Читать книгу The Tax Law of Charitable Giving - Bruce Hopkins R., Bruce R. Hopkins, David Middlebrook - Страница 42

The federal income tax deduction, or the extent of this deduction, for a contribution of money or property to a charitable organization often depends on the tax classification of the donee organization. From the perspective of the tax law, not all charitable organizations are the same. In general, the federal tax law categorizes charitable organizations that are eligible donees for purposes of the charitable deduction as being one of the following types:

 Public charitable organizations

 Private charitable organizations (private foundations)

 A hybrid of the two

 Other eligible donees³⁷⁴

The terms public and private, as used in this context, often generate confusion. The term public is not used in the sense of a governmental entity (as in a public school), nor is the term private used in the sense of business activity (as in private enterprise) or the counterpart of a governmental entity (such as a private school). Neither term has anything to do with the nature of a charitable organization's board of directors or trustees (as in a public board, rather than a private one). These terms, as used in the charitable giving and tax-exempt organizations settings, relate to how the charitable organization is financially supported.

Charitable organizations are presumed to be private foundations.³⁷⁵ This presumption is rebuttable (if the facts so warrant) by showing that the organization qualifies as one of the types of public charitable organizations or as one of the hybrid charitable organizations. Since there is no tax law advantage to being a private foundation, most charitable organizations strive to rebut this presumption, principally to avoid the private foundation rules,³⁷⁶ to facilitate maximum charitable contribution deductions, and to escape the burdensome federal reporting obligations of private foundations.³⁷⁷