Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018 from 1-4 p.m. in #402 J.C. Penney Conference Center on the UMSL north campus. (Note, members of the Community Builders Network (CBN) will have an additional discussion/meeting from 4-5 p.m.)

The NPML Program is proud to partner with the Community Builders Network (CBN) for this presentation. Learn more about CBN at: http://www.communitybuildersstl.org/

Is your organization currently participating in partnerships with other organizations and/or groups? Are you planning to do so? Do you want the existing partnerships to be even more successful, or want to optimize the chances that future partnerships and collaborations will be so? This workshop is for current and aspiring nonprofit executives, managers, and board members who want to learn the most promising principles and practices to form and sustain successful partnerships and collaborations. It will also provide an opportunity to learn and share obstacles to, and strategies for success. The workshop will mix plenary presentation and discussion,

On December 22, President Trump signed “An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018” (“Bill”) into law. The Bill was previously named the much-shorter “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” but was changed after a senator pointed out that the name violated an obscure Senate rule.

The new employee benefit and executive compensation provisions in the Bill affect both individuals and employers. The good news for colleges and universities is that the harshest employee benefit provisions directed at colleges and universities were not included in the final Bill. The bad news is that the executive compensation and fringe benefit changes directed at tax-exempt organizations are unfavorable to institutions of higher education.

THE GOOD: CHANGES EXCLUDED FROM THE FINAL BILL

The House passed a version of the Bill that would have repealed the exclusion from income for

The IRS revised Form 1023-EZ, Streamlined Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and its instructions to help small charities apply for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. These revisions don’t change the Form 1023-EZ user fee. Here’s a summary of the revisions we made to the Form 1023-EZ.

• A text box was added to Part III requesting a brief description of the organization’s mission or most significant activities. This change was recommended by the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate and is designed to provide a better understanding of the most significant activities that an organization engages in to further its exempt purposes.
• Questions about annual gross receipts, total assets and public charity classification were added to the Form 1023-EZ. These questions are also on the Form 1023-EZ Eligibility Worksheet in the Instructions for Form 1023-EZ  that organizations must certify they have completed.
• Question
  

Did you read our post “Work Now, Party Later,” advising you to do just that in response to the new Department of Labor rule governing disability claims procedures? If so—party on! If not, we hope you enjoyed your holiday celebrations, because it is now time to work.

On January 5, the Department of Labor announced its decision that the new disability claims procedure rules will take effect on April 1 of this year. Here is our suggested plan of attack for employers:

Step 1: Review our previous blog post to familiarize yourself with the new rules.

Step 2: Identify which of your plans offer disability benefits.

Remember to check both your ERISA qualified and nonqualified plans.

Step 3. Determine whether you need to amend your plan and/or SPD.

Under the new rules, participants who file a disability claim must receive an expanded explanation of their adverse benefit determination and a notice of their

Topic: The Office of Professional Responsibility: What you need to Know about Practicing before the IRS (rebroadcast) Date: Wednesday January 17, 2018 Times: 2:00 p.m. Eastern; 1:00 p.m. Central; Noon Mountain; 11:00 a.m. Pacific Duration: Two hours

Webinar featuring OPR Director Stephen Whitlock with live Q&A at the end of the presentation

Topics include:

• Regulations governing tax practice before the IRS (Circular 230, Rev. 6/2014)
• Due diligence obligations of tax professionals
• Overview of other key Circular 230 provisions
• Practitioner responsibilities to their clients and to the tax administration system
• Best practices for all tax professionals
• Office of Professional Responsibility policies and procedures

Register for the webinar

Earn two CE credits in ethics

To receive a certificate of completion and CE credit, you must:

• View the live presentation on 1/17/18 for at least 100 minutes from the start of the program.
• To confirm your attendance and receive
  

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) eliminated all miscellaneous itemized deductions that are subject to the 2% floor, capped state and local taxes deduction at $10,000, and doubled the standard deduction for single persons to $12,000 and married couples to $24,000.  As a result of this triumvirate of changes, the individual taxpayer who is over age 70½ is now faced with new computation to make to determine how best to report deductions on the Form 1040 beginning this year and a new opportunity, if managed correctly, to maximize deductions and minimize taxable income.

IRC § 408(d)(8) permits anyone who is over age 70½ to transfer up to $100,000 per year from his/her IRA directly to public charities without reflecting the distribution in taxable income on the taxpayer’s Form 1040.  This technique allows the IRA owner to satisfy the taxpayer’s charitable giving and his/her Required Minimum Distribution (“RMD”)

As we posted, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate passed and sent to the President for signature legislation that makes significant changes to the U.S. tax code.  The changes are the broadest re-write of the U.S. tax code since the 1986 act and could have a widespread impact on tax-exempt organizations and charitable giving.   The following is a very brief summary of the rules impacting exempt organizations and charitable giving:

Rules Impacting Charitable Donations 

• Increase in AGI Limit. The income-based percentage limit for charitable cash contributions by individuals to public charities increases from 50 percent to 60 percent of Adjusted Gross Income (“AGI”).
• Itemized Deductions. The standard deduction is increased from $6,350 to $12,000 for singles and from $12,700 to $24,000 for married couples filing jointly.  Thus, fewer individuals will be itemizing deductions, which includes charitable deductions.  Many commentators have speculated this increase in the
  

Today, Congress passed a sweeping tax bill, as widely expected over the last few weeks. The bill passed solely along party lines, with no Democrats voting for the bill.  President Trump is expected to sign the bill into law, shortly.

The changes in the transfer tax laws made by this bill are as follows:

• The gift and estate tax exemption is doubled beginning January 1, 2018, from $5,000,000 per person to $10,000,000, indexed for inflation.  For 2018, this equals $11,200,000 for individuals and $22,400,000 for married couples. The increase applies to the generation-skipping transfer tax exemption, as well
• The foregoing increase of the gift, estate, and GST exemptions is set to expire in 2026, when the exemptions would revert to $5,000,000/$10,000,000 figures, adjusted for inflation.  This raises the question of whether, upon such expiration, there could be a so-called claw-back/penalty on any gifts made prior to 2026 which exceeded
  

Early Due Dates for W-2, W-3 and Form 1099-MISC 

Employers face a January 31, 2018, due date for filing 2017 Forms W-2 and W-3 with the Social Security Administration. This date applies to both electronic and paper filers.

Form 1099-MISC is due to the IRS and individuals by January 31 when reporting non-employee compensation payments in box 7.

Penalties for failure to file correct information returns or furnish correct payee statements have increased and are now subject to inflationary adjustments. These increased penalties are effective for information returns required to be filed after December 31, 2015.

Form 1098-T Reporting Changes and Limited Penalty Relief for 2017 Returns 

Eligible educational institutions are required to report the total amount of payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses from all sources during the calendar year on Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement.

Announcement 2016-42 provides relief from penalties under Section 6721 and 6722 to 2017 Forms 1098-T.

Do you want to strengthen your board’s effectiveness? Do you want your board and members to be vitally engaged and forge the best possible working partnership with your executive and other staff in order to achieve more fully the organization’s mission? This workshop is for current and aspiring nonprofit staff executives and board leaders, including incoming board members, who want to learn and apply promising practices based on the latest research for making their boards even more effective and their staff-board relationships more productive and satisfying. It will also provide an opportunity to share with peers the greatest challenges and successful strategies for strengthening boards. The learning activities will mix plenary presentation, exercises and discussion,a  panel with a diverse set of nonprofit and philanthropic leaders, and small, break out group discussions. Takeaways include tools and exercises designed to increase board performance.

The workshop will address topics such as:

(1) the