Chapter 3
Unrelated Trade or Business

Unrelated business income is the income from a trade or business that is regularly carried on by an exempt organization and that is not substantially related to the performance by the organization of its exempt purpose or function, except that the organization uses the profits derived from this activity.

Certain trade or business activities are not treated as an unrelated trade or business. See Excluded Trade or Business Activities, later.

Trade or business. The term "trade or business" generally includes any activity carried on for the production of income from selling goods or performing services. An activity does not lose its identity as a trade or business merely because it is carried on within a larger group of similar activities that may, or may not, be related to the exempt purposes of the organization.

For example, the regular sale of pharmaceutical supplies to the general public by a hospital pharmacy does not lose its identity as a trade or business, even though the pharmacy also furnishes supplies to the hospital and patients of the hospital in accordance with its exempt purpose. Similarly, soliciting, selling, and publishing commercial advertising is a trade or business even though the advertising is published in an exempt organization's periodical that contains editorial matter related to the organization's exempt purpose.

Regularly carried on. Business activities of an exempt organization ordinarily are considered regularly carried on if they show a frequency and continuity, and are pursued in a manner similar to comparable commercial activities of nonexempt organizations.

For example, a hospital auxiliary's operation of a sandwich stand for 2 weeks at a state fair would not be the regular conduct of a trade or business. The stand would not compete with similar facilities that a nonexempt organization would ordinarily operate year-round. However, operating a commercial parking lot every Saturday, year-round, would be the regular conduct of a trade or business.

Not substantially related. A business activity is not substantially related to an organization's exempt purpose if it does not contribute importantly to accomplishing that purpose (other than through the production of funds). Whether an activity contributes importantly depends in each case on the facts involved.

In determining whether activities contribute importantly to the accomplishment of an exempt purpose, the size and extent of the activities involved must be considered in relation to the nature and extent of the exempt function that they intend to serve. For example, to the extent an activity is conducted on a scale larger than is reasonably necessary to perform an exempt purpose, it does not contribute importantly to the accomplishment of the exempt purpose. The part of the activity that is more than needed to accomplish the exempt purpose is an unrelated trade or business.

Also in determining whether activities contribute importantly to the accomplishment of an exempt purpose, the following principles apply.

Selling of products of exempt functions. Ordinarily, selling products that result from the performance of exempt functions is not an unrelated trade or business if the product is sold in substantially the same state it is in when the exempt functions are completed. Thus, for an exempt organization engaged in rehabilitating handicapped persons (its exempt function), selling articles made by these persons as part of their rehabilitation training is not an unrelated trade or business.

However, if a completed product resulting from an exempt function is used or exploited in further business activity beyond what is reasonably appropriate or necessary to dispose of it as is, the activity is an unrelated trade or business. For example, if an exempt organization maintains an experimental dairy herd for scientific purposes, the sale of milk and cream produced in the ordinary course of operation of the project is not an unrelated trade or business. But if the organization uses the milk and cream in the further manufacture of food items such as ice cream, pastries, etc., the sale of these products is an unrelated trade or business unless the manufacturing activities themselves contribute importantly to the accomplishment of an exempt purpose of the organization.

Dual use of assets or facilities. If an asset or facility necessary to the conduct of exempt functions is also used in commercial activities, its use for exempt functions does not, by itself, make the commercial activities a related trade or business. The test, as discussed earlier, is whether the activities contribute importantly to the accomplishment of exempt purposes.

For example, a museum has a theater auditorium designed for showing educational films in connection with its program of public education in the arts and sciences. The theater is a principal feature of the museum and operates continuously while the museum is open to the public. If the organization also operates the theater as a motion picture theater for the public when the museum is closed, the activity is an unrelated trade or business.

For information on allocating expenses for the dual use of assets or facilities, see Deductions in chapter 4.

Exploitation of exempt functions. Exempt activities sometimes create goodwill or other intangibles that can be exploited in a commercial way. When an organization exploits such an intangible in commercial activities, the fact that the income depends in part upon an exempt function of the organization does not make the commercial activities a related trade or business. Unless the commercial exploitation contributes importantly to the accomplishment of the exempt purpose, the commercial activities are an unrelated trade or business.

For the treatment of expenses attributable to the exploitation of exempt activities, see Deductions in chapter 4.

Examples

Excluded Trade or Business Activities

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