Pension Protection Act: Congress asks for nonprofit comment

The U.S. Congress wants to hear from nonprofits about how more than 30 provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 have impacted their operations and their fundraising efforts.

The House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee announced in June that it wants written comments from charitable organizations for the record on how more than 30 provisions of the law, enacted on Aug. 17, 2006,  impact tax-exempt organizations. These provisions include charitable giving incentives, nonprofit reforms and making donor advised funds and supporting organizations more accountable.

"Most of the provisions were never discussed on a bipartisan basis, nor the subject of committee hearings, during the 109th Congress," said the subcommittee's announcement. "The subcommittee is interested in the tax-exempt community’s views on the impact of these recently-enacted provisions on charities and foundations.  The subcommittee is particularly interested in how these new rules affect, or will affect, charitable efforts and the difficulties that have arisen in implementing these provisions."

Some provisions of the act are scheduled to expire on Dec. 31, 2007, and the subcommittee would particularly like comments about those provisions. These include allowing taxpayers to make tax-free distributions from their IRAs (up to $100,000 annually) to tax-exempt charities and enhanced food and book contribution rules that were enacted after Hurricane Katrina.

The deadline to submit written comments is Tuesday, July 31. Click here for the subcommittee's announcement and more information and here to submit comments.