We are trying to figure out what our status with the IRS is. We are a support group/co-op and just recently learned that we should be filing the 990N. We registered our name with the state in 2008. We got out EIN in 2009. We became incorporated in September 2014. Our annual gross revenue is less than $5,000.
We have searched the IRS database of groups that have had their tax exempt status revoked and we are not listed. How do we find out what our status is and when the IRS is considering our date of formation so we know how to proceed?Thanks for your help!Anna in Ohio
You referred to the IRS database of exempt organizations I use it frequently to check on the status of homeschool organizations.
But many times a homeschool nonprofit organization cannot find their name in the IRS database, usually because they have not applied for tax exempt status. That’s the situation for your group.
Your legal status is that you are a nonprofit corporation who can self declare your 501(c)(3) tax exempt status. Since your revenues are less than $5,000, you can self declare your 501(c)(3) tax exempt status and do not have to officially apply for tax exemption.
The IRS considers your date of incorporation as your “date of formation” which was in 2014.
Even though you didn’t have to officially apply for 501(c)(3) status, the IRS does require you to file an annual information return, the Form 990-N. To be able to file the Form 990-N, you need to call the IRS Customer Account Services at 1-877-829-5500 and ask to be added to their exempt organization database so you can begin filing the Form 990Ns. It typically takes 6 weeks after you call to be added to the IRS database.
Say something like this,
“We’re a new 501(c)(3) educational organization and my CPA said I needed to get added to the IRS exempt organization database so we could start filing our Form 990-N.”
They will ask for :
- your EIN (Employer Identification Number)
- organization’s name
- address
- a contact name
- Date your fiscal year ends. Some homeschool groups operate on a calendar year, but many operate on a school year with a year end of June 30 or July 31.
- They may ask if you have “organizing documents.” They mean bylaws, Articles of Association, or Articles of Incorporation.
Call the IRS early in the morning. They open at 8 am local time and you can usually get through pretty quickly of you call then. Record the date you call, the IRS employee name and their identification number.
Be sure you go online to file the Form 990-N anytime after your fiscal year ends and before its due date which is 4 1/2 months after the end of your fiscal year.
Carol Topp;s book The IRS and Your Homeschool Organization explains tax exempt status for homeschool organizations. It explains the advantages of tax exempt status, the process to apply for tax exemption and sets many concerns and fears to rest.
