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July 01, 2008
IRS Urged to Move Quickly to Warn Charities Accused of Election Wrongdoing
A new federal report says the Internal Revenue Service has done a good job of increasing its efforts to educate churches and charities about federal law that bans political-campaign activity by such groups, and that it has improved the way it handles allegations of wrongdoing.
But the report said the tax agency needs to do more “to ensure that tax-exempt organizations receive timely notification that they might be involved in prohibited political activity” and to clarify to IRS employees the criteria it uses to evaluate cases through its Political Activities Compliance Initiative.
“These actions should increase the likelihood that tax-exempt organizations will stop the prohibited activities before the relevant election and that tax-exempt organization activities will be evaluated consistently and fairly,” said the report by the Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration.
The report said that the IRS has already agreed with its findings and completed “several corrective actions.”
Federal law says that churches and charities may not “participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of any statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”
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Copyright © 2009 The Chronicle of Philanthropy
It is a compliment to the IRS to see that their enhanced efforts to reach out to the church and non-profit community on issues of politicking have been acknowledged. I only wish that the efforts they make towards this single topic were applied across the board and that their educational outreach efforts and timely distribution of materials to this constituency on other issues related to their on-going operations. Clearly they have the ability to make an extensive outreach provided the have the desire.
— John McGee Jul 2, 03:37 PM #