SOI Tax Stats - SOI Bulletin - Fall 2009

A Look at Estate Tax Returns Filed for Wealthy Decedents Since 2001PDF
by Brian G. Raub

Between 2001 and 2007, the total number of estate tax returns filed fell significantly, due primarily to increases in the estate tax exemption enacted as part of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (EGTRRA) of 2001. However, the number of returns filed for wealthy decedents, those with at least $3.5 million in gross estate, increased between the two years, from almost 9,500 to just over 14,200. Estates of wealthy decedents experienced significant fluctuations in the composition of asset portfolios between 2001 and 2007, based in large part on the performance of the equity and real estate markets. During this period, the percentage of wealthy decedents who left charitable bequests declined slightly, but the proportion of gross estate bequeathed to charity by those who left charitable bequests did not decline significantly.  Philanthropic organizations, including private foundations, remained the largest beneficiary of charitable bequests made by wealthy decedents throughout this period.

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Transactions Between Large Foreign-Owned Domestic Corporations and Related Foreign PersonsPDF
by Mark R. Lowe

The total value of nonloan transactions between large foreign-owned domestic corporations and related foreign parties totaled $1.86 trillion, a 64-percent increase since the previous high of $1.134 trillion in 2004.  The total amounts received, excluding loan balances, rose 75.9 percent between 2004 and 2006, from $439 billion to $772 billion.  A similar rise occurred in the total amounts paid.  The average amounts received and paid are at their highest since 1988, when data were first collected.  Interest received more than tripled between 2004 and 2006, from $6.17 billion to $22.9 billion.
There was a 21.8-percent increase in the number of large foreign parent corporations between 2004 and 2006, rising from 774 to 943.  The number of related persons increased from 16,565 to 19,191.  For 2006, the 943 large foreign-owned domestic corporations that filed Forms 5472 comprised only 1.39 percent of all 25-percent-or-more foreign-owned domestic corporations but accounted for 80.4 percent of the total assets and 79.2 percent of the total receipts.  These large corporations accounted for 10.98 percent of the total assets and 11.4 percent of the total receipts reported by all domestic corporations for 2006.

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Charities, Business Leagues, and Other Tax-Exempt Organizations, 2006PDF
by Paul Arnsberger

For 2006, nonprofit charitable organizations tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3), excluding private foundations, reported $2.5 trillion in total assets and $1.4 trillion in revenue.  The number of returns filed by these organizations totaled 301,214, including both Forms 990 and the shorter 990-EZ.
Program service revenue, the fees received for charitable programs conducted by tax-exempt organizations, was $920.2 billion for Tax Year 2006 and represents nearly two-thirds of the total revenue reported by charitable organizations.  A second source of revenue—contributions, gifts, and grants—which totaled $303.1 billion, accounted for more than half of the total revenue of organizations with asset holdings of less than $1.0 million dollars, but for a much smaller share of the total revenue of larger organizations. 
Business leagues and other organizations exempt under IRC section 501(c)(6) filed 30,705 information returns, on which they reported $60.2 billion in assets and $37.9 billion in revenue.  Eighty-three percent of the returns filed by 501(c)(6) organizations came from business leagues, chambers of commerce, and professional associations.  Insurance-related organizations, while few in number, accounted for more than 25 percent of the assets reported for Tax Year 2006.

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