IRS Revokes Non-profit Status for 14 Warren Groups

The Internal Revenue Service announced that approximately 275,000 organizations—including 14 based in Warren—have automatically lost their tax-exempt status because they did not file legally required annual reports for three consecutive years.

The IRS believes the vast majority of these organizations are defunct, but it also announced special steps to help any existing organizations to apply for reinstatement of their tax-exempt status.  

The local groups cited in the IRS' announcement include the Warren Blue Ridge Sportsman's Club, which has been a key contributor to twonship events such as the Yuletide Bonfire and last month's Fishing Derby.

The other groups are the National Microcomputers Managers, with an address on Star Dust Drive; the Gail Schoenbach-Freed Foundation, on Chestnut Hill; Mitsui Sumitomo Marine Management, on Independence Boulevard; Polish American Memorial, on Wilderness Trail; East Coast VHF Society; Warren Township Honorary PBA; Memory Lane Players, on Hickory Lane; Plan Sponsor Management Society, on Mountain Road; Galaxy Players, Loren Way; New Jersey Continental Bird Dog, Wychwood Way; Friends of Warren Township Library; the Watchung Hills Welcome Club; Women's Equity Action League, on Mt. Horeb Road.

Congress passed the Pension Protection Act (PPA) in 2006, requiring most tax-exempt organizations to file an annual information return or notice with the IRS. For small organizations, the law imposed a filing requirement for the first time in 2007.  In addition, the law automatically revokes the tax-exempt status of any organization that does not file required returns or notices for three consecutive years.  

As part of this, the IRS issued guidance today on how organizations can apply for reinstatement of their tax-exempt status, including retroactive reinstatement. In addition, the IRS announced transition relief for certain small tax-exempt organizations—those with annual gross receipts of $50,000 or less for 2010 – that were made subject to the new "postcard" filing under the PPA. The relief allows eligible small organizations to regain their tax-exempt status retroactive to the date of revocation and pay a reduced application fee of $100 rather than the typical $400 or $850 fee.

If an organization appears on the list of organizations whose tax-exempt status has been automatically revoked it is because IRS records indicate the organization had a filing requirement and did not file the required returns or notices for 2007, 2008 and 2009.   

The IRS believes the vast majority of the newly revoked groups are no longer in existence and need to be removed from the tax-exempt listing as the 2006 law requires.   This listing should have little, if any, impact on donors who previously made deductible contributions to auto-revoked organizations because donations made prior to the publication of an organization’s name on the list remain tax-deductible. Existing organizations that seek to have their tax-exempt status reinstated must complete an application and pay a user fee regardless of whether they were originally required to file such an application. More information on the reinstatement process, including retroactive reinstatement, can be found on IRS.gov.