The New England Not-For-Profit Accounting Advisor

With the May 15^th due date for calendar year not-for-profits just around the corner and provisions inthe Tax Cuts and Jobs Act increasing scrutiny on not-for-profits’ executive compensation, employee benefits, and unrelated business income, it’s a good time to take a look at the message your organization’s tax return is sending. In years past, the IRS Form 990 was no more than a compliance task; an annual filing requirement to keep the IRS at bay. After all, there is no tax due, so what’s the big deal?

Topics: tax-exempt, not-for-profit, IRS, Form 990, Form 990-EZ, NFP, Charity Navigator, GuideStar, tax effect, Amazon Web Services, Lisa Burke

We live in the information age, and for not-for-profit organizations, that can mean broader exposure for your mission, activities and your ultimate asset—goodwill.

Considerable information about not-for-profit organizations is available online, from digitized IRS Form 990 information to mission statements. Exposure to a broader audience comes with its upsides, but it also means that not-for-profit organizations have more information to manage than in years past. Reviewing the types of information available helps ensure what the public can see online reflects your organization’s objectives.

Topics: goodwill, not-for-profit, Form 990, Joe Giso, NFP, nonprofit, copyright, trademarks, Charity Navigator, information age, public facing data, GuideStar

The IRS is developing a technology solution that would streamline its ability to release digital copies of the Form 990 tax information filings. An announcement about the option comes on the heels of a U.S. district court ruling that ordered the IRS to produce digitally readable Forms 990 of nine organizations. Currently, the IRS releases digital copies of Forms 990 as image files. The new software would produce versions of the Forms 990 in the Metadata Exchange Format, also known as a machine-readable format and remove any personally identifiable information from the Form 990. It is slated for release in early 2016.

 

Topics: Form 990, Betty Isler

The IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Governmental Agencies (ACT) recently made recommendations for how the IRS can modify the Form 990 to improve its utility. In its 2015 Report of Recommendations to the IRS, the ACT asked for mandatory electronic filing of the Form 990 series and that the IRS collect additional information from entities filing the Form 990-N, among other updates to the annual informational filing series for not-for-profit organizations.

 

Topics: Brenda Booth, Form 990

Tax filing may be a longer process for supporting organizations this year. The recently released 2014 Form 990, Schedule A, Public Charity and Public Support indicates 509(a)(3)s will face additional reporting requirements. Organizations that are not functionally integrated with the public charities they support will face the brunt of the additional requirements, which come as part of the changes required by the Pension Protection Act of 2006.

Topics: Form 990, Betty Isler, Schedule A

The IRS recently released the final 2013 Forms 990, 990-EZ and instructions. Although titled “Significant Changes,” it is a misnomer as the changes are not major. There were no changes to the form itself, though the IRS did make a number of revisions and clarifications to the instructions. We have entered the period of “IRS Fine Tuning.”

Since the major redesign to Form 990 in 2008, the IRS has made revisions to the Form each year to address changes made in the laws affecting tax-exempt organizations. While there were a number of changes to this year’s filing instructions, most involve fine-tuning and clarifying existing requirements rather than any large-scale changes or additions to the types of information required of 990 filers.

Topics: IRS, IRS Updates, Form 990, Form 990-EZ, Amy O’Loughlin