In a case that started nearly six years ago, the Tax Court has denied 501(c)(4) social welfare exemption to a Texas homeowners’ association on the ground that it provides services primarily to its members and not to the general public.
The federal District Court in Rhode Island (Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr.) has issued a temporary restraining order to force the Trump Administration to make funds available for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (”SNAP”) despite the governmental shutdown.
The Tax Court has finalized the excess benefits taxes and penalties due from a former Pennsylvania state senator who was previously convicted criminally on 137 counts of fraud, obstruction of justice and willfully aiding or assisting in filing false tax returns. The excess benefit taxes were due on benefits he had improperly obtained from a charity for which he was considered a “disqualified person.” (See Nonprofit Issues®, Vol. XXXI, No. 3).
The federal District Court in Massachusetts (William G. Young), in “perhaps the most important [case] ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court,” has held that non-citizen students lawfully present in the United States have the same free speech rights as American citizens and cannot be arrested and deported because of pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel speech or association.
A Magistrate Judge in the federal District Court of Oregon has recommended that a nonprofit organization be permitted to continue its suit against two former employees and their new business entity for misusing the nonprofit’s donor lists and other trade secrets and disclosing confidential information obtained while they worked for the organization. The judge has rejected motions to dismiss claims for misappropriation of trade secrets, intentional interference with economic relationships, defamation, and breach of the duty of loyalty.
More than half of all 501(c) public charities filing a full Form 990 tax information return with the Internal Revenue Service in 2022 had assets of less than $1 million, according to statistics released by the IRS recently.
