New Developments
IRS “Advance Ruling” procedure eliminated. As of September 9, 2008, the IRS has eliminated the “advance ruling” procedure, whereby a new organization had to go through a five-year, two-step process to obtain a final IRS determination of its public charity (rather than private foundation) status. Now, a new organization that demonstrates (on its application for exemption) that it reasonably expects to be publicly supported will automatically be treated as a public charity for its first five years. As of its sixth year, the organization must demonstrate that it meets the test for public charity status on an ongoing basis. The new procedures also apply to organizations that had advance rulings in place as of September 9, 2008. For more information see the IRS Website.