"Fake Charities Could Pick Our Next President"

[applegrove]

Fake Charities Could Pick Our Next President

by Robert Maguire at the Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/11/10/fake-charities-could-pick-our-next-president.html

"SNIP.....................


And really, why wouldn’t a candidate want their own dark money group operating as an extension of their campaign? The benefits extend well beyond the fact that such a group wouldn’t be required to disclose its donors -- whether those donors be wealthy individuals, corporations or unions -- to the public.

First, consider how long it would take for the IRS to actually catch wind of such a group’s existence. Here’s the scenario: Operatives close to a 2016 presidential hopeful set up a new 501(c)(4) in January, 2015, and begin collecting unlimited contributions. The first piece of paper that organization would be required to file with the IRS would not be submitted until November 15, 2016 -- precisely one week after the presidential elections.

This delay is a consequence of two factors. First, 501(c)(4) organizations and other non-charitable 501(c)s are not required to notify the IRS of their existence before they begin operating. It’s referred to as “self-declaring,” and it is perfectly legal. Just open your doors for business and then, when the time comes, file your annual returns with the IRS.

Those forms are normally due five-and-a-half months after the end of a group’s fiscal year, making the due date for our theoretical organization’s paperwork mid-May. But all organizations get an automatic three-month extension as a matter of course, along with another optional three-month extension, which most organizations take.


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