II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 735 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require that return information from tax-exempt organizations be made available in a searchable 

format and to provide the disclosure of the identity of contributors 

to certain tax-exempt organizations. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 11, 2019 

Mr. TESTER (for himself, Mr. UDALL, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. KING, and Ms. 

WARREN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require 

that return information from tax-exempt organizations 

be made available in a searchable format and to provide 

the disclosure of the identity of contributors to certain 

tax-exempt organizations. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sunlight for Unac5 countable Non-profits (SUN) Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. RETURN INFORMATION OF CERTAIN TAX-EXEMPT 

2 ORGANIZATIONS AVAILABLE IN A SEARCH3 ABLE FORMAT. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6104(b) of the Internal 

5 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘made 

6 available to the public at such time and in such places 

7 as the Secretary may prescribe.’’ and inserting ‘‘made 

8 available to the public at no charge and in an open, struc9 tured data format that is processable by computers with 

10 the information easy to find, access, reuse, and download 

11 in bulk.’’. 

12 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

13 this section shall apply to returns required to be filed after 

14 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

15 SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO DISCLOSE CONTRIBUTORS TO CER16 TAIN TAX-EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6104(b) of the Internal 

18 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘Nothing 

19 in this subsection shall authorize the Secretary to disclose 

20 the name and address of any contributor to any organiza21 tion’’ and inserting ‘‘In the case of any applicable organi22 zation or trust, such information shall include the name 

23 and address of any qualified contributor to such organiza24 tion which is required to be included on the return and 

25 the total contributions of such qualified contributor, but 

26 nothing in this subsection shall authorize the Secretary to 


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1 disclose the name or address of any other contributor to 

2 such organization or any contributor to any other organi3 zation’’. 

4 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 6104(b) of such Code is 

5 amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘The information’’ and inserting 

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The information’’, and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

10 paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of paragraph 

12 (1)— 

13 ‘‘(A) APPLICABLE ORGANIZATION OR

14 TRUST.—The term ‘applicable organization or 

15 trust’ means any organization or trust which— 

16 ‘‘(i) indicates on an application (or 

17 amendment to an application) for recogni18 tion of exemption from tax under section 

19 501(a) that such organization has or plans 

20 to spend money attempting to influence the 

21 selection, nomination, election, or appoint22 ment of any person to a public office, 

23 ‘‘(ii) asserts on a return that such or24 ganization participated in, or intervened in 

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1 tributing of statements), a political cam2 paign on behalf of, or in opposition to, any 

3 candidate for public office, 

4 ‘‘(iii) has filed, or was required to file, 

5 a statement or report under subsection (c) 

6 or (g) of section 304 of the Federal Elec7 tion Campaign Act of 1974 with respect to 

8 independent expenditures made during the 

9 taxable year, or 

10 ‘‘(iv) has filed, or was required to file, 

11 a statement under section 304(f) of such 

12 Act with respect to disbursements for elec13 tioneering communications made during 

14 the taxable year. 

15 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED CONTRIBUTOR.—The 

16 term ‘qualified contributor’ means, with respect 

17 to any applicable organization or trust, any per18 son who made aggregate contributions (in 

19 money or other property) to such applicable or20 ganization or trust during the taxable year in 

21 an amount valued at $5,000 or more.’’. 

22 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

23 6104(d)(3)(A) of such Code is amended by striking the 

24 first sentence and inserting the following: ‘‘In the case of 

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1 section (b)(2)(A)), any copies of annual returns provided 

2 under paragraph (1) shall include information relating to 

3 the name and address of any qualified contributor (as de4 fined in subsection (b)(2)(B)) to such organization and the 

5 total contributions of such qualified contributor, but noth6 ing in such paragraph shall require the disclosure of the 

7 name or address of any other contributor to such organi8 zation or any contributor to any other organization (other 

9 than a private foundation (within the meaning of section 

10 509(a)) or political organization exempt from taxation 

11 under section 527).’’. 

12 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

13 this section shall apply to returns required to be filed after 

14 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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