IRS Governance Check Sheet

The IRS has released a check sheet that will be used by its examination agents to gather data about governance practices and the related internal controls of organizations being examined.  According to the IRS, the data will be included in a long-term study to “gain a better understanding of the intersection between governance practices and tax compliance.”  The check sheet reports on organizations’ governance structure including bylaw provisions, board meetings, and relationships between directors; board practices for compensation decisions; adoption of written conflict of interest and document retention policies; and financial oversight practices. 

It can be found at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/governance_check_sheet.pdf or at www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=216068,00.html.

This article originally appeared in the January 2010 issue of New York Nonprofits, the monthly publication of the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York, Inc. www.npccny.org