IRS defrocks charities left and right
Last week, the IRS put out a list of 275,000 nonprofit organizations around the country that were being stricken from the rolls of tax-exempt charities because they hadn't filed proper reports with the taxing agency in a long time. This purging was required by a law Congress passed in 2006; it's apparently just now taking effect.
The revenuers also released state-by-state lists, which a blogger might regard as an open invitation to go hunting through for tasty news tidbits.
Here's the Oregon list. Unfortunately, these tables allow for only a certain limited number of characters in the organization's name, and so in some cases, it will be hard to figure out just who has been bounced. Also, keep in mind that a lot of these groups are long defunct, and some will seek to be reinstated. But still, there are some interesting names on there:
NORTHWEST NATURAL GAS COMPANY 220 NW 2ND AVE PORTLANDHappy hunting, folks. Let us know what you find.OREGON LEATHER FRATERNITY 4200 SW 107TH AVE APT 1802 BEAVERTON
PHILIP H KNIGHT CHARITABLE ONE BOWERMAN DR BEAVERTON
OREGON ASSOCIATION OF ORTHOPAEDISTS PO BOX 2082 LAKE OSWEGO
AMERICAN EDERATION OF STATE COUNTY & MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES 3913 OR LOC W 10033 SW TRAPPER TER BEAVERTON
BOYS TO MEN MENTORING PROGRAM 4820 SW BARBUR BLVD APT 58 PORTLAND
PSU FAULTY TRUST FUND 111 S W FRONT AVENUE SUITE 303 PORTLAND
SO AND SO AND SO AND SO 525 SE 16TH AVE PORTLAND
GRAY PANTHERS OF PORTLAND INC 1020 SW TAYLOR ST STE 610 PORTLAND
MULTNOMAH COUNTY SHERIFFS POSE PO BOX 90353 PORTLAND
BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU FOUNDATION 333 SW 5TH AVE STE 300 PORTLAND
SPIDER WOMAN 4305 SW CORONADO ST PORTLAND
MULTNOMAH BAR FOUNDATION 520 SW YAMHILL ST STE 800 PORTLAND
WILLAMETTE SHORE TROLLEY 888 SW 5TH AVE STE 300 PORTLAND
CLASSICAL CHINESE GARDEN SOCIETY 1941 SE 31ST AVE PORTLAND
PORTLAND POLICE FOUNDATION 5949 NE 30TH AVE PORTLAND
| Posted at 9:43 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (18)
It will be a happy day when we see "charities" like the catholic church on that list.
Posted by mk | June 13, 2011 10:19 AM
There's a great resource for IRS information about non-profits at the website for an organization called GuideStar. Its basic services are free and no registration is required.
Posted by Peter Apanel | June 13, 2011 10:23 AM
There is no reasonable excuse for any on-going non-profit org to have missed that filing deadline because there were multiple personal and private warnings for years.
Posted by Mojo | June 13, 2011 10:59 AM
"public" warnings -- not private, that is.
Posted by Mojo | June 13, 2011 11:00 AM
I don't know what's worse: the fact that PSU had a "faulty" trust fund, or that PSU has a trust fund for faculty who can't spell.
Posted by Garage Wine | June 13, 2011 11:11 AM
Remember the faulty!
Posted by Allan L. | June 13, 2011 11:30 AM
Garage Wine -
or the more likely explanation, a key punch error at IRS while originally inputting the data
Posted by Nonny Mouse | June 13, 2011 12:19 PM
Wow the first comment is an attack on Catholic charities? Care to cite any compelling sources that support your intention to tax the largest provider of charity and education and health care on the planet?
Posted by Pistolero | June 13, 2011 12:20 PM
Criminal enterprises shouldn't be tax-exempt.
Posted by Jack Bog | June 13, 2011 12:48 PM
Nonny is correct.
Even more mysterious, is why it took the IRS 20 years to notice that the enterprise no longer exists.
Posted by Garage Wine | June 13, 2011 1:14 PM
I think the whole intent on making churches tax-exempt is the fact that most of them provide services that the public would end up paying for if they didn't exist. (I could be wrong, however, Jack is the tax professor)
BUT... I don't think churches should be automatically tax-exempt just because they are a church. There are several good examples of churches that blow most of their income on frivolous expansion of satellite campuses and outrageously expensive motivational speakers (the so called 'prosperity' church, where Sunday services resemble a sales pitch at a used car lot), or entities like the LDS church who employs a mostly "volunteer" staff and doesn't publish anything resembling a financial statement.
Posted by anthony | June 13, 2011 1:39 PM
Great moments in Freudian slips:
PSU "FAULTY" Trust Fund.
Heh.
Posted by Samuel John Klein | June 13, 2011 2:08 PM
I've always questioned the extreme high number of tax exempt non-profits, many times competing against private entities with similar services that pay taxes without 70% to 95% going to "administration" .
I counted over 3955 being stricken from Oregon's role. Just how many non-profits do we have left? How many are legit? And we seem to have a higher percentage of non-profits per ratio of total US population per Oregon population. Interesting.
Posted by lw | June 13, 2011 2:12 PM
AMERICAN EDERATION OF STATE COUNTY & MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES 3913
Hey! They're freakin' AFSME! They make sure your kid don't get run over by some hahd-on, they haul your freakin' gahbage.
http://youtu.be/_3mw49mk_x0
Posted by Max | June 13, 2011 3:59 PM
NW Natural Gas? Really?
Posted by Mike H | June 13, 2011 4:33 PM
If they don't file information then there is nothing to show up in a search on a site like this.
Posted by pdxnag | June 13, 2011 5:35 PM
Jack, you missed Sam's favorite near the top of page 2 - "Chosen Boys."
Posted by umpire | June 13, 2011 5:42 PM
Surprised to see YMCA and YWCA on the list.
Posted by Frank | June 13, 2011 9:14 PM