1997.

Stephen Jones led the defense of Mr. McVeigh, who was accused of detonating a bomb outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 that killed 168 people.

In 1997, Mr. Jones arranged to donate some 170 boxes of photocopied documents that the FBI and other federal agencies had provided him during the trial to the Center for American History at the University of Texas in Austin.

An appraiser hired by Mr. Jones valued the collection of documents at $294,877, and Mr. Jones claimed a deduction for that amount on the 1997 joint tax return he filed along with his wife, Sherrel Jones.

The Tax Court...

The Internal Revenue Service has added three new cities to its list of places that will play host to one-day seminars for small- and mid-sized charities that want to know more about how to maintain their tax-exempt status and comply with federal laws.

The workshops are designed for administrators or volunteers who are responsible for making sure their organizations comply with the law.

The workshops will be held in Arlington, Va., from April 1-3; in Austin, Texas from May 6-8; and in Columbus, Ohio from May 20-22.

The IRS had previously announced workshops in Salt Lake City; Columbia, S.C.; and Columbus, Ohio.

Each workshop is limited to 200 people and costs $45 per participant.

Go to the IRS’s Web site for more information.

The Internal Revenue Service is looking for eight volunteers to fill vacancies on an advisory committee that focuses on matters affecting nonprofit groups.

The committee — called the Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities — offers recommendations and reactions on administrative policy.

It has two vacancies for people who have expertise in tax-exempt organizations, one vacancy for a specialist in tax-exempt bonds, one vacancy for a specialist in Indian tribal governments, two vacancies for those with knowledge of employee plans, and two vacancies for those who can provide help with federal, state, and local governments.

Members are appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury and serve two-year terms, beginning in June 2008.

Applications can be made by letter or by completing an application form, available on the IRS Web site..

Sen. Charles E. Grassley is using tough talk to try to get nonprofit hospitals to scale back their opposition to proposed changes to the Form 990 informational tax form.

Mr. Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, oversaw a hearing Tuesday to discuss possible regulatory changes aimed at nonprofit hospitals.

During the discussion, the Iowa Senator said he hopes to be able to persuade nonprofit hospitals to make changes without the need for new federal regulations.

But he said that if nonprofit hospitals continue to push for what he calls a “watered down” version of the proposed Schedule H that would accompany the new 990, he will consider legislation that would create stringent rules for hospitals.

“While everyone talks about the need for sunshine, there are a few tax-exempt hospitals in the shadows that are bent on pulling the blinds and closing the...

Congress is considering legislation that would make permanent a tax deduction for businesses that donate their surplus food to charity.

The deduction, which expires at the end of the year, allows businesses to write off the cost of donated food, plus one-half the gain that would have been realized had the product been sold. The temporary deduction was part of the Pension Protection Act of 2006.

Rep. Sander Levin, a Michigan Democrat and the sponsor of the bill, said the deduction should be made permanent because food pantries and soup kitchens had been having difficulty getting enough food to feed the more than 25 million people who seek emergency food annually.

Mr. Levin cites a report from America’s Second Harvest, which has seen a 2- percent increase in food donated in the 2007 fiscal year — an increase he said was fueled by the tax deduction.

America’s Second Harvest also...

Some key lawmakers are stepping up pressure on colleges and universities to use more of their endowments to help curb tuition increases for their students, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

And one influential member of the Senate Finance Committee is becoming increasingly vocal about requiring colleges and universities to adopt foundation-like payout requirements for their endowments.

Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, wrote in an op-ed article distributed this weekend to newspapers in his home state that he believes colleges and universities need to do more to make tuition more affordable.

Mr. Grassley writes that he believes government has a responsibility to help reach that goal. But he writes that colleges and universities have not done enough to curb costs — and some institutions have done so at a time when they...

Sen. Charles Grassley’s office has released the list of participants for next Tuesday’s discussion on tax rules for nonprofit hospitals.

The panelists include:

• David Benfer, chief executive of Saint Raphael Healthcare System in New Haven, Conn.

• Paula Bussard, senior vice president of policy and regulatory services for The Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg

• John Colombo, law professor at University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, Ill.

• David Crane, chief executive for Adventist Midwest Health in Illinois

• Nancy Davenport-Ennis, chief executive and president of the Patient Advocate Foundation in Newport News, Va.

• Matt Fishman, vice president for community health for Partners HealthCare in Boston

• Keith Hearle, president of Verite Healthcare Consulting in Washington

• Nancy Kane, professor of...