122 San Rafael Groups Lose Non-Profit Status

The Internal Revenue Service stripped approximately 122 San Rafael groups of their non-profit status for failing to file annual tax forms over the past few years.

Although many of the groups are defunct, some of the names that appear on the list include the Lincoln-San Rafael Hill Neighborhood Association and the Marinwood Firemens’ Association.

According to the I.R.S. a total of 275,000 groups nationwide “have had their federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked for failing to file an annual information return or notice with the I.R.S. for three consecutive years.”

The move was sparked by a 2006 change in federal law, which required all non-profit organizations to file annual tax returns. Before the passage of that law, titled the Pension Protection Act, only groups with annual revenue of $25,000 or more were required to file annual returns. Roughly two-thirds of the 1.6 million nonprofit groups have less than $25,000 in annual revenue, according to the I.R.S.

Because the law change was contained within a nearly 400-page piece of legislation that dealt mostly with pension issues, many non-profit groups had no idea the change was made.

The agency issued a reprieve for those groups that stood to lose their non-profit status when the deadline to comply came last year, and also began and outreach effort to alert nonprofit groups of the filing requirement.

Many of the names on the list are muddled, with organizations’ names being cut off,  like “Alliance for the Mentally Ill of.”

A list of the San Rafael organizations is available on the right.