Theos-Talk Archives (September 2010 Message tt00081)

Most spiritual organizations are tax exempt in the USA. This allows them to
receive donations and donors deduct the donations in their tax returns and
save on taxes. In addition, they do not pay in tax on their income as well
as they do not pay tax on their property holdings. Hence, tax payers, you
and me, subsidize these organizations.

It is a pervasive fact that there is a inherent tendency to keep many of the
financial matters secret from the members and the public. Even when
financial statements are presented, they hide many of the details of
interest to members and public. For example, about a decade ago, when I
inquired the then President of TSA to send me documents detailing how the
trustees of the Theosophical Investment Trust are appointed, I received no
answer. There was no answer possibly because the Trust formed in Illinois
requires no disclosure of such details even though the Trust is handling the
funds of TSA and I am a long time dues paying member of TSA. Now all that
has changed.

After a lot of allegations about improper financial dealings of the tax
exempt organizations, US Congress is now demanding more transparency and
require most organizations to file a tax return Form 990 and they are in the
public domain. The new Form 990 introduced for 2009 tax year provides lot
more extensive information on the finances and the operations of the
organizations. In addition, the current law and regulations require the tax
exempt organizations to provide easy access to the information such as the
tax exempt application, bylaws, and copies of tax returns. Non compliance
will bring the full weight of the US Government on the organization and
hence they now have no choice but to comply.

I recently found a data base on Internet where you can download the Form 990
of tax exempt organizations for the past several years. I have given you the
link to the forms of TSA, TIT and a few other Theosophical entities. You may
want to download the Form 990s and see for yourself the information in the
returns.

<http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990s/990search/esearch.php>

MKR

There is no religion higher than Truth


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]