IRS Request for Electronic Form 990-N (e-Postcard)

Has your tax-exempt organization received the following letter from the IRS informing you that they did not receive your Form 990-N? Read EVERYTHING on this page carefully!

If you have received one or more of these notices, you only need to worry if your organization has failed to submit Form 990-N (electronic postcard) for three years in a row (consecutive years). In that case, your organization automatically loses its tax-exempt status by operation of law. Otherwise, relax. Still, you should respond to the notice, preferably by filing the overdue Form 990-N as explained below.

Some facts:

There is no penalty for submitting Form 990-N late.

There is no penalty for not submitting Form 990-N for one year or even for two consecutive years.

Form 990-N can be filled out and submitted electronically (there is NO PAPER FORM) at the Urban Institute's web site: http://epostcard.form990.org/

You cannot file an e-Postcard for a prior year through the epostcard web site. For example, if the organization’s tax year ended on December 31, 2008 and you attempt to file your 2008 e-Postcard after the close of your 2009 tax year (December 31, 2009), the filing system only will allow you to file for 2009. Although not required by the IRS, you can file an e-Postcard for a recent prior year through an approved e-file services provider. This means you'll need to go through a professional tax preparer, however...

There is now a web site where you can file a previous year's Form 990-N without going through a professional tax return preparer. The web site is www.aplossoftware.com. Their fee is only $9.95 to file a prior year Form 990-N. You can also file the current year for free.

Refer to my information on Form 990-N for more facts about the form, or visit the IRS website.