IRS Releases Revamped Form 990 for Tax-Exempt Organizations
12/20/2007Today the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released a revised version of the Form 990 income tax return, which exempt organizations will be required to use for their fiscal year starting in 2008. The overhauled 990 was issued in draft form in June 2007, and the IRS subsequently received more than 3,000 pages of comments from all parts of the sector. In response to those comments, the revised 990 released today eliminates troubling metrics from the cover page, moves the explanation of the organization’s “program service accomplishments” much closer to the beginning of the form, clarifies and streamlines many of the compensation items that must be reported, streamlines portions of Schedule H (for hospitals) and delays full Schedule H reporting by one year, and adds a Schedule O that offers the ability to provide narrative explanations of reported items. Organizations should bear in mind that the new 990 has operational implications that go into effect on the first day of the fiscal year beginning in 2008, which suggests the wisdom of closely reviewing the new 990 to determine exactly what will have to be reported once the year is concluded.
The release of the new 990 can be accessed at http://www.irs.gov/charities/index.html.
