HR9772-119

What This Bill Does

The Foreign Funding Transparency Act adds annual foreign-contribution information to the return required by Internal Revenue Code section 6033(a). A section 501(c) organization is covered if its preceding-year gross receipts are at least $200,000 or its year-end assets are at least $500,000. It must report aggregate contributions from foreign nationals and separate aggregate amounts for each statutory foreign country of concern. This is a disclosure rule, not a ban on all foreign donations.

Who Benefits and How

Internal Revenue Service officials gain standardized information for oversight. Taxpayers and nonprofit watchdog organizations may gain visibility through applicable return-disclosure rules, although the bill does not itself create a donor-by-donor public list. An organization may rely on a donor's nationality representation unless it knows or should know it is false, reducing the need for universal independent nationality investigations.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Covered nonprofit organization administrators must collect and aggregate qualifying contributions. For an individual donor, the relevant country includes each foreign country of citizenship; for other donors, it is the country of legal creation or organization. The Treasury Secretary may require additional information collection from foreign-national donors. These requirements apply to returns for taxable years beginning after the date one year following enactment, giving organizations lead time to revise records and procedures.

Key Provisions

• Requires aggregate foreign-national contribution reporting by organizations meeting either size threshold.
• Requires separate aggregate totals for foreign countries of concern under the incorporated statutory definition.
• Authorizes reliance on donor representations unless the organization knows or should know they are false.
• Authorizes Treasury collection rules and delays application to the specified later taxable years.