Photo

The Internal Revenue Service could issue as early as next month new draft regulations governing political activity by tax-exempt organizations, according to a notice issued on Thursday. But it remains unlikely that the new rules would be in place before the 2016 election.

The effort comes as nonprofit organizations prepare to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on presidential and congressional races, much of it devoted to thinly disguised campaign ads that the organizations say are merely intended to raise awareness of policy issues.

Many wealthy donors, particularly on the conservative side, prefer giving to nonprofits rather than “super PACs,” because the former are not required to disclose the identities of donors. Roughly half of all the political advertising aired during last year’s midterm elections came from groups that keep their donors a secret.

The proposed rules would amount to a mulligan: The agency’s first effort, in 2013, drew widespread criticism from liberal and conservative groups. Some of the groups’ members said the draft encompassed too much activity, and some argued that the proposed limits would not go far enough.

Current regulations provide no clear test for what constitutes election activity or for how much of their revenue tax-exempt groups can spend to try to influence elections.

“This is a huge important rule-making, and it is very encouraging that they are moving forward and that they are sensitive to the speed with which they need to do so,” said Emily Peterson-Cassin, an official at Public Citizen’s Congress Watch, a group that has pressed for more specific rules that would establish an objective test.

“What we really want is a good fair rule for political activity that applies to all nonprofits,” she said.

I.R.S. officials, still reeling from revelations that conservative tax-exempt groups were subjected to paperwork delays and overzealous investigation during the 2012 election cycle, are wary of appearing to try to shape the course of the coming campaign.

This year, John Koskinen, the I.R.S. commissioner, said that the agency’s timetable was uncertain and that “my only focus on 2016 is to make sure that whatever we do, it doesn’t look like we’re trying to influence the 2016 election.”