Members of Congress who were outraged that the IRS held up applications by conservative organizations for 501(c)(4) social welfare exemption, which arose in part because the IRS did not know what type and how much political activity is permitted for a (c)(4) organization, have prohibited the IRS from finalizing regulations defining the type and extent of permitted political activity before the 2016 Presidential election. 

Maimonides Medical Center, a nonprofit corporation operating a teaching hospital in Brooklyn, NY, is not entitled to a better interest rate on the refund of over-paid FICA taxes than a for-profit corporation, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has held.  It has affirmed a District Court decision saying that the statutory provision for refund interest applies to for-profit and nonprofit corporations alike. 

The Internal Revenue Service has withdrawn its proposed alternative report for charities to substantiate gifts of $250 or more that required disclosure of the donors’ social security numbers.  (Reg. 138344-13, published in the Fed. Reg. 1/8/16.)

An appellate court in New York has affirmed a trial court’s decisions ordering a professional solicitor to pay $3 million in restitution for fraudulently solicited contributions and permanently enjoining the soliciting company and its president from ever operating a business in New York that solicits contributions from the public.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overruled the Commonwealth Court’s opinion in “Redacted v. Redacted” and allowed the state Attorney General to proceed against several charities and their officers using information allegedly disclosed by the charity’s attorney in violation of her obligation to preserve confidentiality.  The Supreme Court has said that evidence should be admitted in the case “based on established evidentiary principles and not the broader Code of Professional Conduct.”