Nearly 80 small nonprofit organizations from Black Diamond to Sumner are at risk of losing their tax-exempt status because they failed to file required returns from 2007, 2008 and 2009.
July 26, the IRS posted a 254-page list of organizations, just for Washington state, on a special page of IRS.gov. The document includes the names and last-known addresses of the at-risk organizations, along with guidance about each can return to compliance.
“We are doing everything we can to help organizations comply with the law and keep their valuable tax exemption,” IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said in a press release. “So if you do not have your filings up to date, now’s the time to take action and get back on track.”
Small nonprofit organizations at risk of losing their tax-exempt status because they failed to file required returns for 2007, 2008 and 2009 can preserve their status by filing returns by Oct. 15, under a one-time relief program, according to the IRS.
Local nonprofits on the list include youth sports organizations like Cascade Foothills Soccer Club and Sumner TaeKwondo, community organizations like the Wilkeson Booster Club, Backcountry Horsemen of Washington Enumclaw Trail Riders Chapter, Black Diamond Citizens Concerned About Strip Mining, Osceola Community Club, Bonney Lake’s Valley Literacy Council, Sumner’s Partners in Early Literacy, Bonney Lake’s International Association of Firefighters, Black Diamond Fraternal Order of Eagles, Foundation for Enumclaw Community, Enumclaw Youth Clubhouse, Buckley and Bonney Lake Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Concerned Taxpayers of the Sumner School District, Buckley Beautification Club, Bonney Lake Youth Center Association and Washington State Granges in Buckley and Black Diamond; arts organizations like Plateau Community Players, Stage Door Productions, Committee for Local Improvements for Enumclaw – LIFE and Plateau Ballet Repertory Theatre; school groups like White River Scholarship Fund and Key Club and Spartan Choral Association; and homeowners associations like Bonney Lake’s Wilderness Ridge Homeowners Association and Black Diamond’s Horseshoe Lake Homeowners Association;
According to the press release, the IRS will keep the list of at-risk organizations on IRS.gov until Oct. 15. Organizations that have not filed the required information returns by that date will have their tax-exempt status revoked, and the IRS will publish a list of these revoked organizations in early 2011. Donors who contribute to at-risk organizations are protected until the final revocation list is published.
If an organization loses its exemption, it will have to reapply with the IRS to regain its tax-exempt status. Any income received between the revocation date and renewed exemption may be taxable.
Tax-exempt organizations that do not satisfy annual filing requirements for three consecutive years automatically lose their tax-exempt status. The IRS is providing one-time relief for such organizations. The list includes organizations for which the IRS does not have a record of a required annual filing for 2007 and 2008, and whose 2009 return, due on or after May 17 and before October 15, has not yet been received.
