Lowell Observatory

“The endowment funds are used for support of lowell observatory and for reinvestment.”

“The following disclosure is related to the combined financial statements of the lowell observatory, trust u/w of percival lowell, and the lowell observatory foundation: the observatory and the foundation are exempt from income taxes under both irc section 501(c)(3) and arizona income tax laws. The observatory is classified as other than a private foundation under irc sec 509(a)(1). The foundation is classified as other than a private foundation under irc sec 509(a)(3) as a supporting organization of the observatory. The trust is a non-exempt charitable trust as described in irc sec 4947(a)(1). The trust qualifies as an irc sec 509(a)(3) supporting organization of the observatory and is entitled to a charitable income tax deduction under irc sec 642(c) because all of the gross income is set aside permanently for charitable and scientific purposes. Accordingly, no provision for federal and state income taxes is made. Income from certain activities not directly related to the organization's tax-exempt purpose, however, may be subject to taxation as unrelated business taxable income (ubti). Gaap requires management to perform an evaluation of all tax positions taken or expected to be taken in the course of preparing the organization's tax returns to determine whether the tax positions meet a "more likely than not" standard of being sustained under examination by the applicable taxing authorities. This evaluation is required to be performed for all open tax years, as defined by the various statutes of limitations, for federal and state purposes. The organization is only subject to income taxes on ubti as applicable. The organization is required to file informational returns for federal and state purposes and, if it has ubti, federal and state income tax returns. Management has performed its evaluation of tax positions taken on all open tax returns and has determined that there were no positions taken that do not meet the "more likely than not" standard. From time to time, the organization may be subject to penalties and interest assessed by various taxing authorities, which are classified as general and administrative expenses if they occur. No such activity occurred in 2016 or 2015.”