Federal

Sunlight for Unaccountable Non-profits (SUN) Act

Source: Congress.gov · 1,026 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill requires tax-exempt organizations to make their financial information available to the public in a searchable computer format. It also allows the government to publicly disclose the names and addresses of large donors to certain political organizations. ##

Who It Affects

Tax-exempt organizations that participate in political activities. The Internal Revenue Service. Members of the public seeking to access organization financial information. ##

Key Provisions

* Tax-exempt organizations must make financial information available to the public at no charge in a computer-readable format that people can easily find, access, reuse and download in large quantities (Sec. 2) * For organizations involved in political activity, the government may disclose the names, addresses and total contribution amounts of donors who gave $5,000 or more in a year (Sec. 3) * Organizations that indicate they spend money influencing elections, participate in political campaigns, or file reports about independent political expenditures must disclose large donor information (Sec. 3) ##

What Changes

Financial return information from tax-exempt organizations becomes searchable and downloadable instead of available only in formats the government chooses. Large donors to politically active organizations have their identities publicly disclosed. ##

Important Definitions

"Applicable organization or trust" means a tax-exempt organization that spends money on elections, participates in political campaigns, or files certain election-related reports. "Qualified contributor" means any person who gave $5,000 or more to an applicable organization during a year. ##

Effective Date

The law applies to financial returns filed after the date this bill becomes law (Sec. 2 and Sec. 3).

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 17 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 JANUARY 23 (legislative day, JANUARY 3), 2023 Mr. TESTER (for himself, Mr. KING, and Ms. WARREN) 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 02:45 Jan 24, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S17.IS S17 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 17 IS SEC. 2. RETURN INFORMATION OF CERTAIN TAX-EXEMPT 1 ORGANIZATIONS AVAILABLE IN A SEARCH- 2 ABLE FORMAT. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6104(b) of the Internal 4 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘made 5 available to the public at such time and in such places 6 as the Secretary may prescribe.’’ and inserting ‘‘made 7 available to the public at no charge and in an open, struc- 8 tured data format that is processable by computers with 9 the information easy to find, access, reuse, and download 10 in bulk.’’. 11 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 12 this section shall apply to returns required to be filed after 13 the date of the enactment of this Act. 14 SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO DISCLOSE CONTRIBUTORS TO CER- 15 TAIN TAX-EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6104(b) of the Internal 17 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘Nothing 18 in this subsection shall authorize the Secretary to disclose 19 the name and address of any contributor to any organiza- 20 tion’’ and inserting ‘‘In the case of any applicable organi- 21 zation or trust, such information shall include the name 22 and address of any qualified contributor to such organiza- 23 tion which is required to be included on the return and 24 the total contributions of such qualified contributor, but 25 nothing in this subsection shall authorize the Secretary to 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Jan 24, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S17.IS S17 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 17 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 02:45 Jan 24, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S17.IS S17 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 17 IS tributing of statements), a political cam- 1 paign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any 2 candidate for public office, 3 ‘‘(iii) has filed, or was required to file, 4 a statement or report under subsection (c) 5 or (g) of section 304 of the Federal Elec- 6 tion Campaign Act of 1974 with respect to 7 independent expenditures made during the 8 taxable year, or 9 ‘‘(iv) has filed, or was required to file, 10 a statement under section 304(f) of such 11 Act with respect to disbursements for elec- 12 tioneering communications made during 13 the taxable year. 14 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED CONTRIBUTOR.—The 15 term ‘qualified contributor’ means, with respect 16 to any applicable organization or trust, any per- 17 son who made aggregate contributions (in 18 money or other property) to such applicable or- 19 ganization or trust during the taxable year in 20 an amount valued at $5,000 or more.’’. 21 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 22 6104(d)(3)(A) of such Code is amended by striking the 23 first sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘In the case of 24 any applicable organization or trust (as defined in sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Jan 24, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S17.IS S17 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 17 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 02:45 Jan 24, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S17.IS S17 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB

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