I received the below with instructions to pass it on without the name of the
person (who has studied law) because of individuals who have encountered
situations before in which donation recipients just assumed that tax-exempt
status was a non-official thing.  I well recall when the North Jersey
Regional Science Fair was pursuing this status and how very long it took to
get the status (along with a special ID the IRS provides which can be given
to contributors when needed).  Any shelter or other charity advertising
itself as tax-exempt will be able to give you this IRS info -- or it's NOT
really tax exempt.
 
>Most people do not realize what is required to be non-profit or tax-exempt.
>They are two entirely different classifications.
>
>Typically, non-profit is a status granted by the state after filing certain
>paperwork which usually includes things like filing bylaws, articles of
>incorporation, paperwork for charity status, etc. It varies by state so you
>can't go by what someone else did in another state! Get expert advice here.
>
>Tax-exempt status is granted by the IRS and is the same throughout the US.
>It requires filing a Form 1023 which is quite lengthy and detailed. It also
>takes a long time for the IRS to rule on this - sometimes up to 18 months.
>If an organization has filed Form 1023, donations *may* be tax deductible
>before the IRS grants section 501(c)(3) status provided the application was
>made within a certain time-frame and the paperwork is approved. If the IRS
>turns down the request, the donor can be held liable for the taxes and
>penalties on the donated amount. Needless to say, it's risky to write off a
>donation before the donors paperwork is in hand.
 
Like I said, I also personally KNOW that non-profit (important for the tax
purposes of the charity, but meaningless for the person making a donation)
varies greatly from tax-exempt.  Now, that doesn't mean that a worthy
shelter or other charity isn't something to give to -- we did it for NJRSF
both before and after the IRS granted the status (declaring it on our taxes
after, but not before, of course) and we give to some shelters which we just
can't count in our tax prep, either.
 
What it probably does mean is that the SOS list, if it is to include a
comment about tax-exemption, should get the IRS tax-exempt ID granted from
the above paperwork approval and note it for each shelter in this category,
or consider including the above info so that donors can check if they want
to.  BTW, you can check this with the IRS or with a tax lawyer if you want.
Feel free.  I don't know for sure if the right form number was put down and
don't have time to check that, but the rest matches up EXACTLY with what we
went through when Steve and I were both on the NJRSF Organizing Committee.
 
Sukie
[Posted in FML issue 2379]