Exempt Organizations— Current Developments

A number of legislative actions and IRS pronouncements over the last six months may be of interest to charitable organizations and other organizations that are exempt from tax under the provisions of Internal Revenue Code section 501.

Charitable Giving Bills Stall. The House has passed the Charitable Giving Act of 2003 (H.R. 7), and the Senate has passed the CARE Act of 2003 (S. 476. Both bills contain a number of incentives for charitable giving, the most significant of which are a non-itemizer charitable contribution deduction of up to $250 ($500 for joint filers) for cash contributions above $250 ($500 for joint filers) and an IRA rollover provision that would permit IRA beneficiaries over a certain age to contribute their IRA proceeds to charities or split-interest trusts without having to take the IRA proceeds into income. The non-itemizer provision would sunset after two years; the IRA rollover provi-sion would be permanent. The House bill also contains