Harvard University, for example, is a tax exempt organization in much the same way as is the Salvation Army.

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Instead, the agency's Tax Exempt Organization Director Lois Lerner broke the story last Friday in response to a question at a meeting of the American Bar Association in Washington.

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While that counsel is an experienced tax attorney with a sterling reputation, he has less experience in dealing with tax-exempt organization law than does the expert retained by the subcommittee.

CNN: AllPolitics - Ethics Transcript

Those taxes, which include sales and use tax and real estate tax, are generally payable by the organization unless exempt either by application or by agreement.

FORBES: Taxing Non-Profits: Is It the Modern Day Solution to Balancing Budgets?

No organization is exempt.

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Republicans also are questioning whether the IRS improperly released confidential donor information about the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), a nonprofit tax-exempt 501(c)(4) organization.

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The presence of a single non-exempt purpose, if more than insubstantial in nature, will destroy the exemption of the organization regardless of the number or importance of truly exempt purposes that are present.

CNN: AllPolitics - Ethics Transcript

Under the Internal Revenue Code, a 501(c)(3) organization must be operated exclusively for exempt purposes.

CNN: AllPolitics - Ethics Transcript

An organization that crosses over the fuzzy line will be denied tax-exempt status.

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