Hunter
10/18/22
An Iowa City nonprofit has paid IRS penalties totaling $20,000 for missing tax filing deadlines.
The Gazette reports that the Center for Worker Justice treasurer Charlie Eastham told them they paid three IRS penalties for missing the deadlines in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The filings were sent by mail with explanations why they were late. However, because the IRS had a backlog of opening mail, the nonprofit briefly lost its federal tax-exempt status, which allows donations to the group to be tax deductible. But Eastham said the IRS reversed that decision after the returns were submitted electronically.
Eastham told the Gazette that the penalties were paid from private donations. Since then, the center has gone to filing all required tax forms electronically and is working with an accountant for future filings.
The Center has been used as a clearinghouse for public grants, private grants, and private donations during the COVID pandemic, providing cash payments to people who missed out on government aid due to being undocumented or having been previously incarcerated, among other reasons.
The Center for Worker Justice has seen allocations of nearly $350,000 over the next five years from Johnson County, Iowa City, Coralville and North Liberty to fund a bilingual wage theft organizer.
