Has Your Nonprofit Filed the 2015 Form 990?

Did you know that there are over 1.5 million tax-exempt organizations in the US? That includes 1,097,689 public charities, 105,030 private foundations, and 368,337 other types of non-profit organizations, according to the IRS Business Master Files (BMF).

Nonprofit organizations include everything from neighborhood associations to large universities and foundations, soup kitchens and traditional charities to local churches. To maintain their duties in raising awareness/funds and volunteering for their causes, nonprofit organizations can file for tax-exempt status under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) 501(c). Once approved, they must then file some variant of the 990 Form each year to keep their tax-exempt status.

ExpressTaxExempt, a sister product of ExpressIRSForms, offers simplified and streamlined e-filing for three of the most used 990 Forms: Form 990-N (e-Postcard), Form 990-EZ, and the full 990 long form. ExpressTaxExempt is also working to add more versions of the 990 Form, as well as Form 1023, the application for tax-exempt status, to become a complete solution for tax-exempt organizations and nonprofits.

Once you create an account with ExpressTaxExempt, the program will ask you a few questions to determine which form your organization needs to file. The 990-N (e-Postcard) is filed by organizations that make less than $50,000 per year in gross receipts. It’s a quick form that only requires your organization’s details, including the tax period year, and confirmation your organization is still operational and made less than $50,000 that year. The majority of the organizations who file through ETE file this form, and it’s free to e-file for the current tax year (2015). But if you need to e-file tax years 2013 or 2014, it’s only $9.90.

Since the other two forms are filed by organizations who make significantly more in gross receipts each year, they’re a bit more in depth as far as the reporting information goes. Form 990-EZ is the shorter of these two forms, filed by organizations making between $50,000 and $200,000 in gross receipts - with total assets less than $500,000 - for the filing year.

With only one form left, this means organizations making more than $200,000 in gross receipts with assets totaling over $500,000 must file Form 990, the long form. Both Forms 990 and 990-EZ require more extensive reporting on your organization’s revenue and expenses, contributions, volunteers, and employees, etc. Because of the in-depth nature of these forms, ETE breaks down the form into a simplified interview-style process. You just answer questions about your organization and enter a few numbers to show what’s on the books; the program will even automatically compile any schedules you’re required to have based on how you answer the questions.

Because not all organizations follow a calendar year tax period, the official 990 deadline for every tax-exempt organization is the fifteenth day of the fifth month after your tax period end date. So calendar year filers - those with tax periods from January 1 to December 31 - have a deadline of May 15 the year following the year for which they’re filing. In other words, the 2015 990 form deadline for calendar year filers is May 16, 2016! (May 15 is on a Sunday.)


But don’t worry, if your organization still hasn’t filed, you know exactly where to do it: www.ExpressTaxExempt.com. It’s simple, fast, and you have the same friendly, expert customer support you’re used to over here at ExpressIRSForms. They keep the same hours we do, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EDT; give them a call at (704) 839-2321 or send them a live chat for help getting started. You can also send any questions you have 24/7 to support@ExpressTaxExempt.com.