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The Treasury Department has released its latest Priority Guidance Plan, outlining the tax issues it intends to address through regulations, revenue rulings and procedures, notices, and other administrative guidance over the next nine months. Shedding some items previously on the agency’s list, the latest plan narrows the regulatory focus to implementation of recent GOP legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), deregulation and burden reduction, tribal tax issues, digital assets and the SECURE 2.0 Act.
Notably, the plan also highlights two nonprofit issues on which the IRS expects to provide guidance, related to private colleges’ tax-exempt status and the policy known as the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits 501(c)(3) organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates.
President Trump has this year threatened to review or revoke the tax-exempt status of numerous colleges and universities over issues of anti-Semitism and diversity policies. It is not clear what type of guidance the IRS might provide in this area, but according to its plan, it will look at “the application of the fundamental public policy against racial discrimination, including consideration of recent case law, in determining the eligibility of private schools for recognition of tax-exempt status.”
This past July, the IRS, as part of a legal settlement, reinterpreted the Johnson Amendment to allow houses of worship to endorse candidates to their congregants, and this change has raised concerns by some in the nonprofit community that political groups will take advantage of the opening to more broadly use tax-exempt status to advance their views.
The priority guidance plan runs from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, and does not set specific deadlines for the 105 guidance projects included.
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