400,000 Nonprofit Organizations (Including Many Christian Ministries) Are Weeks Away From Losing Their Tax Exemptions

Did the headline above get your attention? It should. The truth is that approximately 400,000 U.S. nonprofit organizations, including thousands of Christian ministries, are just weeks away from losing their tax exemptions. Why? Well, a very sneaky provision buried in a 2006 pension reform bill required all nonprofit organizations to file tax forms the following year. Prior to that, only nonprofit organizations that had revenues of $25,000 or more had to file tax returns. The problem is that hundreds of thousands of nonprofit organizations did not realize this. This new provision, which was deeply embedded in the 393 pages of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, also instructed the IRS to revoke the tax exemptions of all nonprofit organizations that failed to file tax returns for 3 consecutive years.

Well guess what?

The three years are just about up and hundreds of thousands of nonprofit organizations are about to experience a financial doomsday.

The New York Times recently quoted Diana Aviv, the president of the nonprofit trade group Independent Sector, as saying the following about the impact that this deadline is going to have....

"It’s going to be an unholy mess once these organizations realize what’s happened to them."

And that is what this is.

A gigantic mess.

Have the Christian ministries and organizations that you are affiliated with been filing tax returns with the IRS?

Are you sure?

If not, they may be about to lose their tax exemptions.

The reality is that many politicians in Washington have been trying to figure out for a long time how to start sucking some revenue out of the nonprofit world. In particular, many liberals have long resented the tax exemptions that churches and other religious organizations have enjoyed.

But coming out and openly proposing a repeal of the tax exemptions for churches and religious organizations would not be popular at all.

So they have to find backdoor ways to do it.

The truth is that it would be really easy for Congress to repeal this stupid provision so that hundreds of thousands of nonprofit organizations do not suddenly lose their tax exemptions.

But they aren't going to do it.

They have got thousands upon thousands of unsuspecting victims in their legislative trap and that is just where many of the folks in Washington want them.

The reality is that we have become a nation that has so many thousands upon thousands of laws that it is literally impossible to comply with them all.

Trust me on this - I went to law school.

So what should a ministry do that finds itself trapped by this situation?

Well, you need to contact the IRS immediately and try to get this straightened out.

For those individuals who are very upset about this, you can try contacting your representatives in Congress, but with Barack Obama and the Democrats in control, the odds that this provision will be repealed are somewhere between very slim and none.

The truth is that this is yet another example of how the U.S. government is literally getting their fingers into every aspect of our daily lives. But as we move into the last days things are going to get far worse. Right now in America we are only facing "soft" persecution. In other areas of the world they are already facing torture and death for the cross, and that will happen in this country some day as well. But in the midst of the persecution millions will turn to Yahshua (Jesus) and be saved. This is going to be one of the most exciting times in all of history to be alive, so let us be thankful and let us take the gospel forward no matter what the opposition is.

I saw this article on Face Book and thought it should be shared here too. The original article is at this site.

One may argue that this happened on Bush's watch, but I ask, Who was in control of congress?

Someone posted a clarification to the above. Might make things a bit simpler.

Automatic Revocation for Not Filing Annual Return or Notice

Most tax-exempt organizations, other than churches, must file a yearly return or notice with the IRS. If an organization does not file as required for three consecutive years, the law provides that it automatically loses its tax-exempt status. Loss of exempt status means an organization must file income tax returns and pay income tax, and its contributors will not be able to deduct their donations.

What must be filed this year depends on the organization’s financial activity: ...
_____

Smaller organizations can file with a simple E-post-card.

This was on the Face Book Site I found the original article on.