Eve Rose Borenstein, LLC

This website is here to provide:

All about Eve: Quick(?) Bio

Upon law school graduation in 1985, Eve joined the tax department of then-Ernst & Whinney where she immediately began to prepare clients' Form 990s and was mentored in exempt organization tax (EOT) (but didn't love the firm's pyramidal structure). She opened a solo practice, Tax Exempt Law Office of Eve Rose Borenstein, LLC in 1989, which became a two-attorney firm, BAM Law Office, LLC, in 2004. Fifteen years later, Eve moved to Of Counsel at the D.C. firm of Harmon, Curran, Spielberg & Eisenberg, LLP. Across all three law firms, Eve served clients nation-wide, addressing their needs under the unique tax laws and other administrative statutes and rules that nonprofits and tax-exempt organizations are subject to through the IRS or other federal and/or state agencies.

Eveʼs extensive and wide expertise in serving exempt organizations stems from her having served an extraordinarily diverse clientele, spanning organizations of all sizes, in need of help with everything from planning and structural issues to compliance concerns, including direct representation before the IRS. [Across her 36+ years of law practice, Eve has represented more than 1,100 organizations before the IRS -- on audit examinations, private letter rulings and requests for issuance of technical advice, exemption applications (and sub-classification requests), and a multitude of status issues.] All good things eventually come to an end, and, in 2024, Eve semi-retired – she is still assisting Harmon Curran’s attorneys, but no longer takes on clients of her own. She remains an active participant in professional committees.

Eve began teaching about the Form 990 in the 1990 filing season and by Y2K, her course materials and personal instruction on both that Form and overall EOT mandates had been availed of by 12 state CPA societies (and grew to 20+ by 2010). Eve's teaching and speaking has since 2004 been housed in Eve Rose Borenstein, LLC, serving CPAs and attorneys, nonprofit organization managers, and technical assistance providers and other sector advisors. In addition, Eve privately consults with many firms and continues to conduct courses through various CPA societies. She is the author of a giant catalogue of instructional materials on all things EOT (including two all-day courses on the Form 990, both of which were offered by AICPA in the 2000s, and a 10-session "990 Foundational Series" that debuted in 2020 and continues to be annually updated). Her goal in all of these efforts has always been to help the sector “do it right the first time!"

In addition to lawyering, teaching, and educational consulting, Eve has diligently worked to expand exempt organizationsʼ access to both quality pro bono legal and accounting assistance, and to plain English guidance and communications from the IRS's Exempt Organization Division. Her efforts to such ends have been undertaken via the American Bar Associationʼs Tax Section, the TEGE Exempt Organizations Council, and various other professional associations (including the AICPA). She has committed thousands of hours to such efforts, in the last decade liaising with the IRS's Exempt Organization Division Director and their staff to the end of fostering real-time information exchange between them and representatives of exempt organizations and to secure improvements in required filings and the IRS's overall procedural intersections with the sector.

Eve is a proud New Jersey native who came to Minnesota in 1982 to not only escape the congestion of the Northeast Interstate 95 corridor but to attend the University of Minnesota Law School. Minneapolis has been home ever since and Eve (and her spouse Candace) enjoy a charmed existence with tons of immediate and extended family time (their two children, and respective spouses, live close by and the addition of grandkids -- one just before COVID hit, and the other three years later -- has been the icing on the proverbial cake!)

Eve's Professional Resume (including 5 pages detailing Eve's speaking topics across the last 15 years) is available HERE Also see Eve's Career Achievement, below.

Eve's Seminars/Speaking and Educational Consulting

Seminars/Speaking: Eve's instruction is paired with her self-authored teaching materials. The latter are continually updated and reflect her extensive law-practice experience as well as information garnered from her professional committee liaison efforts with the IRS. Her goal in presenting has always been to provide a friendly face in assisting exempt organizations and their advisors and have participants walk away with clear understanding of the sector's reporting obligations and the array of tax-exemption mandates behind those obligations. Presentations can be those from Eve's existing catalogue of materials or individually tailored to the audience's needs. (Past examples of topics may be found in the listing of Presentations/Workshops within Eve's Professional Resume.) Fees are negotiable and are based on type of sponsor, amount of customization required, travel requirements, etc.

Educational Consulting: Eve is also available to advise on compliance needs that arise in specific scenarios and/or segments of the exempt sector. Assistance is available to individual accountants or CPA firms, other advisors (including legal counsel), nonprofit managers (including Board members), and the press. Please note that such consults (and the discussions within same) do not constitute the provision of legal advice. Compensation for time spent (if not pro bono) can be flat fee or by hour.

Career Achievements

Testimony before U.S. Congress and Author of Comments Requested by IRS on Exempt Organization Issues

• Chief Coordinator and Co-Chair (with Alex Reid and Chelsea Rubin) of the TEGE EO Council's 3/29/2024 submission responding to the IRS's request for suggestions to resolve issues unique to specific groups of taxpayers; comments addressed increasing frequency of corruptions in the EO/BMF and insufficiency of the IRS's software platforms handling of exempt organizations' data
• Invited Testimony on the Redesigned Form 990 provided to the House of Representativesʼ Committee on Ways and Means, Oversight Subcommittee's 2nd Hearing on Oversight and Operations of Tax-Exempt Organizations, July 25, 2012
• Participated in over 600 pages of the 3000 total pages of comments provided to the IRS on the IRSʼ Proposed 2008 Form 990 Redesign (summer 2007) and Draft Instructions to said Form (April 15 – June 1, 2008)

Awards

• Minnesota Society of CPAs' "Lifetime Friend of the Profession" Award, bestowed at Society's 2023 Annual Meeting
• 2018 Outstanding Nonprofit Lawyer Award, bestowed by the Nonprofit Organizations Committee of the American Bar Association, e of the American Bar Association, Section of Business Law for distinguished service as outside counsel to nonprofit organizations

American Bar Association's Section of Taxation Committee on Exempt Organizations

• Member, Political & Lobbying Activities & Organizations Subcommittee 1993 – 2024
• Contributor to Comments on Proposed Regulations Under Section 512(a)(6), June 2020
• Co-chair, Form 990 Revision Task Force, 2005 – 2009
• Contributor, Response to June 22, 2004 United States Senate Committee on Tax Hearings and Staffʼs “White Paper” on Charitable Organizations, July 2004

TEGE Exempt Organizations Council

• “TIC-TAQ Forums” Committee Co-Chair, coordinating presenting practitionersʼ questions to IRS Officials and overseeing thrice- yearly “EO Update” sessions with government speakers from both Exempt Organizations Divisionʼs Directors Office and Office of Chief Counsel (EEE) and Treasury, February 2018 – March 2023
• Facilitating panel member in organizing of this nation-wide members professional committee of CPAs, attorneys, paralegals, and EOT advisors (replacing demising structure of IRS-originated Regional Councils dating back to the 1970s), February 2018