Exempt Organizations Advisory - Oversight Subcommittee Requests Public Comment on Pension Protection Act Tax-Exempt Organization Provisions

By:    Catherine W. Wilkinson (cwilkinson@steptoe.com)
Suzanne Ross McDowell (smcdowell@steptoe.com)

On June 12, the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee announced a request for written comments on the Pension Protection Act’s provisions regarding tax-exempt organizations.

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA), which was enacted on August 17, 2006, contains over thirty provisions relating to tax-exempt organizations, including charitable giving incentives, exempt organization reforms, new restrictions affecting donor advised funds and supporting organizations.

According to the advisory, the Subcommittee is particularly interested in how these recently-enacted provisions affect, or will affect, charitable efforts and the difficulties that have arisen in implementing these provisions. The Subcommittee also requests comments on the provisions scheduled to expire on December 31, 2007.

Karen McAfee, tax counsel for the Ways and Means Committee, indicated at a conference in April that the current Ways & Means Committee would be more “sympathetic” to the charitable sector and would reevaluate PPA provisions regarding UBIT, supporting organizations, and donations of fractional interest of property.   

The deadline to submit written comments to the Committee is Tuesday, July 31, 2007.  For more information on submission of written comments, please click here.