A Washington advocacy organization is asking the Internal Revenue Service to review the tax-exempt status of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard (IFS), citing alleged violations of federal nonprofit disclosure rules and an apparent lack of transparency about the organization’s finances.
The complaint, filed Tuesday by the Pinpoint Policy Institute and obtained by InsideSources, alleges that IFS, a nonprofit advocacy group that opposes recent federal retirement investment policy changes, has failed to make its annual IRS Form 990 filings available upon request, as required by federal law.
“The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard appears to be operating in clear violation of IRS rules, raising serious questions about its credibility as a group that claims to advocate for transparency and accountability in the financial sector,” said Eric Ventimiglia, executive director of the Pinpoint Policy Institute. “The organization, whose board features former top federal government regulators, has continued to speak out on policies related to the fiduciary standard while repeatedly failing to comply with its most basic disclosure obligations under federal law.”
The IRS complaint comes amid a policy battle over changes to federal retirement investment regulations. In August 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order titled Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors that directs federal agencies to facilitate access to alternative investments — including private equity, real estate and digital assets such as cryptocurrency — in 401(k) retirement plans when a plan fiduciary determines it is appropriate.
The order could result in a significant broadening of traditional retirement plan offerings. For decades, IRA portfolios have largely revolved around publicly traded securities, not because the tax code strictly required it, but because regulatory guardrails and mainstream custodians favored liquid, transparent investments. Industry analysts say the Trump policy could create opportunities for large alternative asset managers to enter the defined-contribution market, while also raising concerns about increased risk, liquidity limitations and transparency challenges for plan participants.
IFS and its president, Knut Rostad, have been vocal critics of the Trump initiative. According to industry reports, Rostad described the executive order as “a frontal assault on the fiduciary standard,” criticizing it for encouraging access to complex, risky and opaque investments that he said have limited place in mainstream retirement accounts.
In May 2025, Rostad said it would be “a big mistake” to make it easier for 401(k) plans to include cryptocurrency in their investment lineups, maintaining that crypto “doesn’t belong in a 401(k), period, end of sentence,” and warning that removing prior cautionary guidance could mislead employers and investors.
The Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, founded in 2011, is a nonprofit organization focused on advancing “fiduciary principles and practices” in investment advice. The group’s work has historically centered on promoting standards requiring financial professionals to put clients’ interests first — a principle long debated in regulatory circles, particularly regarding retirement accounts such as 401(k) plans.
Pinpoint’s complaint argues that IFS’s alleged lack of transparency is particularly troubling given the group’s public policy influence and advocacy on retirement security and fiduciary duty standards.
Under the Internal Revenue Code, most tax-exempt organizations must provide copies of their three most recent annual information returns, known as Form 990, and their application for tax-exempt status to anyone who requests them within 30 days. These filings provide the public with insight into an organization’s finances, governance and operations.
Pinpoint’s complaint asserts that since November 2025, it has made at least eight separate requests to IFS for those filings. Pinpoint says its own searches of the IRS’s publicly accessible Tax Exempt Organization Search portal and third-party nonprofit databases, such as Charity Navigator and ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer, did not yield recent returns for IFS.
The complaint also notes inconsistencies in publicly available nonprofit information sources regarding IFS’s current tax status. Pinpoint suggests that while IFS has portrayed itself as a nonprofit and once operated as a 501(c)(3) private foundation, it does not currently appear to have recent filings or an active presence in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search database.
Under federal nonprofit law, failure to file required information returns — including Form 990 — for three consecutive years can result in automatic revocation of an organization’s tax-exempt status.
The complaint further notes that Rostad has multiple federal and Maryland state tax liens totaling about $60,000, according to public records. Pinpoint presents this information as context for questioning Rostad’s leadership and credibility in advocating responsible financial policy.
Pinpoint’s complaint asks the IRS to initiate a review of IFS’s status and compliance with disclosure obligations. If the IRS finds violations of tax code requirements, potential outcomes could range from orders to comply with disclosure rules to revocation of tax-exempt status.
The IRS does not comment on specific enforcement cases.