Current IRS Reporting Requirements
As was reported in Wiley Rein & Fielding's November 8 Election Law News ALERT, a recent federal statute changed the IRS reporting requirements for PACs and other political organizations that are exempt from taxation under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code.
In short, what Public Law No. 108-276 (Nov. 2, 2002) defines as "qualified state or local political organizations" (QSLPOs) are no longer required to file the periodic IRS Form 8872 and must file the annual information return, Form 990, only if they have more than $100,000 in gross receipts for a taxable year.
A QSLPO is a state or local PAC that (1) focuses solely on state and local offices, (2) reports with a state, which makes the reports publicly available, and (3) makes its own reports available for public inspection per IRS rules.
In addition, federal PACs are no longer required to file IRS Form 990, and all political organizations need to file the annual tax return, IRS Form 1120-POL, only if they have more than $100 in taxable income.
More information on the details of the above changes as well as other amendments to the reporting law can be found in the November 8 Election Law News ALERT at publication.cfm?publication_id=11160. See also the IRS publications on the changes at and http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-news/fs-02-13.pdf.
Click here to view a chart of the current IRS reporting requirements.