Bev Harris BBV.org in defiance of tax law filing disclosure?

troubleinwinter

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Wed Jun-14-06 06:38 PM
Original message

Bev Harris BBV.org in defiance of tax law filing disclosure?

Beginning of April, 2006, I requested a copy of Bev Harris's blackboxvoting.org's tax exempt non-profit IRS form 990, as their fiscal year had closed in June of 2005.

Nonprofit 501c(3) organizations are required by law to provide copies of their 990 tax filings to any person making a request.

My April, 2006 email making the request......

I request a copy of BlackBoxVoting.org's IRS 990 forms, as a 501c(3) non profit organization.

If the information is posted online, perhaps you would point me to it, as I am unable to find it.

Thank you,

XXXXXXXX (my email address)
XXXXXXXX (my name)
XXXXXXXX (my street mailing address)
XXXXXXXX (my city, state and zip)

Bev's email response to me, acknowledging my request: (BBV.org's form 990 filing was due on November 15, 2005, but filed the maximum two extensions. She has claimed elsewhere that the first one was 'automatic', but no... a request for extension must be FILED, it is not automatic. She claimed the second extension was filed by the accountant and it was a 'surprise' to her. Also, "conventional wisdom" has nothing whatever to do with compliance with law).....

4/3/2006

The due date for our first 990 is May 15, 2006. As regards posting it online, we
will follow whatever the conventional wisdom is for all the other organizations
like ours. I generally don't see their 990s posted online, but have no
objection to doing so if that is done by VoteTrustUSA, VerifiedVoting, and the
other election reform nonprofits.

Bev Harris
Founder
Black Box Voting

A second acknowledgment of my request was posted on BBV.org website....

4/19/2006

Your request for a copy of our completed Form 990 has been duly noted and will be sent at our earliest convenience within our legal responsibility to do so.

Just to make sure nothing "got lost" in the shuffle, I thought it would be wise to send a reminder. I have never gotten any response to this one.....

5/29/2006

As of this writing, I have not received the requested copy of BlackBoxVoting.org IRS form 990 filing.

Please let me know if it has been mailed. If not, please forward it without delay.

Thank you,

~XXXXXX (my name)

Some snips explaining the legal requirements of 501c organizations in responding to 990 requests:

In response to a request for your annual information return you must provide a copy of:
� Form 990
� Any attachments, and
� All schedules

Response due dates - If a request is made in writing (i.e., by mail, fax, email, or courier), you must respond within 30 days of receiving the request.

An Exception to Providing Copies - An organization need not comply with a request for a copy of a document that the organization has posted on a World Wide Web page that clearly informs readers of the document�s availability and provides instructions for downloading and printing it, without a fee, in a format that exactly reproduces the image of the document as it was originally filed with the IRS. Upon receiving a copy request, the organization must notify the requestor within 7 days of the World Wide Web page address.

Although many organizations� 990s are posted on guidestar.org, this does not satisfy the �widely available� exception for the public disclosure regulations.

Penalties for failing to comply with a request for disclosure - Once a request is made, failure to provide a copy of the requested documents by the response deadline (within 30-days of receipt of a written request) means that the IRS can assess a $20 per day penalty for every day that you fail to fully respond. There is a maximum penalty of $10,000 for failing to provide a copy of the annual information return (Form 990, schedules and attachments).

In addition, a $5,000 penalty for "willful failure" can also be applied.

BBV.org's fiscal year closed over a year ago. She claimed to have an accountant 'specializing in non-profits' working on statements and filings as of early in March of last year.

Thus far, the public has seen zero accountability for the funds donated to the organization. She claims to be in favor of transparency, but she does not practice it, though required by U.S. law.

She did permit the characterization on her site of DUers' donations during heavy fund raising after 2004 election as "chump-change". But we have no clue how much "chump-change" BBV.org collected in fiscal year 2004 & 2005, through Randi Rhodes' listeners, DU and others.

30 days have passed since the final extended filing date.

There are three ways for her to have complied with the law regarding a public request:

1) Post it on her website. She has not done so.
2) Email it. She has not done so.
3) Snail mail it, postmarked no later than today. I have no indication that this has been done (no email saying "It has been mailed"). The filing was supposedly done a month ago, you might think that to copy & mail it would have been done by now.

BBV.org is at risk of daily fines up to $10,000 and a $5,000 penalty for 'willful failure'. Is that responsible handling of donated funds?

I particularly wonder how those here who were donors feel about this?

Maybe it will show up in my mailbox, postmarked today, in a day or two. Do ya think? I don't. Why would an organization, devoted to 'transparency' and given two and a half months notice, wait 30 days to comply with public financial disclosure?

I. Don't. Know.