AADMO Releases the Only Publicly Available Compendium of IRS 501(c)(3) Denials Relevant to the Credit Counseling Industry

The American Association of Debt Management Organizations (AADMO), the trade association for the credit counseling industry, has published the only compendium of written adverse determination letters from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) denying 501(c)(3) status to credit counseling agencies.

According to Mark Guimond, Executive Director of the AADMO, “As part of a process that has taken more than one year, we are pleased to report that the 501(c)(3) denial letters we sought through our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request have finally been obtained by AADMO. The most recent denial was just released on April 7, 2006. This 220 page document is the most current and comprehensive information on this subject available from any source.” “We undertook our FOIA request to better understand the Internal Revenue Service’s treatment of 501(c)(3) credit counseling agencies. The denial letters are not the same as revocations, but it is clear that the legal reasoning and rationale of the denials, taken to their logical conclusion, would cause revocations for the same reasons,” said Guimond.

“Given the fact that the denials of tax-exempt status closely mirror the revocations, this document is the only real policy guidebook available to the credit counseling industry at this moment,” added Guimond.