On November 24, 2009, the IRS issued its Priority Guidance Plan for 2009-2010.  The Plan contains 315 projects to be completed over a twelve-month period from July, 2009 through June, 2010.

The IRS notes that the following items from the Plan should be of interest to exempt organizations:

  1. Revenue procedure to provide terms for hosts of Cyber Assistant software (used to generate Form 1023 exemption applications eligible for reduced user fee).
  2. Final regulations on the new requirements for Type III supporting organizations, added by the Pension Protection Act of 2006; proposed regulations were published in September 2009.
  3. Notice under Code Section 4943 (excess business holdings), as amended by the Pension Protection Act.
  4. Guidance on program-related investments of private foundations (Code Section 4944).
  5. Final regulations on excise taxes on prohibited tax shelter transactions and related disclosure requirements; proposed regulations were published in 2007.
  6. Proposed regulations on new excise taxes on donor advised funds, as added by the Pension Protection Act.
  7. Regulations on group returns (Code Section 6033).
  8. Proposed regulations to update regulations under Code Section 6104(c), relating to disclosure to state charity agencies for changes made by the Pension Protection Act,
  9. Final regulations on church tax inquiries and examinations (Code Section 7611); proposed regulations were published in 2009.
  10. Revenue procedure on prototype plan documents for Section 403(b) tax-sheltered annuity plans, and guidance on termination of such plans.
  11. Guidance for ruling requests for church plans (Code Section 414(e)).
  12. Several items on guidance for deferred compensation plans of tax-exempt organizations and state and local governments (Code Section 457).
  13. Final regulations on appraisal requirements for certain charitable contributions of property; proposed regulations were published in 2008.
  14. Guidance on charitable lead trusts (Code Section 642(c)) and charitable remainder trusts (Code Section 664).
  15. Regulations addressing the application of the lookback interest rules (Code Section 460) to certain pass-through entities with tax-exempt owners.
  16. Final regulations regarding the disclosure of certain administrative actions that are required to be made available to the public (Code Section 6104).  Proposed regulations were published in 2007.
  17. Regulations under Section 6109 regarding the use of preparer tax identification numbers (PTINs) by tax return preparers.
  18. Regulations regarding interest on tax overpayments by tax-exempt organizations (Code Section 6611).
  19. Update of guidance concerning user fees.
  20. Regular updates to procedures for letter rulings, technical advice, and user fees.

For more information about any of these items, please visit the IRS website.