CHARITIES FACE DOOMSDAY WITH LOSS OF TAX-EXEMPT STATUS

As Nevada's major community voice, we hope that our stations throughout the state will get the word out and remind the public of a very important deadline.  At midnight May 15, any nonprofit group that hasn't filed a new tax form will lose the tax break that is the lifeblood of most small nonprofit organizations.  It allows them to raise money tax-free and enables the public to write off their donations to them.  Thousands of Nevada nonprofit organizations and hundreds of thousands nationally are estimated to lose their tax-exempt status -- an event that is now being called "Doomsday."

For decades, nonprofit organizations that raised less than $25,000 a year didn't have to file tax returns.  Thousands apparently don't have a clue that changed in 2006.  That was the year Congress amended the law to track nonprofit organizations closer.  This year is the first requiring mandatory filing of the new IRS forms.

If a nonprofit organization misses the deadline, organizations will have to start paying taxes on the money they raise.  Fundraising could become even tougher than it already is.  Contributors who cannot get a tax break for their donations, may think twice about giving.  The affected nonprofit organizations span the state and include well-known names.  Fraternal groups such as Rotary, the Lions Club, Knights of Columbus, American Legion.  Athletic leagues that include neighborhood baseball and softball teams that dot the state.  Boy Scout chapters.  ROTC chapters.  Habitat for Humanity chapters.  NAACP chapters.  Social service groups, chapters of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; and even Labor unions.  The list goes on and on.

All that is needed is for an officer of the organization to file electronically -- click onto the IRS website.  Type in your federal tax identification number and fill out the 990 N form that is the law of the land.  It takes approximately 35 minutes to complete.

The bottom line is that the IRS wants to make sure that everyone who is supposed to be paying taxes is paying taxes.  And organizations that are exempt are properly exempt.  Please help to spread the word -- so that contributions will continue going to the charities rather than being taxed.