The IRS Exempt Organization (EO) released their 2018 work plan. It reviews what they did in 2017 and what they will focus on in 2018.
(Note: this is not the individual or business part of the the IRS. This is only the tax exempt part of the IRS.)
Here’s an excerpt that affects homeschool tax exempt organizations:
IRS EO expects to receive an increased number of determination applications in FY 2018. In early 2018, the EO will implement revisions to the Form 1023-EZ, including a required activity description and additional questions on gross receipts, asset thresholds, and foundation classification. As a result of these changes, EO expects the average processing time for a Form 1023-EZ to increase. EO will continue pre-determination reviews of a statistical sample of Form 1023-EZ applications and will continue to analyze the data from these applications to mitigate risks and identify opportunities to improve this form and its instructions.
Okay, now in plain English, the IRS EO (Exempt Organization) will:
- Ask for a short description of your activities when applying for 501(c)(3) status using the short Form 1023-EZ.
- They will ask more questions about:
- Your gross receipts (your sources of income)
- Your assets (what you own) and
- what kind of foundation you are. Most homeschool groups are public charities and not private foundations, so most likely this won’t affect you.
The IRS expects it will take longer to get 501(c)(3) approval using Form 1023-EZ. Right now it takes about 2-3 weeks.
They will still randomly sample some 1023-EZ applications and decide if they need to make changes to the form in the future.
If your homeschool group has questions about tax exempt status or would like to apply for tax exempt status, please contact me.
Carol Topp, CPA
