March 5, 2019
As a follow up to the Industry Alert sent on December 18, 2018, Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman CPAs’ (GRF) Nonprofit Tax group is reminding organizations that the District of Columbia (DC) Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) has begun expiring all DC tax exemptions issued more than four years ago. The renewal process itself has created a lot of confusion within the exempt organization community so we are providing some additional guidance on completing the renewal process.
- Organizations should log into their accounts at mytax.dc.gov and apply for renewal.
- A step-by-step screen shot of the mytax.dc.gov application for exemption can be found here.
- Organizations must provide a current copy of the IRS determination letter (issued less than four years ago) approving their exemption.
- As a reminder, all organizations should check that their exemption letter is no more than four years old. If the organization does not have a current letter, the organization will need to obtain an affirmation letter from the IRS, confirming its status. Visit the IRS website for information about the process for requesting an affirmation letter. The IRS has indicated a typical response time of 10-14 business days.
DC OTR will send organizations a notice directly regarding their upcoming expiration, however the response time is only 30 days. With this required quick turnaround, GRF urges all DC exempt organizations to obtain an updated exemption letter from the IRS as soon as possible and proactively apply for the DC exemption renewal.
For questions about the updated DC renewal process, contact Richard J. Locastro, CPA, JD, Partner and Director of Nonprofit Tax at rlocastro@grfcpa.com or 301-951-9090.