TaxNewsFlash-Exempt Organizations

June 19, 2008
No. 2008-50

IRS Designates China Earthquake as “Qualified Disaster” for Purposes of Section 139

The IRS today released an advance copy of Notice 2008-57 which designates the China earthquake of May 2008 as a “qualified disaster” for purposes of section 139.

Under section 139, an individual does not include in income any amount received as a “qualified disaster relief payment” with respect to a qualified disaster (which includes a disaster resulting from an event determined by the Secretary of the Treasury to be of a catastrophic nature).

Notice 2008-57 provides that employer-sponsored private foundations can assist certain victims in areas of China affected by the earthquake, and recipients of this assistance can exclude the relief payments from gross income.

For an electronic version of today’s notice: Notice 2008-57

Notice 2008-57 will appear in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2008-28, dated July 14, 2008.

For more information, contact Rick Speizman, National Partner-In-Charge, KPMG’s Exempt Organizations Tax Practice (ExoTax), at (202) 533-3084 or rspeizma@kpmg.com

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