Advancing Foundations’ Accountability and Performance Through a Modernized 990-PF Tax Form
<p>All private foundations are intimately familiar with Form 990-PF, the federal tax return from which the Internal Revenue Service obtains the information it needs to exercise its regulatory responsibilities. In addition to being long and complex, the 990-PF is expensive to file, costing foundations an estimated $675 million in 2008.</p>
<p>In a <a href="/publications/publication/2011/mar/modernizing-990-pf-advance-accountability-and-performance">new essay</a> prepared for the 2010 Commonwealth Fund Annual Report, executive vice president and chief operating officer John E. Craig, Jr., argues that the 990-PF has failed to keep up with the evolution of the foundation sector over the last four decades. And as an instrument of basic regulation and tax collection—and a tool for promoting improved foundation performance—it is "seriously flawed."</p>
<p>Craig traces the history of the tax form, analyzes its shortcomings, and discusses how the 990-PF could be transformed into an effective tool for promoting transparency, accountability, and best practices in the foundation sector.</p>
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<a href="/publications/publication/2011/mar/modernizing-990-pf-advance-accountability-and-performance">Read more</a> to find out why modernizing the 990-PF should be given serious consideration as Congress debates the reform and simplification of the nation’s tax code. <br /></p>