Sunlight for Unaccountable Non-profits (SUN) Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 750 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require that return informa- tion from tax-exempt organizations be made available in a searchable format and to provide the disclosure of the identity of contributors to certain tax-exempt organizations. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 15, 2021 Mr. TESTER (for himself, Mr. KING, Ms. WARREN, and Mrs. GILLIBRAND) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require that return information from tax-exempt organizations be made available in a searchable format and to provide the disclosure of the identity of contributors to certain tax-exempt organizations. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sunlight for Unac- 4 countable Non-profits (SUN) Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S750.IS S750 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 750 IS SEC. 2. RETURN INFORMATION OF CERTAIN TAX-EXEMPT 1 ORGANIZATIONS AVAILABLE IN A SEARCH- 2 ABLE FORMAT. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6104(b) of the Internal 4 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘made 5 available to the public at such time and in such places 6 as the Secretary may prescribe.’’ and inserting ‘‘made 7 available to the public at no charge and in an open, struc- 8 tured data format that is processable by computers with 9 the information easy to find, access, reuse, and download 10 in bulk.’’. 11 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 12 this section shall apply to returns required to be filed after 13 the date of the enactment of this Act. 14 SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO DISCLOSE CONTRIBUTORS TO CER- 15 TAIN TAX-EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6104(b) of the Internal 17 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘Nothing 18 in this subsection shall authorize the Secretary to disclose 19 the name and address of any contributor to any organiza- 20 tion’’ and inserting ‘‘In the case of any applicable organi- 21 zation or trust, such information shall include the name 22 and address of any qualified contributor to such organiza- 23 tion which is required to be included on the return and 24 the total contributions of such qualified contributor, but 25 nothing in this subsection shall authorize the Secretary to 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S750.IS S750 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 750 IS disclose the name or address of any other contributor to 1 such organization or any contributor to any other organi- 2 zation’’. 3 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 6104(b) of such Code is 4 amended— 5 (1) by striking ‘‘The information’’ and inserting 6 the following: 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The information’’, and 8 (2) by adding at the end the following new 9 paragraph: 10 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of paragraph 11 (1)— 12 ‘‘(A) APPLICABLE ORGANIZATION OR 13 TRUST.—The term ‘applicable organization or 14 trust’ means any organization or trust which— 15 ‘‘(i) indicates on an application (or 16 amendment to an application) for recogni- 17 tion of exemption from tax under section 18 501(a) that such organization has or plans 19 to spend money attempting to influence the 20 selection, nomination, election, or appoint- 21 ment of any person to a public office, 22 ‘‘(ii) asserts on a return that such or- 23 ganization participated in, or intervened in 24 (including through the publishing or dis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S750.IS S750 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 750 IS tributing of statements), a political cam- 1 paign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any 2 candidate for public office, 3 ‘‘(iii) has filed, or was required to file, 4 a statement or report under subsection (c) 5 or (g) of section 304 of the Federal Elec- 6 tion Campaign Act of 1974 with respect to 7 independent expenditures made during the 8 taxable year, or 9 ‘‘(iv) has filed, or was required to file, 10 a statement under section 304(f) of such 11 Act with respect to disbursements for elec- 12 tioneering communications made during 13 the taxable year. 14 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED CONTRIBUTOR.—The 15 term ‘qualified contributor’ means, with respect 16 to any applicable organization or trust, any per- 17 son who made aggregate contributions (in 18 money or other property) to such applicable or- 19 ganization or trust during the taxable year in 20 an amount valued at $5,000 or more.’’. 21 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 22 6104(d)(3)(A) of such Code is amended by striking the 23 first sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘In the case of 24 any applicable organization or trust (as defined in sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S750.IS S750 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 750 IS section (b)(2)(A)), any copies of annual returns provided 1 under paragraph (1) shall include information relating to 2 the name and address of any qualified contributor (as de- 3 fined in subsection (b)(2)(B)) to such organization and the 4 total contributions of such qualified contributor, but noth- 5 ing in such paragraph shall require the disclosure of the 6 name or address of any other contributor to such organi- 7 zation or any contributor to any other organization (other 8 than a private foundation (within the meaning of section 9 509(a)) or political organization exempt from taxation 10 under section 527).’’. 11 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 12 this section shall apply to returns required to be filed after 13 the date of the enactment of this Act. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Apr 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S750.IS S750 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS