Exempt Organizations Advisory - IRS Finalizes Regulations Regarding Annual Electronic Notification for Small Exempt Organizations

Catherine W. Wilkinson (cwilkinson@steptoe.com)
Suzanne Ross McDowell (smcdowell@steptoe.com)  

On July 22, the IRS released final regulations regarding the annual electronic notice filing requirement (sometimes referred to as the e-Postcard) for those tax-exempt organizations which normally have annual gross receipts of less than $25,000 and are therefore not required to file Form 990, the annual information return for exempt organizations, unless they are private foundations. 

The final regulations, which replace November 15, 2007 temporary regulations, require that the annual electronic notice include: the legal name of the organization; any name under which the organization operates or does business; the organization's mailing address and Internet Web site address (if any); the organization's taxpayer identification number; the name and address of a principal officer; evidence of the continuing basis for the organization's exemption from the filing requirements under section 6033(a)(1); and additional information necessary to process the notification.

On February 25, 2008, the IRS, in an effort to ease compliance with the new law, launched a website for filing the e-Postcard, which can be accessed by clicking Form 990-N, “Electronic Notice (e-Postcard) for Tax-Exempt Organizations not Required to File Form 990 or 990-EZ.”  For more information on the Form 990-N, click here.

The due date for filing Form 990-N is the 15th day of the fifth calendar month following the close of the filing organization’s tax year.  Organizations that do not file Form 990-N for three consecutive years will lose their tax-exempt status.  The e-Postcard must be filed online; there is no paper option.