Mystery of Harry and Meghan’s tax return: Archewell Foundation promised to declare $4MILLION charity donation… but has yet to post latest records publicly

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s charity, The Archewell Foundation, has surprisingly postponed the publication of its latest tax return online.

The charity raised eyebrows when MailOnline reported that $4 million was undeclared in Archewell’s latest tax return, called a 990 form, while sources close to the Sussexes insisted this would appear in the following year’s filing.

While the Mail understands the charity filed the new 990 form with the IRS last week on November 15, there is no sign of the tax return on Archewell’s website.

Instead, MailOnline understands that Archewell has promised it will be released publicly until three weeks after the IRS deadline in the week commencing December 2.

The decision was received with surprise. A leading tax expert said delaying release until the IRS processes the return was “not unusual” for many charities, given Archewell’s high profile and the publicity over the unreported $4 million, but in this case it was confusing.

Cynthia Reed Altchek, a private equity partner at law firm Katten in New York, told MailOnline it was “a bit strange” that Archewell had not made the return public if it had in fact filed it with the tax authorities.

She said that ‘considering how famous [Archewell is,] that’s interesting’.

The private equity partner added that if Archewell had actually missed the IRS deadline, the charity could have been fined up to $60,000.

She said, ‘That’s a problem. There are penalties for late filing.”

If it missed the deadline three years in a row, its tax-exempt status would be automatically revoked.

In early May, California’s Registry of Charities and Fundraisers banned Archewell from collecting or spending donations, saying this was because the charity had failed to properly file its annual report or renewal fees.

Sussex sources said this was actually due to a check missing in the post, before saying the next day that the attorney general’s office was to blame for the $200 check not being cleared.

The ban was lifted later in May. Sussex sources previously told MailOnline that the Archewell Foundation’s 2022 tax returns have been filed in full compliance with all US regulations.

But in September, MailOnline revealed that $4 million was undeclared in 2022 tax returns.

The massive unreported amount amounts to Archewell failing to include most of the $6 million donation it received in the last fiscal year on its 2022 tax return.

In the 2022/23 financial year, Archewell received two donations. One from Fidelity Charitable totaled $6 million and another was from Tisbest Philanthropy for $10,050, both revealing their 990 forms.

Yet Archewell only declared $2,000,911 on its 2022 return, meaning $4,009,139 is undeclared.

It is likely that individual donors could have used Fidelity and Tisbest to donate money anonymously to Archewell, as was previously the case with large donations to the Sussexes’ charity.

In 2021, an anonymous donation of $10 million was made through the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a mega-wealthy nonprofit and a vehicle for extremely wealthy philanthropists to anonymously provide tax-free grants.

That led to suggestions that Archewell was almost entirely funded by a single mystery donor.

In 2022, Archewell said it received just two grants of $1 million each from anonymous donors.

Fidelity Charitable could have been the vessel used by one or both donors.

There’s a reason why the remaining $4 million not included in Archewell’s 2022 tax return could be in the next filing.

This is because the tax years of both Fidelity and Tisbest run from the first half of one year to the second half of the following year, while Archewell’s runs from January to December of one year.

It means that Fidelity’s $6 million could have been spread over two years and appeared as two separate donations to Archewell, while it was just one to Fidelity. The same could be the case for Tisbest’s money.

And while Archewell’s tax year ending in December should mean it files its returns on May 15 each year, for the past three years the charity is believed to have applied for a six-month extension to November 15 with a Form 8868, which Altchek has submitted. said it was ‘very common’.

Archewell’s website states that the charity ‘complies with all charity sector deadlines and measures and operates with full transparency’ in a paragraph immediately above the 2021 and 2022 tax returns.

However, Archewell’s latest tax returns are not available.

A Treasury spokesman said: ‘For privacy and legal reasons we cannot comment on individual taxpayer situations.’

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Archewell were contacted for comment.