Anyone know how to form a 501(c)4?

[Monkeyleg]

The Wisconsin Concealed Carry Association is now Wisconsin Citizens for Personal Security.

We need to organize the new group under a tax-exempt status, and a 501(c)4 seems the best route.

However, reading the IRS's site today made me dizzy.

Can anyone offer some advice?

[Dave Markowitz]

Have a lawyer who does non-profit work in Wyoming set it up.  It's be cheaper in the long run having it done correctly the first time, than if you need to go back and fix things down the road.

[RJMcElwain]

The Wisconsin Concealed Carry Association is now Wisconsin Citizens for Personal Security.

We need to organize the new group under a tax-exempt status, and a 501(c)4 seems the best route.

However, reading the IRS's site today made me dizzy.

Can anyone offer some advice?

It's not that difficult. If you're already incorporated, you can go to your State web site and get their forms, then go to the IRS site, get their forms, fill them out and send them in with the required fee.

I started from scratch about 8 years ago and incorporated and then got 501c3 exemption for a charitable foundation. We've had no legal troubles whatsoever.

Plan on spending a few days filling out the forms.

Bob

[Ezekiel]

I manage a 501 (c)3 -- similar in most respects to your desired designation -- as Executive Director.

Bob is spot on with his advice.

[Monkeyleg]

"Plan on spending a few days filling out the forms."

I already spend tons of hours each year doing the paperwork for our political action committee.

If another board member wants to tackle the 501(c)4 task, he's welcome to it. Otherwise, an attorney who's also a board member of the Wisconsin Rifle and Pistol Association said he would do everything for about $500 or so, which would include IRS fees and setting us up as a corporation. IOW, he's only looking for a couple hundred dollars.

[AJ Dual]

Well, I've been trying to read up on the Sanskrit... I mean the fed.gov publications on 501(c)4's 

Would the "segregated fund" that's allowed for 501(c)4's for "partisan activities" allow us to roll the WCCM into the WCPS? I'm starting to think that if we're going to get buried in paperwork, might as well roll everything together...

Or do you think that "partisan and campaign activities" would be secondary enough in nature?  I'd think so, seeing as election activity would be only every two years or so, and mainly an endorsement to our membership and a donation. However, I'd not be shocked to learn Uncle Sugar would see it completely differently.

The more I dig... the more I think "LAWYER!"

[Monkeyleg]

AJ, a 501(c)4 can engage in "educational" activities. That's government-speak for "lobbying."

An 1120 status means we'd have to pay taxes on any "profits."

A 501(c)3 cannot engage in lobbying, which is what the WCCA has been doing, and what the WCPS will be doing.

The attorney I mentioned has offered to do all of this very much on the cheap. Other legal firms I've contacted have not called me back. But I wouldn't be surprised to get quotes in the $1000+ area.

Back in 1990, it cost me $700 just to have my business changed from a Schedule C to a C Corp. Add to that the cost of filing for tax-exempt status, and I think a legal firm picked out of the Yellow Pages would cost us a bundle.

The attorney I mentioned said that, of the 15 or so 501(c)3 filings he's done, the IRS has kicked back all but two for technical reasons. He said we should expect delays meaured in months, not weeks.

If some board member wants to do it himself, I'm all for saving the money. But I will not volunteer  for that effort.

The WCCM consumes enough of my time filing reports. Last year I missed pretty much the whole summer because of paperwork.

And then there's bullsh*t like today. (Which is pretty much every day).

Some trial lawyer sent me an email, objecting to my description of supreme court candidate Linda Clifford as a "liberal Democrat." He went on, and on, and on. And, oh, yes, he owns guns. And he hunts!

Well, gee. Linda Clifford, in an interview with WisPolitics.com last May, said that she was a lifelong Democrat. She also said that her politicial philosophy was liberal.

How exactly was I wrong in describing Clifford? As I pointed out to our trial lawyer friend, one is known by the company he keeps. And Clifford's backers are the Left of the Left.

sigh.

Another email today was from an elderly man who has been stricken with polio since childhood. He's wheelchair-bound, and getting older. He lives in a very small town, where there's at most one cop on duty. The sheriff's station is 35 miles away. The meth labs are popping up all over, and he's scared.

He asked how he could get a permit to carry.

I get these kinds of emails every day, and it really pains me to tell people that they have no legal recourse. I do mention that many people  (including esteemed elected officials) carry regardless of the law, but also have to remind them that I am in no way suggesting they violate the law.

OK, I'm going off-topic, and I'm getting angry again. Time to sign off.

See you tomorrow morning.