Black chamber loses tax-exempt status

The Baton Rouge Black Chamber of Commerce is one of more than 550 local organizations to have been notified by the IRS that they have lost their tax-exempt status. The chamber lost the status because it failed to file annual reports for three consecutive years. Congress passed a law in 2006 that put a filing requirement on small organizations for the first time ever. Eric B. Lewis, president of the local black chamber, says the organization was given some incorrect information. “The advice we had been given was that there was a threshold for the proceeds in order to file,” Lewis says. “And the amount of money we had coming in never exceeded that threshold.” Lewis says losing the tax-exempt status is “not a major issue” and that steps are being taken to correct the situation. “We want to get our paperwork turned in to the IRS as quickly as possible,” he says. Donors who gave money to the black chamber before the organization’s name was posted on a list Thursday are still eligible for a tax deduction. But going forward, any money the group gets may be taxable, unless reinstatement is granted. For organizations with annual gross receipts of $50,000 or less, the IRS is granting retroactive reinstatement of their tax-exempt status at a reduced application fee of $100. Nationwide, the IRS has revoked the status of nearly 275,000 organizations. The agency says many of those groups are defunct. To download the list of all Baton Rouge organizations that lost their tax-exempt status, click here. —Timothy Boone