New York State Plans Charity Law Reform

from Reuters.com:

New York plans charity law reform to cut red tape

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced plans on Tuesday to reform cumbersome laws and regulations burdening the state’s charities in a bid to ease what he called a looming funding crisis.

… U.S. tax authorities grant groups charitable status, exempting them from taxes, but most laws governing nonprofits are at state level from the attorney-general.

Schneiderman said that if a charity received funding from six city or state agencies it could be subject to six separate audits. Nonprofits in New York with revenues of more than $250,000 also have to conduct annual audits, while in other states such as California the threshold is $2 million.

… “New York’s statutory requirements governing charities are so burdensome that one leading not-for-profit lawyer has stated that it is essentially malpractice to advise a not-for-profit client to incorporate in New York,” Schneiderman told the nonprofit Association for a Better New York.