Charities Seek Shelter from Rising Tax Abuse

Wall Street Journal

Like many successful physicians, you'veprobably given your fair share of money tovarious charities. Unfortunately, abuse andexploitation of charities and nonprofitorganizations, primarily for use as tax shelters,has seen a sharp increase in recentyears. According to a article, the Senate Finance Committeerecently held a hearing on nonprofit abuse,including credit counseling services thathave special arrangements with companiesthat turn a profit, tax shelters withperks for donors while preserving assetcontrol, and nonprofit organizations thatshower executives with gifts. IRS CommissionerMark Everson admitted to thefinance committee that the IRS is havingincreasing difficulty policing the boomingnonprofit sector, which is made up ofapproximately 3 million organizations andmanages around $8 trillion.