On May 26, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued final regulations (the “Final Regulations”) relaxing nonprofit donor disclosure requirements under section 6033[1] of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) for many non-charitable tax-exempt organizations. Stated generally, section 6033 requires organizations exempt from taxation under section 501(a) (including section 527 political organizations) to file an annual information return with the IRS, such as a Form 990, Form 990-EZ, or Form 990-N. Section 6033 and the regulations thereunder grant the IRS discretionary authority to determine what information must be reported on such return in light of the efficient administration of the internal revenue laws.

The Final Regulations largely adhere to the proposed regulations issued in September 2019 (the “Proposed Regulations”) and provide that tax-exempt organizations other than section 501(c)(3) charitable organizations, such as section 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations and section 501(c)(6) trade associations, are no longer required to annually disclose the names and addresses of “substantial contributors” (those contributing $5,000 or more) on Schedule B of their Forms 990 or 990-EZ. The Final Regulations confirm, however, that all tax-exempt organizations must continue to report the amounts of contributions from each substantial contributor and maintain the names and addresses of such contributors in their books and records, should the IRS request this information at a later date. Moreover, the revised disclosure rule does not extend to section 501(c)(3) charitable organizations or section 527 political organizations, and such organizations must continue to disclose the names and addresses of substantial donors on annual information returns.