CREW filed a supplemental complaint against Prosperity Alliance based on its 2018 tax returns. Similar to its 2017 tax return—which was the basis for CREW’s initial complaint—Prosperity Alliance’s 2018 tax return falsely represented that it did not engage in any political activities. This time it failed to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars it contributed to a political organization, and even exceeded the amount spent on politics in 2017. CREW again urged the IRS to investigate Prosperity Alliance’s failure to disclose its political activity, and whether it is operated primarily to influence political campaigns in violation of its tax-exempt status.

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CREW filed an IRS complaint against Prosperity Alliance, Inc., another dark money group influencing Ohio politics. The group likely violated its tax-exempt status by making politics its primary activity and also failed to properly disclose its political spending on its tax forms. 

Established in Virginia in May 2017, Prosperity Alliance made six contributions in April 2018 totaling $475,000–78.4% of its spending for its 2017 tax year–to Conservative Alliance PAC, a super PAC that had only registered with the Federal Election Commission less than a week before the first donation. Conservative Alliance PAC promptly used the donations on political spending, focusing on Ohio state House primaries. In addition to spending more on political activity than is allowed under tax law, Prosperity Alliance failed to properly report its contributions to Conservative Alliance PAC on its tax return by telling the IRS it did not engage in any campaign activities. CREW requested that the IRS investigate Prosperity Alliance and hold the group accountable.

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