Late last year, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued a letter ruling, PLR 201446025, providing that, in certain instances, a nonprofit corporation exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and incorporated in State A was not required to file a new application for tax-exempt status (IRS Form 1023) when it changed its domicile to State B by filing “Articles of Domestication” in State B and “Articles of Conversion” in State A.

In the ruling, the law of State B stated that the corporation’s filing of “Articles of Domestication” would not affect its original incorporation date. The law of State B also stated that the corporation would be considered the same corporation as the one that existed under the laws of State A, the state in which the corporation was previously domiciled. Similarly, the governing law of State A stated that following the corporation’s filing of “Articles of Conversion,” the corporation would continue to exist without interruption and be able to maintain its same liabilities and obligations.

The Tax Court recently delivered some sound advice – do not play “cat and mouse” with the IRS. In Ohio Disability Association v. Commissioner, a Tax Court Memo filed November 12, 2009, the Tax Court rejected the petitioner’s request for a declaratory judgment that it qualified as a public charity. The court’s rejection was based on its inability to conclude that the organization would operate exclusively for exempt purposes.