Toiling in relative obscurity over decades, waves of diligent IRS Exempt Organizations (EO) specialists have churned out an impressive  “… library of research aids and training tools….” for in-house staff.

All along, tax officials intended to “… release this information widely…” for use as well by exempt organizations, their professional advisors, and the general public. But this valuable resource was hiding in plain sight, buried in a “mind-numbing cache of documents named IRMs and TAMs and ARGs and other acronyms familiar only to individuals who eat, sleep, and breathe EO law and procedure.”

Several years ago, the General Accountability Office (GAO) – tasked with making government run more smoothly – reached out to tax officials, suggesting “…  that all of this valuable guidance stockpile be collected and reviewed, updated and revised, and presented in a more manageable, user-friendly, single source.”

And that’s exactly what happened, as we explained in New Treasure Trove of EO Guidance (April 25, 2023) and More About the New EO Technical Guides (May 4, 2023). The massive IRS project was ready by 2021 to roll out the initial batches of guides.

Exhibit A: Published Titles

On Exhibit A to Publication 5729, TG 0 – Technical Guide Overview (belatedly released on December 9, 2022), IRS officials listed the designated titles and TG numbers for over 70 planned individual topics. For the fifteen guides released to that date, Exhibit A included the publication dates.

But the government authors omitted crucial information needed to locate these documents online; there were no URL’s or identifying numbers, e.g., “Publication XXXX.”  We fixed that difficulty with our own chart in the May 4th blog post.

Eight New Guides 

As of December 15, 2023, tax officials have completed and published eight more titles and a corresponding revision of TG 0 and its Exhibit A. Once again, the URL’s and publication identifying numbers are missing.

Our revised chart inserts the new titles in the appropriate chronological-order location. The new titles items are flagged by bolding:

  • TG 0: Publication 5729 – Technical Guide Overview [12-9-22; Revised 12-15-23], 13 pp. PDF
  • TG 3-1: Publication 5859 – Overview, Applications, Exemption Requirements – IRC Section 501(c)(3) [9-8-23], 78 pp. PDF
  • TG 3-3: Publication 5781 – Exempt Purposes, Charitable 501(c)(3) [3-20-23] 60 pp. PDF
  • TG 3-4: Publication 5730 – Exempt Purpose, Scientific Organizations 501(c)(3) [12-9-22] 51 pp. PDF
  • TG 3-10: Publication 5833 – Disqualifying and Non-Exempt Activities – Trade or Business Activities – IRC Section 501(c)(3) [7-14-23], 36 pp. PDF
  • TG 3-20: Publication 5525 – Introduction to Private Foundations & Special Rules Under IRC 508 [9-1-21] 16 pp. PDF
  • TG 3-21: Publication 5579 – Private Operating Foundations [12-1-21] 69 pp. PDF
  • TG 3-22 Publication 5614 – Termination of Private Foundation Status IRC 507 [12-10-21] 36 pp. PDF
  • TG 5: Publication 5843 – Labor, Agricultural, and Horticultural Organizations – IRC Section 501(c)(5) [7-14-23] 40 pp. PDF
  • TG 6: Publication 5710 – IRC 501(c)(6) Business Leagues [9-16-22] 42 pp. PDF
  • TG 8: Fraternal Beneficiary Societies and Domestic Fraternal Societies – IRC Section 501(c)(8) and IRC Section 501(c)(10) [12-15-23]* IRS Publication No. and URL will be added when posted
  • TG 13: Publication 5861 – Cemetery Companies – IRC Section 501(c)(13) [9-27-23] 25 pp. PDF
  • TG 23: Publication 5627 – Religious and Apostolic Associations 501(d) [3-1-22] 17 pp. PDF
  • TG 44: Publication 5834 – Qualified Tuition Programs – IRC Section 529 [7-14-23] 16 pp. PDF
  • TG 45: Publication 4498 – Suspension of Tax-Exempt Status of Terrorist Organizations Under 501p [12-1-21] 9 pp. PDF
  • TG 57: Publication 5580 – Taxes on Net Investment Income IRC 4940 [12-10-21] 66 pp. PDF
  • TG 58: Publication 5616 – Excise Taxes on Self-Dealing Under IRC 4941 [rev. 1-24-23] 127 pp. PDF
  • TG 59: Publication 5581 – Taxes on Failure to Distribute Income IRC 4942 [12-10-21] 96 pp. PDF
  • TG 60: Publication 5582 – Taxes on Excess Business Holdings IRC 4943 [12-10-21] 87 pp. PDF
  • TG 61: Publication 5584 – Excise Taxes on Investments Which Jeopardize Charitable Purposes IRC 4944 [12-10-22] 94 pp. PDF
  • TG 62: Publication 5590 – Excise Taxes on Taxable Expenditures Under IRC 4945 [3-10-22] 129 pp. PDF
  • TG 63: Publication 5526 – Disqualified Persons as Defined in IRC 4946 [9-10-21] 18 pp. PDF
  • TG 64: Publication 5583 – Foreign Organizations IRC 4948 [12-10-21] 19 pp. PDF
  • TG 65: Publication 5835 – Excess Benefit Transactions – IRC Section 4958 [7-14-23] 81 pp. PDF

A Few Repeated Reminders 

The Internal Revenue Service will complete and release additional titles on a rolling basis and in no particular order.

These technical guides follow a standard format, using a sentence-outline method of explaining the key points. Don’t let that presentation fool you; some of the individual titles are quite long and well-developed. Each one succeeds more or less varying with the specificity of the statute on which it is based. Compare, for instance, TG 57: Publication 5580 – Taxes on Net Investment Income IRC 4940 with TG 3-3: Publication 5781 – Exempt Purposes, Charitable 501(c)(3).

Section 4940 is several pages long but fairly clear, helped along with definitional subsections sprinkled here and there. Contrast Section 501(c)(3): It can be recited out loud almost without taking a breath but is notoriously and agonizingly vague. TG 3-3 is a bit like hiking through not-quite-set jello.

The purpose of each Exempt Organizations Technical Guide is as a “training tool” or “research aid” or both; it can lead the reader to whatever controlling precedent, if any, is available. The Technical Guide Overview makes clear that no individual title is “… an official pronouncement of the law or the position of the Service.” It cannot be “… used, cited, or relied upon as such …. The material in the TGs does not extend or modify published authority and should not be cited either as precedent or authority in deciding cases.”

Conclusion

The new Exempt Organizations Technical Guide series project is an enormously ambitious project, so far producing impressive results of great value to the nonprofit sector.

We’ll keep looking out for new installments as they float out from 1111 Constitution Avenue, N.W., apparently with little fanfare or notice.

– Linda J. Rosenthal, J.D., FPLG Information & Research Director

 

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