IRS Clarifies Reliance On IRS Publications For Making Donations Or Grants

The IRS recently issued guidance that clarifies the extent to which grantors, donors and contributors can rely on IRS databases and other publications to confirm an exempt organization's tax status for purposes of deducting contributions or making grants. This guidance document, Revenue Procedure 2011-33 (Rev. Proc. 2011-33)¹, provides that donations or grants made to organizations in good standing as of the date of the donation or grant (as confirmed by checking IRS's electronically-maintained databases - Publication 78 (Pub. 78) and the Business Master File (BMF)) will be treated as a charitable deduction or qualifying distribution. This in and of itself does not reflect any significant change to donors and grantmakers' standard practice of checking an organization's status in these databases prior to making a grant or donation.