Starting Monday, electronic submissions of Form 990-N will be accepted through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website, www.irs.gov, instead of the Urban Institute.
Form 990-N is the e-Postcard for tax-exempt organizations that are not required to file Form 990 or Form 990-EZ. It’s used by small, tax-exempt organizations for annual reporting and only can be submitted electronically.
Filers of 990-N will be required to complete a short, one-time registration on irs.gov before submitting the form electronically. There is no paper form; the 990-N must be completed and filed electronically. Nonprofit organizations that previously registered can continue using the Urban Institute’s website through Sunday.
The form must be submitted to the IRS by the 15th day of the fifth month after the close of an organization’s tax year. For an organization that operates on a calendar year, ending Dec. 31, that means the 990 would be due by May 15.
Form 990-N includes eight questions and is required for organizations with annual gross receipts of less than $50,000. Other criteria for filing the form include organizations that:
- Have been in existence for less than one year and received, or donors have pledged to give, $75,000 or less during the first taxable year;
- Have been in existence between one and three years and averaged $60,000 or less in gross receipts during each of the first two tax years; and,
- Are at least three years old and averaged $50,000 or less in gross receipts for the immediately preceding three tax years, including the year for which calculations are made.
Organizations that meet the criteria also have the option of completing the longer Form 990 or Form 990-EZ. Many state, regional, and local affiliates and chapters of national nonprofit organizations typically qualify to submit the Form 990-N.
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 mandated that organizations with gross receipts less than $25,000 needed to file the new e-Postcard, according to the Urban Institute. The form requests basic information such as an organization’s address, officer name, and website. There are more than 700,000 such organizations.
For more information, visit the Form 990-N webpage.