Tax Tips for Higher Education
UBIT and the Christmas Cantata
Troas Bible College (TBC), a private college that is exempt under I.R.C. section 501(c)(3), is planning a “Christmas Cantata” by a renowned symphony orchestra from a European capital. The College “hosts” several of these events during the year (so the activity would be considered “regularly carried on”). TBC advertises these performances and supervises advance ticket sales at various places, including such college facilities as the cafeteria and the college bookstore. They call to ask us whether this event would be and unrelated business activity and whether this – and the other events of its type – would require separate accounting and Form 990-T filing.
Over-Reporting Key Employees on Form 990?
Situation Saltwater Christian College (SCC), a private college that is exempt under I.R.C. section 501(c)(3), has historically over-reported officers, directors, trustees, and key employees on Form 990, Part VII, Section A. We point out to them that Sarah – who has...
Accepting Gifts of Real Estate May Cause Headaches
At Issue
When you receive a gift from a contributor, do you immediately feel fortunate and quickly send a thank-you note from your organization? That may be a mistake, because not all gifts are created equal. Having a written gift acceptance policy in place — and using it to decide whether you should accept a donation — is important to your organization’s balance sheet, work load, and reputation.
2015 Affordable Care Act Reporting
Troas Bible College (TBC) is a private university under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3). Their Controller, Lisa, called (in something of a panic) to say that she’d been to a conference and realized that TBC was an ALE for the ACA (Affordable Care Act). She was worried about the “ginormous” amount of reporting and forms that TBC was going to have to complete and file in early 2016 for their activities in 2015. She said that she was under the impression that TBC did not have to worry about 2015 ACA reporting because of the “transition rules”. We tell her that – because TBC has 50 or more FTEs – they will have to at least file Forms 1095-C and the 1094-C “transmittal”.
How to Handle Contributions of “Taxidermy Property”
We tell the college that, as a best practice, no value should be included on receipts for non-cash contributions — only a description of the donated property. In addition, the donor’s contribution deduction will be limited to “the cost of preparing, stuffing, and mounting the property.”