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 …

On October 6, 2010, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley released a report related to the proposed transfer of the Caritas Christi Hospital System (“Caritas”) to Steward Health Care System LLC, an affiliate of Cerbeus Capital Management, L.P. The report (“The Statement”) contains the Attorney General’s analysis – under Massachusetts charitable law and the Attorney General’s role as public charities’ overseer — of its five month evaluation and assessment of the proposed sale of Caritas to Steward, a newly-created for-profit entity, controlled, owned and funded by Cerberus, a private equity fund. The Statement can serve as a very useful primer or guide to any charitable organization and its board, not just healthcare organizations.
…

The most successful exempt organizations are those that are well-positioned to run effectively and efficiently. This seminar highlights certain laws and best practices that are necessary for an exempt organization to succeed in this new regulatory landscape.

  • This program will provide Exempt Organizations with information on:   
  • Best Practices for Board

…

On September 17, 2010, New York State modified its laws governing the management and investment of charitable gifts by New York nonprofit institutions. Specifically, the NYS legislature adopted, subject to certain modifications, the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act. Importantly, officers should ensure that their Board is aware of all of the Act’s changes and that the relevant institutional policies, particularly investment policies, and practices are reviewed and revised accordingly.
…

The IRS today has released a draft version of the form that small businesses and exempt organizations will use to calculate the small business health care tax credit when they file income tax returns next year. The IRS also announced how eligible exempt organizations — which do not generally file income tax returns — will claim the credit during the 2011 filing season.
…

We have been closely following the medical resident FICA refund issue. As we noted in our blog entry in March on the topic, the IRS conceded that refund claims for FICA taxes for medical residents for the periods before April 1, 2005 will be paid. The IRS has now announced this month that it has begun sending letters to individual medical residents who filed individual claims for FICA refunds. These letters ask the individuals to submit copies of their claims.
…

Earlier this month, the Metropolitan Corporate Counsel interviewed Scott Harshbarger, Chair of Proskauer’s Pro Bono Initiative Committee, and Stacey O’Haire Fahey, Pro Bono Counsel at Proskauer, about the Pro Bono Initiative at Proskauer. Harshbarger and Fahey are also members of the Firm’s Not-for-Profit/Exempt Organizations group.
In addition to the many pro bono matters, including asylum, adoption, and advocacy projects, on which the Pro Bono Initiative works, the Initiative also represents all kinds of not-for-profit and exempt organizations (including community organizations and start-ups) that meet the financial criteria for pro bono services.
…

Charities and other exempt organizations that engage in cross-border charitable giving often conduct extensive due diligence before giving funds to international grantees. If these charities are unaware of how the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act can affect their grantmaking and other activities abroad, they should become aware very quickly. In fact, the FCPA is a real risk for U.S. exempt organizations that are operating globally and face pressures to make corrupt payments in order to obtain government support abroad.
…

On August 11, 2010, the commencement of the observance of Ramadan, a charity alert was issued by the United States Treasury Department. Treasury acknowledged the importance of charitable giving during the month-long observance and used this opportunity to express concern about possible exploitation of all charities by terrorist organizations. The alert outlines steps for charities and donors to take in order to “guard against terrorist abuse.”
…