IRS Complaint

A national watchdog group has filed an IRS complaint against 2 anti-abortion agencies in South Dakota.

27 Jul 2006 // The group says the Alpha Center and the National Abstinence Clearing House are violating federal tax laws. So they sent a letter to the IRS to point out what they see as the problem.

The group called CREW or Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington says the Alpha Center and the National Abstinence Clearinghouse haven't been following tax laws.

Both are non-profit organizations in Sioux Falls led by Leslie Unruh.

Crew claims that these tax-exempt agencies failed to report their lobbying activities on tax forms, and exceeded the legal amount of lobbying.

Melanie Sloan of CREW says, "In the 900 form it says the organization did no lobbying and yet she is quoted in the paper talking about lobbying activities. The big issue is you can't make tax deductible contributions for lobbying activities."

He director of crew also says the Alpha Center endorsed john stratman when he ran for school board; something they say is not allowed by law.

According to this I-R-S advisory 501-C-3 organizations cannot endorse candidates, make donations, distribute statements, or basically do anything that can be beneficial or detrimental to any candidate.

The Alpha Center would not talk to us but the Abstinence Clearinghouse Director Charlee Voorhees gave us a statement, which said, "These charges for an IRS audit against the Abstinence Clearinghouse are not true. They are politically motivated charges that have been brought during this political season merely as a political ploy, which will be handled by the legal advisors of the Abstinence Clearinghouse in the normal course."

If the IRS agrees with the complaint the organizations could be fined or lose their tax-exempt status. The IRS will look into the complaint.

CPA Terry Nemec says organizations like the Alpha Center are allowed to spend a certain percentage of their money on lobbying, but it cannot be over a million dollars.

He says the IRS will look at whether the organizations lobbied to present facts and information or whether they actually tried to influence legislation.