Tax News

CCH (cch.taxgroup.com) reports:

  The IRS announced on December 24 that it has released the final versions of the 2008 Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax, Form 990-EZ, Short Form Return, schedules and instructions. The release is the culmination of a redesign project that began in June 2007, when the IRS first issued a draft of the redesigned form.

  The redesigned Form 990 must be filed in 2009 for the 2008 tax year. Form 990-EZ generally was not changed, although schedules from the Form 990 redesign must be used with the Form 990-EZ. Form 990 must be filed by May 15 for a calendar year taxpayer. An automatic three-month extension is available, and another three-month extension may be requested.

  Form 990 must be filed by all tax-exempt organizations that exceed the filing threshold for Form 990-EZ. For 2008, the thresholds for using Form 990-EZ are gross receipts under $1 million and total assets under $2.5 million. The IRS has reported that it receives 500,000 Form 990 and Form 990-EZ returns, and has identified approximately 1.3 million public charities and noncharitable exempt organizations.

  Form 990 had not been substantially redesigned in 30 years. The new form has an 11-page, 11-part core form that must be completed by all organizations, and 16 schedules to be filed by organizations satisfying the schedule's requirements. The revised instructions are 75 pages long.

  The IRS website (www.irs.gov) for charities and nonprofit organizations has copies of the forms and instructions plus online courses, interactive workshops, frequently asked questions and background papers describing the redesigned form. The revised instructions also explain the features of the new form and instructions.

By Brant Goldwyn, CCH News Staff