1. You must be vigilant if you are a 501(c)(3) organization, which most religious institutions are. Some (usually smaller) groups have a religious affiliation but have not registered as a 501(c)(3) with the Internal Revenue Service. So, for instance, a neighborhood Bible study group that collects no dues and rotates meetings between homes is small enough and not receiving the benefits of that non-profit status. They have more leeway as to what they can do.
2. Be very clear as to what are “church” events and what are private events. That is, individuals have the ability to host politicians at their homes or other venues for campaign events and fundraisers. These same individuals can invite their fellow parishioners. But, they have to be clear in the invitation and in any language relating to the event, that it is private and it is not sponsored in any way by the church.
3. Events that occur at the institution’s headquarters, offices or owned or leased property by the institution, must be structured carefully, in a way to limit exposure to the religious institution.
4. Candidates may not be endorsed by the organization or its officers or staff members, who speak on behalf of the institution. Sermons cannot exhort the congregants to vote for a certain candidate. Many religious groups are aware of this restriction, and “work around” it, encouraging their congregants to vote for people who support different core issues, without mentioning the politicians by name. This is technically legal, but not always advisable.
5. Candidate endorsement and electioneering is taboo in all official congregational settings, including services, board meetings, committee meetings, adult and child education sessions, and even during community service time, like feeding the hungry or walks or fundraisers for various charitable organizations.
6. Get out the vote events and candidate forums are allowed at religious institutions but they must be transparently non-partisan. A variety of candidates must be invited (they do not all have to show up), and again, no electioneering on the part of congregational leadership can occur.
7. DICEY SITUATION: A single candidate may speak about an issue of importance to the congregation (Middle East politics, abortion law, funding for the poor, etc.), as long as the candidate (or attendees!) does not ask for votes and as long as the event is not billed as a campaign event. It is best if any pre-publicity does not mention the candidate’s name or that he or she is running for office.

The post During Voting Season Don’t Step on the Line Between Church and State appeared first on Dawda PLC.

The new form is called Form 1023-EZ. Compared to the original form (Form 1023), it is significantly shorter (3 pages for the 1023-EZ as opposed to 28 pages for the standard Form 1023). Form 1023-EZ must be filled out online only, utilizing Pay.gov and a $400 user fee must be paid at the time the form is submitted.

Not all charitable entities are eligible to use the 1023-EZ, but many are. The essential qualifications have to do with the size of the applying institution. The enterprise cannot have more than $250,000 in assets and must have gross receipts of $50,000 or less. In the past, the IRS did not distinguish between large non-profits and start-ups. All were required to utilize the complex Form 1023.

The IRS still has a backlog of applicants from the original Form 1023 (reportedly more than 60,000 applications are awaiting IRS action). The IRS is hopeful that fewer resources on their end will be needed as smaller charities utilize the more user-friendly form. Since the rollout of the 1023-EZ option, 45% of the 501(c)(3) applicants are utilizing Form 1023-EZ. The IRS expects that the approval process for applicants utilizing Form 1023-EZ will be under 90 days, with many taking significantly less time. Since the form has been introduced, the average backlog has diminished for all 501(c)(3) applicants (using both forms) from 270 days to 200 days.

Jeffrey Moss, Dawda attorney, notes “We have had several new organizations form and take advantage of this new streamlined process. It is a great systematic improvement for smaller or newer charities.”

Please consult your tax attorney for further details and compliance advice.

For more information, please click here:

PDF of Form 1023-EZ

IRS Information on completing Form 1023-EZ

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