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Health & Fitness

Community Law Center Can Help Nonprofits Regain IRS Tax-Exempt Status

Community Law Center offers help to nonprofits losing IRS exemption.

If your organization is like the Violetville Community Association (VCA) and what appears to be many thousands of other groups that lost their Internal Revenue Service (IRS) exemption last week, there might be help on the way. 

The Community Law Center, Inc., is offering legal assistance to Maryland nonprofit organizations in re-applying for tax-exemption.

As reported in the , the IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of 275,000 charitable organizations across the country and over 7,000 in Maryland last week for failing to file tax returns in 2007, 2008, and 2009.  Many of these groups never had to file a tax return before, but that changed with the  Pension Protection Act of 2006.

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Many of the organizations that lost their tax-exempt status were defunct, according to the IRS, as reported in the Baltimore Sun.  

Some groups, like the VCA, were not aware of the changes in the law.  I spoke with an IRS customer service representative last week on the telephone and she said "we tried our best to get notices out".   

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In a press release, Acting Executive Director Kelly Pfeifer, Esq., said:

"Keeping up with the required filings can pose a challenge to the many small nonprofit groups in Maryland that are run entirely by volunteers.  We help these groups maintain their tax-exempt status by providing legal advice to nonprofits every year"

"Community Law Center invites any Maryland nonprofit organization on the revocation list to contact our offices in order to obtain legal assistance in reapplying for tax exemption," Pfeifer said.

The Community Law Center also holds workshops called "How to Start and Maintain a Nonprofit Organization".  The workshops are offered every other month.  The next workshop will be held July 11, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at Community Law Center (located at 3355 Keswick Road in Hampden). Workshop registration is $40, including a manual on the subject. Advance registration is required.

For more information, please visit  www.communitylaw.org. 

 

 

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