275,000 Non-profits fail to submit financial reports

Last month Guidestar published the news that 275,000 Non-profits in the US had repeatedly failed to submit financial details and were therefore losing their 501(c)3 status. You'll be pleased to know JWOC wasn't one of these! We submit our independently reviewed financial reports each year, meaning all our spending and income is transparent for all to see and we can keep our 501(c)3 status- making your donations tax-deductible.

The story is copied below for more information.

GuideStar, the leading resource of nonprofit information, announced today that the IRS has published the first Automatic Revocation of Exemption List, thereby revoking the tax-exempt status of approximately 275,000 nonprofits and fundamentally changing the scope of the nonprofit industry. As the nation's premier source of nonprofit data, GuideStar is working to incorporate this information into its database and products.

"More than a quarter of a million nonprofits have had their tax exemptions revoked because they failed to file an annual return with the IRS in compliance with the Pension Protection Act of 2006," said Bob Ottenhoff, GuideStar's president and CEO. "This event will have a tremendous short-term impact on the nonprofit sector and those who support and rely on it. The true impact, however, will be long-term. Over time, knowing which organizations are in good standing with the IRS will increase public confidence in the sector as a whole, which in turn will increase support for the nonprofits it comprises."

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 requires the IRS to revoke the tax-exempt status of any organization required to file an annual return (Form 990, 990-N, 990-EZ, or 990-PF) that fails to do so for three consecutive years. Revocations are automatic and mandatory under the law. The Automatic Revocation of Exemption List published yesterday represents the first time this provision of the Pension Protection Act has been put into effect.

GuideStar is in the process of incorporating automatic revocation data and other information about nonprofits' standing with the IRS into the GuideStar database and GuideStar products.

"In a recent survey that GuideStar conducted with Hope Consulting, 87 percent of 5,000-plus donors said that nonprofit legitimacy is a key factor in their giving decisions," Ottenhoff stated. "GuideStar users and customers can continue to rely on the information we provide, knowing that it remains the most up-to-date and accurate nonprofit information available."

http://www2.guidestar.org/rxa/news/news-releases/2011/irs-revokes-exemptions-of-275000-nonprofits.aspx