Cevin Taylor has assisted hundreds of tax-exempt and nonprofit organizations (charitable nonprofits, as well as others) in more than fifteen years specializing in this area of the law. This experience has given him unique insight into the various types of issues facing nonprofits – legal, tax, liability, governance, and regulatory issues, among others. In his years of practice, Cevin has served many types of nonprofits. These include churches and other religious organizations, educational institutions, private foundations, fraternal and social organizations, medical organizations, trade associations, social service providers, animal care organizations, arts organizations, and sports leagues and teams, among others. He has developed a particular expertise in the area of reinstatement of tax exemption – helping organizations that have lost their tax-exempt status get their tax exemption reinstated with the IRS. He has helped hundreds of organizations deal with the many consequences of loss of tax exemption. Cevin has nonprofit clients in numerous states, as well as international organizations with operations abroad.
Many nonprofits start with a group of dedicated individuals with a mission they are passionate about. The leaders of these organizations want to focus on that mission. They often do not have much experience or guidance with the legal aspects of forming and operating a nonprofit. It is important that the leaders get the organization off on the right footing for many reasons. They will want to ensure that they position the organization to be classified correctly by the Internal Revenue Service and state regulators. They will want to obtain any tax exemptions for which the entity qualifies (e.g., exemption from income tax, real property tax, sales tax). They will want to ensure that the proper liability protections are in place for officers, directors, and volunteers. They need to be certain that they keep proper records, and do all required filings to comply with federal and state law. The board will also want to put the legal structure in place to ensure the longevity and stability of the organization.
Once a nonprofit is up and running, sometimes problems arise. Maybe the organization fails to file with a regulator, or it ends up in a contract dispute with another party. Maybe it owns real estate, and local authorities do not wish to grant it an exemption from real property taxes. Perhaps the board discovers that despite being tax-exempt, the entity owes unrelated business income tax. Cevin Taylor has dealt with all of these problems, as well as many others, and can counsel the organization’s leaders on how to best address them once they arise, or avoid them with advance planning. He is a member of the Nonprofit Corporations Committee of the Business Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan, and has written many articles for other attorneys on various aspects of tax-exempt and nonprofit law.