Tax Tips for Higher Education

Issue Do you track 'volunteers'? It's a good idea to track the number of volunteers and descriptions of what activities they participated in. Situation Marathon Bible College (MBC) is a public charity and a school under I.R.C. sections 501(c)(3) and 170(b)(1)(A)(ii)....

Many not-for-profit organizations ask, “what are my chances of being audited?” Currently, the percentages are low – but things may be changing.

A question we get sometimes is whether or not “employee discounts” are taxable to the employee. What if the discounts are available to an employee’s family?

A few months ago we talked about Form 5713 and reporting “operations” in countries that the U.S. Government has deemed to be “boycott countries”. It can be somewhat difficult to find the current list.

Situation

Denali Christian College (DCC) is a public charity and a school under I.R.C. sections 501(c)(3) and 170(b)(1)(A)(ii). As DCC prepares to conduct their summer missions trips to the Middle East, their CFO calls to say that they have been discussing “boycott countries”. However, they are concerned because they cannot find a current list of these countries. (The most recent Form 5713 instructions refer to the 2010 “list”.)
We tell them that the most recent list was just released – dated March 16, 2017. Also, there is some “gray area” as to what constitutes “operations” or “commercial activities” in a boycotting country.

Last week, we looked at the “Governance Section” (Part VI) of Form 990 which has two questions (16a, 16b) regarding whether an institution invests in, contributes assets to, or participates in a “joint venture”. What might a “joint venture policy” look like?