(a) In general. Section 4911(a) imposes an excise tax of 25 percent on the excess lobbying expenditures (as defined in paragraph (b) of this section) for a taxable year of an organization for which the expenditure test election under section 501(h) is in effect (an “electing public charity”). An electing public charity's annual limit on expenditures for influencing legislation (i.e., the amount of lobbying expenditures on which no tax is due) is the lobbying nontaxable amount or, on expenditures for influencing legislation through grass roots lobbying, the grass roots nontaxable amount (see paragraph (c) of this section). For rules concerning the application of the excise tax imposed by section 4911(a) to the members of an affiliated group of organizations (as defined in § 56.4911-7(e)), see § 56.4911-8.
(b) Excess lobbying expenditures. For any taxable year for which the expenditure test election under section 501(h) is in effect, the amount of an electing public charity's excess lobbying expenditures is the greater of—
(1) The amount by which the organization's lobbying expenditures (within the meaning of § 56.4911-2(a)) exceed the organization's lobbying nontaxable amount, or
(2) The amount by which the organization's grass roots expenditures (within the meaning of §§ 56.4911-2(a)) exceed the organization's grass roots nontaxable amount.
(c) Nontaxable amounts—(1) Lobbying nontaxable amount. Under section 4911(c)(2), the lobbying nontaxable amount for any taxable year for which the expenditure test election is in effect is the lesser of—
(i) $1,000,000, or
(ii) To the extent of the electing public charity's exempt purpose expenditures (within the meaning of § 56.4911-4) for that year, the sum of 20 percent of the first $500,000 of such expenditures, plus 15 percent of the second $500,000 of such expenditures, plus 10 percent of the third $500,000 of such expenditures, plus 5 percent of the remainder of such expenditures.
(2) Grass roots nontaxable amount. Under section 4911(c)(4), an electing public charity's grass roots nontaxable amount for any taxable year is 25 percent of its lobbying nontaxable amount for that year.
(d) Examples. The provisions of this section are illustrated by the examples in § 1.501(h)-3.
The preliminary Code is a preliminary release of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the "Code") by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel and is subject to further revision before it is released again as a final version. The source of the preliminary Code used in TouchTax is available here: https://uscode.house.gov/download/download.shtml. The Code is a consolidation and codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the U.S. prepared by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Treasury Regulations are a codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the departments and agencies of the federal government. The version of the Treasury Regulations available within TouchTax is part of the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations which is not an official legal edition of the Code of Federal Regulations but is an editorial compilation of CFR material and Federal Register amendments produced by the National Archives and Records Administration's Office of the Federal Register (OFR) and the Government Publishing Office. The source of the CFR used in TouchTax is available here: https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/ECFR/title-26. Those using TouchTax for legal research should verify their results against the printed versions of the Code and Treasury Regulations. TouchTax is copyright 2024 by Com-Lab (Mobile). Learn more at http://touchtax.edrich.de.