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Section 501 on the Ground That All of Its Profits Are Payable to One Or More Organizations Exempt from Taxation Under Section 501

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Section 501 on the Ground That All of Its Profits Are Payable to One Or More Organizations Exempt from Taxation Under Section 501 F. IRC 502 - FEEDER ORGANIZATIONS 1. Introduction An organization described in IRC 502 does not qualify for exemption under any paragraph of IRC 501(c). The purpose of this article is to discuss some of the basic issues presented by IRC 502, to explain how it should be interpreted and applied, and to consider the amount of unrelated business activity that an exempt charitable organization may engage in. IRC 502 provides that an organization operated for the primary purpose of carrying on a trade or business for profit shall not be exempt under IRC 501 on the ground that all of its profits are payable to one or more organizations exempt under IRC 501. 2. Purpose of Feeder Provisions A brief consideration of the reasons for the enactment of IRC 502 provides some insight as to how it should be interpreted. There was growing concern, particularly after World War II, about the increasing amount of business activities carried on by exempt organizations, particularly, charitable organizations. In a series of cases involving taxable years prior to 1951, certain organizations popularly called "feeder organizations" were held exempt from federal income tax under the predecessor to IRC 501(c)(3), even though their sole activity was engaging in commercial business, and the only basis for exemption was the fact their profits were payable to specified exempt organizations. See Roche's Beach, Inc. v. Commissioner, 96 F. 2d 776 (1938); C. F. Mueller Company v. Commissioner, 190 F. 2d 120 (1951). The courts held that the exclusive purpose required by the statute was met when the only object of the organization was religious, scientific, charitable, or educational, without regard to the method of obtaining funds necessary to effectuate the objective. Under this rationale, C. F. Mueller Company, which, as its sole activity, operated a commercial macaroni factory and turned the profits over to its exempt parent, was held exempt from federal income tax as an exclusively charitable organization. Although the above cases involved subsidiary organizations having no charitable programs of their own, our concern was not limited to this situation. Organizations with extensive charitable programs, such as colleges and universities, were operating substantial business enterprises to finance their charitable programs. They were competing with for-profit businesses and not paying any income tax. IRC 502 was designed to deny tax exemption to business subsidiaries (such as the macaroni factory) of charitable parents. However, enactment of the feeder provision (IRC 502) alone could have been emasculated if no action had been taken to tax the business activities carried on directly by exempt organizations because these organizations could have simply transferred the business activities from their subsidiaries to themselves. Thus, to counter the unfair advantage that businesses operated by exempt organizations had over their for-profit competitors, the Revenue Act of 1950 used a two-pronged attack on these business activities. In addition to the IRC 502 feeder provision, Congress enacted what is now IRC 511 through 514. As a result of this two-pronged attack, the Act provided not only for denying exemption to and, therefore, taxing feeder organizations but also for taxing the income derived by exempt organizations from the unrelated business activities carried on directly by them. 3. Meaning of Terms IRC 502 is unusual in that it describes organizations that do not qualify for exemption. If an organization is not disqualified by IRC 502 that, however, does not mean that it qualifies for exemption. IRC 502 states as follows: (a) General Rule.--An organization operated for the primary purpose of carrying on a trade or business for profit shall not be exempt from taxation under section 501 on the ground that all of its profits are payable to one or more organizations exempt from taxation under section 501. (b) Special Rule.--For purposes of this section, the term "trade or business" shall not include -- (1) the deriving of rents which would be excluded under section 512(b)(3), if section 512 applied to the organization, (2) any trade or business in which substantially all the work in carrying on such trade or business is performed for the organization without compensation, or (3) any trade or business which is the selling of merchandise, substantially all of which has been received by the organization as gifts or contributions. In determining precisely what a feeder organization is, the terms of the statute must be analyzed and interpreted. The key terms are: trade or business for profit; primary purpose; and payable. A. Trade or Business for Profit The term "trade or business" is interpreted as having generally the same meaning that it has in Reg. 1.513-1(b) which provides that in general it means any activity carried on for the production of income from the sale of goods or performance of services and which otherwise possesses the characteristics required to constitute "trade or business" within the meaning of IRC 162. "Carrying on a trade or business for profit" refers to the kind of a trade or business ordinarily carried on for profit, regardless of whether a particular organization operates the trade or business in a manner designed to return only operational costs or a profit. The phrase "for profit" was intended to describe the commercial nature of an IRC 502 organization's activities. Generally, the term "trade or business" under IRC 502 does not include passive investment income, but the difference between a trade or business activity and a passive investment is not always clear. In Southwest Endowment Corporation v. United States, 58-2 U.S.T.C. 9577 (CCH), 1 AFTR 2d 1860 (P-H) 1958, a nonprofit corporation was set up to finance its program of charitable giving with oil production payments. Its sponsors arranged for the organization to borrow a large sum of money at a low rate of interest and to purchase oil production payments at a price sufficiently low to permit the yield to substantially exceed the cost amortization and interest payments. The Service contended that the organization was being operated for the primary purpose of carrying on an oil business, maintaining that the operations could be characterized as buying large quantities of oil with borrowed funds and selling them at a profit. The court disagreed, apparently basing its decision upon either of two conclusions: that the income-producing activity was not a trade or business; or that the organization was not primarily engaged in such income-producing activity. B. Primary Purpose of Carrying on a Trade or Business We are concerned here with how much business activity constitutes primarily engaged in a trade or business. What constitutes "primarily operating" a trade or business for profit has not been strictly defined under IRC 502, although it is clear that the test involves the evaluation of the facts and circumstances in each case. If an organization's principal income-producing activity is the conduct of a trade or business and it has no significant charitable activity other than the required payment of its profits to one or more organizations, the organization is operated for the "primary purpose of carrying on a trade or business for profit". Rev. Rul. 73 164, 1973-1 C.B. 223.1 Rev. Rul. 73-164 suggests that if an organization is engaged in a business for profit but has some significant exempt activity, it will not be a feeder. However, if an organization with extensive business activities is not an IRC 502 feeder because it is not deemed to be operated for the primary purpose of conducting such business activities, it does not necessarily follow that the organization will qualify for exemption under IRC 501(c). C. Payable The term "payable" means that the organization is obligated to turn over its profits to one or more designated exempt organizations. If an organization is operated for the primary purpose of carrying on a trade or business for profit and it has the discretion as to which exempt organizations it will give its profits to, it is not an IRC 502 feeder. This does not mean that the organization qualifies for exemption, but denial or revocation of exemption cannot be on the basis that it is a feeder. This is probably the key point of IRC 502 and is discussed later in some detail. D. Exceptions IRC 502 also contains some specific exceptions which are: (1) the deriving of rent which would be excluded under IRC 512(b)(3), if IRC 512 applied to the _______________ 1 Rev. Rul. 73-164 and most other revenue rulings cited in the text are reproduced at the end of this article. organization; (2) any trade or business in which substantially all the work in carrying on such trade or business is performed for the organization without compensation; or (3) any trade or business which is the selling of merchandise, substantially all of which has been received by the organization as gifts or contributions. Congress provided these exceptions because such business activities would not be subject to unrelated business income tax if carried on directly by the parent. 1. Bingo IRC 513(f)(1) provides that the operation of certain bingo games conducted by exempt organizations is not unrelated trade or business. The law was enacted in recognition of the fact that many jurisdictions permit some nonprofit organizations to conduct bingo games but do not permit for-profit organizations to conduct them. Congress decided that the income derived from the operation of bingo games when conducted by exempt organizations should not be taxed where they are not in competition with commercial businesses. The bingo games not subject to tax are those that do not violate any state or local law and are not conducted in a jurisdiction in which bingo games are ordinarily carried on by commercial businesses for profit.
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