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Politics & Government

New IRS Law Revokes Local Groups' Nonprofit Status

Many nonprofit organizations in Town and Country and Manchester are unaware of the consequences of losing their nonprofit status.

More than 6,000 nonprofit organizations in Missouri had their tax-exempt status revoked by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for failing to file annual returns or submitting an annual electronic notice of their activities for three consecutive years. About 19 nonprofit groups lost their federal tax exemption in Town and Country and Manchester.

If a nonprofit organization loses its exempt status it then has to start paying taxes, and donors to the charities are not able to deduct their donations when filing income taxes.

IRS spokesman for Missouri and Kansas Michael Devine said there was a lot of information made public about the new law, the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which required all organizations to file annual tax forms.

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“We sent letters and postcards to many organizations because we wanted to let them be aware that the law changed,” Devine said. “There was a lot of information in the media about this.”

Before the Pension Protection Act was passed by Congress, only tax-exempt organizations with gross receipts of $25,000 or more were required to file annual notice. Organizations such as churches, auxiliaries and association of churches and conventions are not required to file.  

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Devine said that most nonprofit organizations whose tax exemptions were revoked were not operational. However, the current existing organizations whose nonprofit status was revoked must now reapply for tax exemptions. When Patch contacted some of those organizations, many were unaware of the change and their loss of tax-exempt status.

Jim Boever, treasurer of the St. Louis Dahlia Society, a nonprofit organization whose exempt status was revoked, said he had not heard anything about the new law or anything about the automatic revocation of exemption list.

“We’re nonprofits,” Boever said. “We don’t pay taxes.”

Boever said the IRS might have reached the wrong person to file the annual returns. 

According to Boever, the IRS sent letters to his address directed to Ellis Evans, an accountant for the St. Louis Dahlia Society who passed away about two years ago. Since the letters weren’t directed to Boever, nobody tried opening them to read the content.

Those organizations that had their tax-exempt status revoked must file an application for exemption and pay a fee to have their status reinstated. For more information on this subject, visit the IRS Reinstatement of Tax-Exempt Status after Automatic Revocation page.

According to an article published in the Times Herald-Record, the revocation of federal exempt status was based on nonprofit organizations not completing tax forms for the years 2007 through 2009. The legislation was used to clean non-operational agencies off the database.

Devine said a disclosure law didn’t allow him to comment on why the legislation was passed by Congress, yet he assured Town and Country - Manchester Patch the IRS is complying with the law, and all organizations must meet legal requirements.   

Below is a list of local nonprofits registered in the Town and Country-Manchester area that had their tax-exempt status revoked:

AMERICAN BUSINESS WOMENS 910 PONTOISON DR. AMERICAN CULTURAL EXCHANGE P.O. BOX 617 GREATER ST LOUIS DAHLIA SOCIETY

465 CORTEQUAY CT.

GREATER ST LOUIS HOME ECONOMISTS IN 1210 FOXVIEW TERRACE SOCIETY OF PACKAGING & HANDLING

818 HOLLYRIDGE DR.

SANDRA CLAAR MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP 1665 COUNTRY HILL LN.

AMERICAN SOCIETY

P.O. BOX 1704

CHEETAH SOFTBALL-ALL AMERICAN DREAM

906 BURGUNDY LN. UNIVERSAL SADAQA INC         
1014 BRITTANY PARKWAY DR.

MUSICAL DIVERSIONS SOCIETY INC 

DR APT A SOUTH-WEST STARS BASEBALL     
1758 WARMINGTON CT. MISSOURI VETERANS OUTLET        

1475 DIETRICH OAKS DR.

CENTER FOR COUNSELING AND PASTORAL   
121 CREVE COEUR AVE. BRIGHTFIELD SUBDIVISION TRUST      

P.O. BOX 633

DIOGENES FOUNDATION 878 TORINO DR. ADVOCATES FOR THE AMERICAN          

420 GENOA DR.

THEOS FOR WIDOWED MIDWEST INC         
129 WOODS MILL RD. TOPPING MANOR DRIVE SUBDIVISION 

12818 TOPPING MANOR DR.

TOWN AND COUNTRY PARKS AND TRAILS       
PMB 200                          
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