Publication 78 contains a list of organizations to which charitable contributions are deductible for federal income tax purposes. The list is not all-inclusive. If an organization is not listed but has a ruling or determination letter holding contributions to be deductible, generally the letter will serve as evidence to contributors of the deductibility of their contributions.
Organizations that are not required to file an exemption application may not be listed in Publication 78.
Organizations that are required to file annual returns , but have not done so for two years (extensions of time to file considered) before the last update to the Publication 78 data, may not be included in this listing. Excluding an organization from Publication 78 on this basis does not terminate its exempt status, however.
An addendum to Publication 78 lists organizations to which charitable contributions are tax deductible, but whose names were unable to be included in the latest versions of the complete publication. Newly recognized organizations will be listed in the Quarterly Supplements to Publication 78.
Organizations are deleted from the Publication 78 when the IRS determines that they no longer qualify as organizations to which deductible charitable contributions may be made.
Publication 78 uses a coding system to identify each organization listed by type and limitation on deductibility.
Revenue Procedure 82-39 explains the extent to which a contributor may rely on an organization's listing in Publication 78 as evidence that the organization is an eligible charitable donee. The general rule is that contributions may be deducted by persons unaware of a change in the organization's status until (1) the date the IRS publishes an announcement in the Internal Revenue Bulletin that contributions to the organization are no longer deductible or (2) a different date specified in another announcement concerning certain protected contributions under Section 7428(c) of the Code. Reliance is also subject to any announcements published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin that inform the public about the status of certain protected contributions under section 7428(c) of the Code.
Similar reliance provisions apply to an organization's foundation classification as it appears in the list. See also Revenue Procedure 89-23.
You may address questions about listings in Publication 78 or supplements should be addressed to the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Customer Account Services. These include questions about omissions, misspellings, alphabetical misplacement, coding errors, deductibility of contributions to a particular organization not listed, and general technical questions.
You may obtain subscriptions to Publication 78 and supplements from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. For subscription information, including current price, call (202) 512-1800.
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