IRS Exempt Organizations Colleges and Universities Compliance Project

The IRS is nearing the end of its multi-year project on tax-exempt colleges and universities. The Colleges and Universities Compliance Project was launched in 2008 with the distribution of detailed questionnaires to 400 randomly-selected colleges and universities. The IRS selected 34 of the 400 for examination because their questionnaire responses and Form 990 reporting indicated potential noncompliance in the areas of unrelated business income and executive compensation. As exams were getting underway, the IRS released an Interim Report, presenting a preliminary overview of questionnaire responses. Now, with more than 90 percent of examinations completed, this Final Report provides additional analysis of the questionnaire responses and focuses on the examination results. Because colleges and universities were not randomly selected for examination, no assumptions should be drawn about the UBI and compensation practices of other colleges and universities based on the examination results.