Spring 2012 issue of Horizons

Not-For-Profit

The sea of constantly changing regulations has caused waves for many not-for-profit organizations. And while not-for-profits are regulated by a number of federal and state agencies, the regulator charged with ensuring organizations comply with the Internal Revenue Code and maintain tax exempt status is the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). To assist not-for-profits in understanding compliance requirements, the IRS maintains an informative website and periodically holds workshops and webinars and issues publications to educate organizations of all sizes and types. Recently, the IRS released the instructions to the 2011 Form 990 and the 2011 Annual Report and 2012 Work Plan for Exempt Organizations . Staying Afloat Among Changing Regulations By Judy Murphy, CPA

Modifications were made to the Form 990 for 2011. However, the actual changes to the form were not as significant as the IRS’ interpretation as to how the form should be completed. RubinBrown has compiled some of the more prominent IRS interpretations: • Partnership Investments: Partnership investments may no longer automatically be presented according to generally accepted accounting principles. The 2011 instructions appear to call for reporting some or all partnership interests owned by the filer based on Form 1065 Schedule K-1 information for the partnership year ending with or within the tax-exempt organization’s tax year.

Raise Your Expectations

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