The two top members of the Senate Finance Committee have released what they call policy options for revamping the nation’s health-care system that include a change in how the tax-exempt status of nonprofit hospitals would be handled under federal law.

Under the proposal, “nonprofit hospitals would be required to maintain a minimal level of charitable activity, limit charges to uninsured, indigent patients, and limit aggressive collection actions. Hospitals that do not meet those requirements would be subject to an excise tax.”

Sen. Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who chairs the finance committee, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who is the most senior member of his party on the committee, said the committee would begin to draft legislation to change the country’s health-care system next month.

The Internal Revenue Service currently uses a “community benefit”...

A detailed site map is now available on the Internal Revenue Service’s Charities and Nonprofits Web site to help visitors find what they are looking for.

To get to the map, go to the left navigation bar on the Charities and Nonprofits site and click on EO Site Map.

“If you are unable to find the information you need on the site map, or have any suggestions to improve it, please contact us electronically at EO.Web.Comments@irs.gov and enter Site Map in the subject line,” the IRS said in its newsletter for tax-exempt organizations.

The Internal Revenue Service has released the second in a series of filing tips to help nonprofit organizations prepare their Form 990 informational tax return, the primary document that groups file each year.

The second batch of tips explains how to report executive compensation on both the “core form” filed by all organizations and the Schedule J on compensation information that some organizations must also submit.

The IRS redesigned the Form 990 for the 2008 tax year, making the most-significant changes to the form in nearly 30 years.

The Internal Revenue Service is asking charities to recommend the “tax issues” that the government should focus on over the next year as it issues guidance to help organizations understand federal law.

The tax agency said it hoped the public would offer suggestions for its annual Guidance Priority List that it uses “to identify and prioritize the tax issues that should be addressed through regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, notices, and other administrative guidance.”

The IRS said that the Treasury Department and the revenue service “recognize the importance of public input to formulate a Guidance Priority List that focuses resources on guidance items that are most important to taxpayers and tax administration.”

The IRS added: “Published guidance plays an important role in increasing voluntary compliance by helping to clarity ambiguous areas of the tax law.”

President Obama’s proposed 2010 federal budget will call on Congress to eliminate or reduce spending on 121 current programs, which would save nearly $17-billion, according to administration officials.

The budget proposal will seek the elimination of Even Start, a $66-million program that provides early childhood education and adult literacy services, often through community organizations. The program is run by the U.S. Department of Education.

“Obviously, the president and the administration feel very strongly that early childhood education, done in a high-quality way, is crucially important,” an administration official said. “However, a variety of studies of Even Start have suggested that that program does not work well,” the official said. “So we are proposing that Even Start be eliminated even while we are investing in other programs that do work, including Early Head Start and ...

President Obama’s proposed $3.5-trillion federal budget for 2010 asks Congress to eliminate or reduce spending on 121 current programs, which would save nearly $17-billion. The cuts could affect many nonprofit organizations.

“We have to admit that there is a lot of money that’s being spent inefficiently, ineffectively, and, in some cases, in ways that are actually pretty stunning,” Mr. Obama said as the budget was released.

“Some programs may have made sense in the past, but are no longer needed in the present,” the president said. “Other programs never made any sense: the end result of a special interest’s successful lobbying campaign. Still other programs perform functions that can be conducted more efficiently, or are already carried out more effectively, elsewhere in the government.”

Among the programs that would see elimination in the Obama budget:

• Student Mentoring...

The Internal Revenue Service has released an updated plan for the next several years that pledges a continuation of “focused oversight of the tax-exempt sector.”

“More than $15-trillion in assets are currently controlled by tax-exempt organizations or held in tax-exempt retirement programs and financial instruments,” the IRS said in its Strategic Plan 2009-2013. “The massive size of this sector requires us to provide more careful oversight and advisory support than ever before.”

The revenue service said that tax-exempt groups “often find it difficult to navigate the complicated, specialized, and changing tax rules that apply to them.” The government said it “will provide guidance and information” to help nonprofit organizations “understand their responsibilities and comply with the law.”

The IRS said it “will also discourage those who abuse tax-exempt status by actively seeking...

Members of a House and Senate negotiating committee have worked out a budget outline that would permanently keep the estate tax at levels that are already in effect this year. That’s the approach charities have been seeking, because they said that will help them appeal to donors.

Members of the full House and Senate are expected to vote on the budget blueprint on Wednesday.

In 2001, Congress passed the current estate-tax law, which gradually phases out the tax through 2009 and repeals it for 2010. In 2011, however, the current law is set to expire and estate-tax levels that applied years earlier go back into effect unless Congress takes action.

The House had passed a budget outline that would keep the estate tax at 2009 levels and do away with the 2010 repeal. Heirs could exempt $3.5-million from taxes ($7-million for couples), with amounts above that taxed at 45 percent.

But a ...

The Internal Revenue Service has released the first in a series of filing tips to help nonprofit organizations prepare their Form 990 informational tax return, the primary tax document that groups file each year.

The first tips offer a “preparation checklist of important considerations” that nonprofit organizations should take into account.

The IRS redesigned the Form 990 for the 2008 tax year. The changes were the most significant made to the form in nearly 30 years.

The Internal Revenue Service will be a co-sponsor of a one-day meeting on “Issues in Nonprofit Governance” to be held June 23 in Washington, D.C.

Also sponsoring the event: Independent Sector, a national coalition of about 600 charities and foundations, and Georgetown University Law Center’s Continuing Legal Education program.

U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra, a California Democrat, is scheduled to give the keynote speech. Mr. Becerra is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees tax matters.

“Government stakeholders, including state charity officials, Congress, and the Internal Revenue Service, have made clear their expectations for better governance in the sector,” says a conference brochure.

Details are available on the Web site of Georgetown University Law Center.