Introduction to Tax Exempt Organizations

In this complex world of corporate governance, it is important to understand all the ever-changing rules that govern the formation, administration and governance of tax exempt organizations. The main thing to understand about nonprofit organizations is that there isn’t necessarily a nonprofit body of law, per se - what we call “Nonprofit Law” is drawn from many various other areas of law: trusts, estates, contract, labor law, corporate law, tax law, and more.

This course, taught by Anta Cisse-Green, Associate General Counsel for NYU Langone Health, will review the basic provisions regarding the formation of tax exempt organizations under federal and state law, including the documents necessary to obtain federal and state tax exemptions. It will also explore what it means to have private foundation status, including how and why to avoid such status when it will not be beneficial to the organization. In addition, the course will summarize the basic prohibitions for charitable organizations, including the restrictions on lobbying activities (and how to create an effective lobbying campaign within the rules), prescriptions on campaign activities (what you can and cannot do), rules pertaining to the use of internet by charities, commercial activities and joint ventures between charities, or nonprofits and for profits, as well as the rules related to unrelated business income tax, and the self dealing rules for insiders of a charitable organization.

Learning Objectives:

1. Grasp the differences between nonprofit organizations and organizations that are tax exempt
2. Explore the tax and non-tax considerations involved in the formation of a tax exempt organization
3. Examine the specific issues involved in obtaining and maintaining tax exempt status - issues of qualification as an exempt organization
4. Review the Federal Internal Revenue Code and regulations related to the tax exempt organizations, and the way that the IRC and IRS serve as regulators rather than revenue collectors - so that federal laws work more like corporate law than traditional tax law
5. Focus on the IRC and treasury regulations that exempt charitable and other nonprofit organizations from federal income tax and govern the behavior of charities