The Internal Revenue Service has a one-time relief program aimed at small, nonprofit organizations who haven’t filed returns for 2007, 2008 and 2009, which could cause them to lose their tax-exempt status.
That will be good news for nearly 50 such organizations in Emporia.
The IRS announced the program on Monday, which allows the organizations to preserve their status by filing returns by Oct. 15.
“We are doing everything we can to help organizations comply with the law and keep their valuable tax exemption,” IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said. “So if you do not have your filings up to date, now’s the time to take action and get back on track.”
The announcement came with a link to the list of delinquent organizations. It’s on the Internet at http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=225889,00.html. State lists can be downloaded in pdf or Excel formats.
The list for Kansas run 125 pages and is organized by the last-known addresses for organizations. The Emporia organizations listed include several Emporia State fraternities and sororities — Chi Omega, Phi Delta Theta, Phi Sigma Kappa, Sigma Phi Epsilon and Sigma Tau Gamma — as well as professional organizations like Business and Professional Womens Clubs Emporia and Homebuilders Association of Emporia. Also included were City of Emporia Law Enforcement Benefit Association, Emporia Aquatic Club, Emporia Baseball Club, Emporia Arts Council Endowment and Internatonal Association of Fire Fighters Local 0818.
Organizations in area towns also were included, such as Chase County Historical Society in Cottonwood Falls; American Legion posts or auxiliaries in Lebo and Olpe, Olpe Downhome and Community Arts Council of Council Grove.
The smallest organizations on the list, which would file form 990-N, may fix their status by answering eight questions on the IRS website. Larger organizations that file Form 990-EZ need to file their delinquent account information and pay a compliance fee that ranges from $100 to $500, depending on the level of gross receipts.
Fixing the problem is important.
The IRS will keep the list of at-risk organizations on IRS.gov until Oct. 15, 2010. Organizations that have not filed the required information returns by that date will have their tax-exempt status revoked, and the IRS will publish a list of these revoked organizations in early 2011. Donors who contribute to at-risk organizations are protected until the final revocation list is published.
After that, however, their donations may be taxable.