If the only question is proving your tax-exempt status, we use the Internal
Revenue Service Letter stating our specific status under the tax-cade.  We
routinely provide this as certification.  We do not provide the form 990,
also the 990 is about a half-inch thick and the IRS letter is one page so
this will certainly cut down administrative and mailing costs.

It appears that the square foot cost of $3.40 is low.  This may have been
calculated using original building cost instead of using updated renovation
costs.  A flat rate that has no relationship to your institution's cost may
not be allowed unless your institution can document that your actual costs
are at least the amount of the flat rate.

Charlie Tardivo

_______________________________________________________________________________
From: Research Administration Discussion Group on Thu, Feb 22, 1996 10:44
PM
To: Charlie Tardivo

I have two questions to pose to the research administrators group today.
As
part of our in-kind contribution calculation we sometimes include the cost
of our space (which includes the space itself and utilities).  We are
currently costing this at $3.4085 per square foot, which seems low.  Can
you
tell me if you have a flat rate that you use in your calculations, and if
so, what it is?

My second question is that we have recently had two foundations request
copies of our IRS form 990.  Their questions appear to be related to
proving
that we are a tax exempt organization. The only IRS form 990 that our
accounting office is aware of is IRS form 990 T which reports unrelated
business income. Has anyone had any experience with providing an IRS form
990 to help us decipher this?

Any information you have on either of these two issues will be appreciated.