Last week, the IRS and Treasury Department released their annual Priority Guidance Plan for the 2010-2011 federal fiscal year.  The 34-page plan is available here.  The IRS exempt organizations web page identifies and lists eighteen items in the plan that affect exempt organizations.  Of the eighteen items, eleven were also included in last year’s plan – indicating that both plans are ambitious and that IRS and Treasury attention has been understandably diverted to health care reform and other new developments. 

Items listed in this year’s plan include: guidance on tax-exempt hospital requirements under the new Section 501(r) of the Internal Revenue Code; guidance on program-related investments under Section 4944 of the Internal Revenue Code (also on last year’s plan); finalizing proposed regulations on new requirements for supporting organizations (also on last year’s plan); regulations on donor-advised funds (also on last year’s plan); finalizing church audit procedural regulations; and developing regulations concerning the calculation of unrelated business taxable income for Section 501(c)(9) voluntary employees’ beneficiary associations (to replace 1986 temporary regulations). 

As always, the IRS and Treasury are eager for substantive comments on their guidance projects.