05/02/2024

GOP Tax Writers Denounce Foreign Influence on Nonprofits

Some feel foreign groups influence through 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 groups

This week, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) raising concerns that foreign entities are exerting political influence via U.S.-based nonprofit organizations.

The letter mirrors Smith’s concerns raised in two hearings last year examining the extent to which foreign entities or individuals allegedly are influencing the American political system by funneling money through Section 501(c)(3) and (c)(4) organizations.

In the letter, Smith said he is aware of “a lack of transparency in this space” and requested that IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel provide responses to a series of questions about how the IRS monitors the funding sources of nonprofits and what processes the agency uses to ensure that a nonprofit organization sticks to its tax-exempt purpose.

This article was provided to OSAP by ASAE's Power of Associations and Inroads.