Welcome to CPA at Law, helping individuals and small businesses plan for the future and keep what they have.

This is the personal blog of Sterling Olander, a Certified Public Accountant and Utah-licensed attorney. For over thirteen years, I have assisted clients with estate planning and administration, tax mitigation, tax controversies, small business planning, asset protection, and nonprofit law.

I write about any legal, tax, or technological information that I find interesting or useful in serving my clients. All ideas expressed herein are my own and don't constitute legal or tax advice.

Nonprofits Reference Chart

Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code is only one of nearly three dozen Code sections that provide for tax-exempt status for certain organizations. The IRS has an good chart, located at this link, summarizing those other sections and organizations. At the same time, there are numerous sub-categories of 501(c)(3) organizations. The purpose of this post is to supplement the IRS's chart with a list of distinct tax-exempt entities that fall under 501(c)(3). The organizations described below apply for tax-exempt status with IRS Form 1023 and can receive contributions which are tax-deductible to the donor:

 Code Sections   Description 
 509(a)   All 501(c)(3) organizations are private nonoperating foundations unless described in another line on this chart 
 509(a)(1) and
170(b)(1)(A)(i) 
 A church or a convention or association of churches 
 509(a)(1) and
170(b)(1)(A)(ii) 
 A school, meaning an educational organization with regular faculty, curriculum, and enrolled body students in attendance 
 509(a)(1) and
170(b)(1)(A)(iii) 
 A hospital providing medical or hospital care, medical education or medical research 
 509(a)(1) and
170(b)(1)(A)(iv) 
 An organization operated for the benefit of a college or university that is owned or operated by a governmental unit 
 509(a)(1) and
170(b)(1)(A)(v) 
 Certain governmental units 
 509(a)(1) and
170(b)(1)(A)(vi) 
 An organization that receives a substantial part of its financial support in the form of contributions from publicly supported organizations, from a governmental unit, or from the general public 
 509(a)(2)   An organization that normally receives not more than one-third of its financial support from gross investment income and receives more than one-third of its financial support from contributions, membership fees, and gross receipts from activities related to its exempt functions
 509(a)(3)(B)(i)   Type I supporting organization, which must be operated, supervised, or controlled by one or more 509(a)(1) or (2) organizations 
 509(a)(3)(B)(ii)   Type II supporting organization, which must be supervised or controlled in connection with one or more 509(a)(1) or (2) organizations 
 509(a)(3)(B)(iii)   Type III supporting organization, which must be operated in connection with one or more 509(a)(1) or (2) organizations 
 509(a)(4)   An organization which is organized and operated exclusively for testing for public safety 
 170(b)(1)(A)(vii) and
170(b)(1)(F)(i) 
 A private operating foundation 
 170(b)(1)(A)(vii) and
170(b)(1)(F)(ii) 
 A private nonoperating conduit foundation 
 170(b)(1)(A)(vii) and
170(b)(1)(F)(iii) 
 A common fund foundation