Court refuses to decide control of Unification Church

After nearly a decade of litigation and several prior court decisions, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals has ruled that the doctrine of religious abstention prevents it from deciding competing claims for control of the Unification Church originally founded by Reverend Sun Myung Moon in 1954.

Historic property granted full real estate tax exemption

Nine years after first filing for real estate tax exemption, an historic office building in Pennsylvania has been granted a full charitable exemption.  The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court has reversed a trial court determination that only 72% of the property is exempt and ruled that the property is entitled to a 100% exemption.

990-N filers must use new sign-in process

The Internal Revenue Service has advised filers of the 990-N electronic postcard of continued activity by small tax-exempt organizations that they must now sign-in to the IRS “modernized authentication platform” using either their active IRS username or creating an account with ID.me, the current IRS credential service provider.

Full filing instructions are set out in Publication 5248, the IRS User Guide for 990-N filers. 

Court affirms denial of sales tax exemption

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, in a full court opinion, has affirmed the denial of sales tax exemption for a nonprofit senior living community previously decided by a three-judge panel of the Court.  (See Nonprofit Issues® Vol. XXXI, No. 2).  The Court has agreed that Friends Boarding Home in West Chester failed to meet the criteria for exemption as a “purely public charity” originally set out by the state Supreme Court in 1987.