A fiscal sponsor is not liable for breach of contract with its sponsored organization and has no fiduciary duty to the organization when the sponsored program goes bad, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals has affirmed.  It has denied claims of the sponsored organization and granted summary judgment to the community foundation that had reluctantly agreed to take on the project.

An organization claiming to be a “church” exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Tax Code is not entitled to a ruling that it is not a private foundation under section 509 when it has not filed an application for exemption for recognition of church status.  The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has agreed with the Internal Revenue Service and dismissed the case.

A world-renowned Harvard chemist has been denied advanced payment of legal fees to defend against charges of making false statements to a governmental agency and failing to report all of his income for tax purposes under the indemnification policy of Harvard University. 

A promotor who operated a timeshare donation program for charitable purposes has been ordered to pay an $8,465,000 penalty for tax fraud.  The federal District Court in Montana has affirmed an Internal Revenue Service penalty for the “bogus tax scheme.”