Tighter Rules Coming on Charitable Donations?

With some pressure from the IRS, Senate taxwriters are considering supplementing the recent rules changes on donations of automobiles with additional laws to restrict abuses of giving. The IRS has recently added to their charity-oriented staff after years of reducing resources devoted to charity (less than 1% of charities were audited in 2004). Areas of special emphasis appear to be donor-advised funds, private foundations (which already are more restricted than most not-for-profits), supporting organizations (especially those where donors control or have heavy influence), noncash contributions and conservation easements.