§ 1.503(a)-1 — Denial of exemption to certain organizations engaged in prohibited transactions.

26 CFR § 1.503(a)-1

• Title: Title 26: Internal Revenue
• Part: Part 1: Income Taxes
• Source: eCFR (current through Mar 20, 2026)

Text

§ 1.503(a)-1 Denial of exemption to certain organizations engaged in prohibited transactions.

(a)(1) Prior to January 1, 1970, section 503 applies to those organizations described in sections 501(c)(3), 501(c)(17), and section 401(a) except:

(i) A religious organization (other than a trust);

(ii) An educational organization which normally maintains a regular faculty and curriculum and normally has a regularly enrolled body of pupils or students in attendance at the place where its educational activities are regularly carried on;

(iii) An organization which normally receives a substantial part of its support (exclusive or income received in the exercise or performance by such organization of its charitable, educational, or other purpose or function constituting the basis for its exemption under section 501(a)) from the United States or any State or political subdivision thereof or from direct of indirect contributions from the general public,

(iv) An organization which is operated, supervised, controlled or principally supported by a religious organization (other than a trust) which is itself not subject to the provisions of this section; and

(v) An organization the principal purposes or functions of which are the providing of medical or hospital care or medical education or medical research or agricultural research.

(2) Effective January 1, 1907, and prior to January 1, 1975, section 503 shall apply only to organizations described in section 501(c) (17) or (18) or section 401(a).

(3) Effective January 1, 1975, section 503 shall apply only to organization described in section 501(c) (17) or (18) or described in section 401(a) and referred to in section 4975(g) (2) or (3).

(b) The prohibited transactions enumerated in section 503(b) are in addition to and not in limitation of the restrictions contained in section 501(c) (3), (17), or (18) or section 401(a). Even though an organization has not engaged in any of the prohibited transactions referred to in section 503(b), it still may not qualify for tax exemptions in view of the general provisions of section 501(c) (3), (17), or (18) or section 401(a). Thus, if a trustee or other fiduciary of the organization (whether or not he is also a creater or such organization) enters into a transaction with the organization, such transaction will be closely scrutinized in the light of the fiduciary principle requiring undivided loyalty to ascertain whether the organization is in fact being operated for the stated exempt purpose.

(c) An organization—

(1) Described in section 501(c)(3) which after July 1, 1950, but before January 1, 1970, has engaged in any prohibited transaction as defined in section 503(b), unless it is excepted by the provisions of paragraph (a)(1) of this section;

(2) Described in section 401(a) and referred to in section 4975(g) (2) or (3) which after March 1, 1954, has engaged in any prohibited transaction as defined in section 503(b);

(3) Described in section 401(a) and not referred to in section 4975(g) (2) or (3) which after March 1, 1954, but before January 1, 1975, has engaged in any prohibited transaction as defined in section 503(b) or which after December 31, 1962, but before January 1, 1975, has engaged in any prohibited transaction as defined in section 503(g) prior to its repeal by section 2003(b)(5) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 978);

(4) Described in section 501(c)(17) which after December 31, 1959, has engaged in any prohibited transaction as defined in section 503(b); or

(5) Described in section 501(c)(18) which after December 31, 1969, has engaged in any prohibited transaction described in section 503(b)

Shall not be exempt from taxation under section 501(a) for any taxable year subsequent to the taxable year in which there is mailed to it a notice in writing by the Commissioner that it has engaged in such prohibited transactions. Such notification by the Commissioner shall be by registered or certified mail to the last known name and address of the organization. However, notwithstanding the requirement of notification by the Commissioner, the exemption shall be denied with respect to any taxable year if such organization during or prior to such taxable year commenced the prohibited transaction with the purpose of diverting income or corpus from its exempt purposes and such transaction involved a substantial party of the income or corpus of such organization. For the purpose of this section, the term taxable year means the established annual accounting period of the organization; or, if the organization has no such established annual accounting period, the taxable year of the organizations means a calendar year. See 26 CFR § 1.503(j)-1 (rev. as of Apr. 1, 1974) for provisions relating to the definition of prohibited transactions in the case of trusts benefitting certain owner-employees after December 31, 1962, but prior to January 1, 1975. See also section 2003 (c)(1)(B) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (88 Stat. 978) in the case of an organization described in section 401(a) with respect to which a disqualified person elects to pay a tax in the amount and manner provided with respect to the tax imposed by section 4975 of the Code so that the organization may avoid denial of exemption under section 503. For further guidance regarding the definition of last known address, see § 301.6212-2 of this chapter.

(d) The application of section 503(b) may be illustrated by the following examples:

Example 1.A creates a foundation in 1954 ostensibly for educational purposes. B, a trustee, accumulates the foundation's income from 1957 until 1959 and then uses a substantial part of this accumulated income to send A's children to college. The foundation would lose its exemption for the taxable years 1957 through 1959 and for subsequent taxable years until it regains its exempt status. Example 2.If under the facts in Example 1 such private benefit was the purpose of the foundation from its inception, such foundation is not exempt by reason of the general provisions of section 501(c)(3), without regard to the provisions of section 503, for all years since its inception, that is, for the taxable years 1954 through 1959 and subsequent taxable years, since under section 501(c)(3) the organization must be organized and operated exclusively for exempt purposes. See § 1.501(c)(3)-1. [T.D. 7428, 41 FR 34621, Aug. 16, 1976, as amended by T.D. 8939, 66 FR 2819, Jan. 12, 2001]