Here is a story from The Chronicle of Philanthropy that might open your eyes to changes in the reporting laws for nonprofit organizations:
Nonprofit organizations make billions of dollars in income from
activities unrelated to their core missions, but roughly half of the
groups raising such funds pay little or nothing in federal taxes on the
income.
The pattern holds true for the very largest charities, according to a Chronicle of Philanthropy review of the organizations' most recent 990-T tax forms, which were made available to the public for the first time thanks to a change in federal law.
Of
the 91 large nonprofit groups analyzed, 46 -- or 51 percent -- listed
zero or negative taxable income after taking deductions and making
other calculations.
In all, the 91 groups in the Chronicle's
review generated $412.9 million in income through such activities as
operating museum shops, bookstores, parking facilities, restaurants,
and magazines.
Once these organizations calculated their taxes, that $412.9 million figure was reduced to a collective loss of $3.2 million.
The
finding does not mean that the nonprofit organizations have run afoul
of tax laws. In fact, legal experts say charities are merely following
federal tax laws on the books for years that allow them to shield much
of their income from tax through exemptions that Congress has built
into the tax code and to take myriad expenses as deductions for
operating expenses.
