Brewer on Recent PLRs regarding Reincorporation/Redomestication of 501(c)(3)s
Lloyd Mayer
Reconsideration of Reincorporation/Redomestication of 501(c)(3) Corporations?
Generally, if an IRC § 501(c)(3) organization changes its legal form (e.g., from a trust or unincorporated association to a nonprofit corporation), the new form of organization must reapply for tax-exempt status. See American New Covenant Church v. Commissioner, 74 T.C. 293 (1980)(unincorporated association becomes a nonprofit corporation); Rev. Rul. 77-469, 1977-2 C.B. 196 (same). Moreover, in Case 4 of Rev. Rul. 67-390, the IRS set forth its position that mere incorporation of an exempt corporation from one state to another requires a new exemption application. See Rev. Rul. 67-390, 1967-2 C.B. 179 (describing four distinct transactions—incorporation of an exempt trust, incorporation of an exempt association, reincorporation by Act of Congress, and reincorporation from one state to another—all requiring new applications for exempt status). The IRS’s restrictive position with respect to mere reincorporation transactions involving exempt corporations seems especially harsh, particularly when compared to the much more liberal approach taken for nonexempt corporations. See I.R.C. § 368(a)(1)(F) (allowing reincorporation from one state to another with no significant income tax effect whatsoever).
Two recent private letter rulings, however, perhaps indicate that the IRS is reconsidering its position. Specifically, in PLR 201426028 (June 27, 2014), the IRS held that a legislatively mandated, intrastate conversion from “public nonprofit corporation” status to “nonprofit corporation” status did not require an organization to reapply for exemption. Then, in PLR 201446025 (Aug. 20, 2014), the IRS went one step further to hold that a “redomestication” of an exempt corporation from one state to another did not require a new exemption application. The “redomestication” in PLR 201446025 was effectuated by filing a “Certificate of Conversion” in the original state and filing “Articles of Domestication” in the destination state. According to the private ruling, the “redomestication” was undertaken because the corporate law of the destination state offered more flexibility.
To reach these favorable holdings, the IRS distinguished American New Covenant Church, Rev. Rul. 77-469, and Case 4 of Rev. Rul. 67-390 primarily on two grounds. First, with respect to the exempt corporations involved in the private rulings, controlling state law and governing documents clearly provided that each corporation’s existence continued “uninterrupted” from its original incorporation and original exemption application. Second, each exempt corporation’s activities, assets, and obligations (including liabilities to the IRS) remained the same before and after the reorganization transactions.
The IRS further reasoned that the state to state “reincorporation” transaction described in Case 4 of Rev. Rul. 67-390 (which required a new exemption application) was fundamentally different from the state to state “redomestication” in PLR 201446025 (which did not require a new exemption application). Without providing details, the IRS stated that the “reincorporation” in Case 4 of Rev. Rul. 67-390 resulted in a new legal entity whereas the “redomestication” in PLR 201446025 did not. Yet, in the author’s experience with nonexempt corporations, reincorporations and redomestications are effectively identical (i.e., despite changing the state of incorporation the corporation’s existence continues uninterrupted and the corporation’s activities, assets, and obligations remain the same).
If in fact the IRS is reconsidering its position with respect to reorganization transactions involving exempt corporations, a published ruling clarifying Rev. Rul. 67-390 is critical. Otherwise, exempt corporations will be left wondering whether their reorganization transaction is a “reincorporation” demanding a new exemption application or a “redomestication” not requiring a new exemption application. In this regard it is worth noting that some states have fairly sophisticated “redomestication” statutes for nonprofit organizations (e.g., Indiana, Ind. Code Ann. §§ 23-17-31-1 through -6). Other states (e.g., Georgia, O.C.G.A. 14-3-101 through 1703) do not have such statues, relying instead on merger statutes to accomplish reorganization transactions across states. PLR 201446025 does not identify the states involved in the “redomestication” that was the subject of the private ruling. If, though, redomestication statutes are the key to avoiding a new exemption application after reorganizing an exempt corporation, this would be vitally important for tax advisors to know.
Cass Brewer
Assistant Professor
Georgia State University College of Law