IRS, Treasury, Propose New Rules for Nonprofits’ Political Activity

After years of discussion and debate on the meaning and application of the political activity and lobbying restrictions imposed on nonprofits by IRC Sec. 501(c)(3), the IRS and Treasury will soon move to implement rules that will rein in these nonprofits.  According to the New York Times, new rules proposed by the Treasury and the IRS will clarify “both how the I.R.S. defines political activity and how much nonprofits are allowed to spend on it. The proposal covers not just television advertising, but bread-and-butter political work like candidate forums and get-out-the-vote drives.”

What, we wonder, is driving the development of these new rules?  According to the Times, the Obama Administration wants to make the current rules less vague:

Administration officials described the new proposal as a response to complaints — including objections from the Treasury’s own inspector general after the Tea Party controversy — that the existing regulations were too vague, leading to inconsistent or arbitrary enforcement. The I.R.S. would be better equipped to enforce the rules, the officials said, if they were clearer, while nonprofit groups would be better able to comply.

We shall wait to see what really happens.

VEJ