Dixon Moose Lodge Moves to Re-instate Tax Exempt Status

Last week, the IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of 12 Dixon nonprofit groups. At least one of the nonprofits, the Dixon Moose Lodge 1120 is in the processes of re-establishing their status.

Dixon Moose Lodge 1120 Administrator Jose Alverdi said the IRS’ action came as a surprise to his organization. Alverdi said the last time the Moose Lodge heard from the IRS was in 2000.

“We received a letter in 2000 that said we didn’t have to file (paperwork),” he said.

It wasn’t until Dixon Patch provided by the IRS that the Moose Lodge knew of a problem, Alverdi said. Last Wednesday the IRS announced that it revoked the tax-exempt status of 275,000 organizations that failed to file required annual reports for a three consecutive years.

According to the IRS, Congress passed the Pension Protection Act in 2006 that required most tax-exempt organizations to file an annual information return or notice with the IRS. For many of the nonprofits, this meant that as early as 2007, they would have to be compliant with the law.

The law also automatically revokes the tax-exempt status of any organization that does not file the required paperwork for three consecutive years, according to the IRS.

“The IRS never contacted us to say that we were in danger of losing this,” Alverdi said.

In all, the IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of 12 Dixon businesses. Many of those businesses are no longer in existence. Calls to all but the Moose Lodge and the Landmark Masonic Temple Association were either disconnected or the wrong number.

The Landmark Masonic Temple Association could not be reach by the time this story posted.

As far as the Moose Lodge is concerned, Alverdi said they are in the process of tracking everything and working alongside the IRS to re-establish the Moose Lodge’s tax-exempt status.

“We have nothing to hide,” he said

Alverdi said it may take a couple of days or a week to re-establish their status. Any of the non-profit groups that were listed who would like to re-establish their tax-exempt status can follow this link to learn how to be re-instated.