Group Opposes Retroactive Application of Interim Guidance on Charitable Donations of Vehicles
Group Opposes Retroactive Application of Interim Guidance on Charitable Donations of Vehicles
- AuthorsVotaw, Carmen Delgado
- Institutional AuthorsAlliance for Children and Families
- Cross-Reference
- Code Sections
- Subject Area/Tax Topics
- Jurisdictions
- LanguageEnglish
- Tax Analysts Document NumberDoc 2006-2560
- Tax Analysts Electronic Citation2006 TNT 28-29
December 14, 2005
Honorable Mark W. Everson
Commissioner
Internal Revenue Service
P.O. Box 7604
Ben Franklin Station
Washington, DC 20044
Honorable John W. Snow
Secretary
Department of Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20220
Dear Secretary Snow and Commissioner Everson:
On behalf of the Alliance for Children and Families, I would like to express our opposition to the retroactive application of Section 170(f)(12), as detailed in interim guidance Notice 2005-44 of June 3, 2005.
The Alliance for Children and Families is a national membership organization of more than 330 private, nonprofit child- and family-serving agencies throughout the United States and Canada. Our members serve approximately 8 million children and families in over 6,800 communities. The Alliance for Children and Families has participated in the efforts of the Panel on the Nonprofit-Sector, convened by Independent Sector at the request of the Senate Finance Committee, and signed on to the Panel's Final Report. We are committed to the principles of accountability and transparency for charitable organizations and fully support reforms that will strengthen the ability of our organizations to serve the public ethically and responsibly.
We believe that increased accountability in the donation of vehicles to charitable organizations is an important goal; however, retroactive application of Section 170(f)(12) to donations received before September 1, 2005 will impose an undue burden on donee organizations. Our members, along with all other charitable organizations that rely on vehicle donations as an important part of their fundraising efforts, would have to devote valuable and often scarce resources to obtaining the required information from past donors -- resources that would be better devoted to serving the public. These donors may have lost contact with the donee organization, and the donee risks severe penalties if the donors cannot be found. In addition, collection and reporting of information such as donors' Social Security numbers by charitable organizations, as required by the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, is onerous for reasons of donor privacy as well as for the administrative burden they impose. The requirement that organizations collect this information from donors who made their gifts before the issuance of clear guidelines exacerbates this problem, as the donee risks incurring a penalty if a past donor is unwilling to provide the information.
Retroactive application of this rule is not required by the legislative authority, and is not necessary for the goal of increased accountability. Application of Section 170(f)(12) only to contributions made after the issuance of the interim guidance, which provides charitable organizations with clear instructions as to what will be required of them, would serve the purpose of increasing transparency for the future without unnecessarily burdening charities that complied in good faith with the rules in effect at the time.
Thank you for your consideration of this issue that is so critical to our members and other charitable organizations that rely on above-board donations of vehicles to help them serve children, families, and communities. We are open to discussing these comments in further detail with you at any time.
Carmen Delgado Votaw
Senior Vice President,
Public Policy
- AuthorsVotaw, Carmen Delgado
- Institutional AuthorsAlliance for Children and Families
- Cross-Reference
- Code Sections
- Subject Area/Tax Topics
- Jurisdictions
- LanguageEnglish
- Tax Analysts Document NumberDoc 2006-2560
- Tax Analysts Electronic Citation2006 TNT 28-29