Nonprofits Under the Gun

This morning, the Columbus Dispatch perhaps provided a valuable service to people involved in nonprofits. The article Charities up against IRS deadline also likely caused some hand wringing among these same people who probably finished their cup of coffee and dashed off to their computer to see if their nonprofit was on the list of charities in danger of losing their tax-exempt status with the IRS. The statistics from the article came from the National Center for Charitable Statistic website. The website is a very good source and is now marked as one of my "favorites". I imagine the website might be running a little slow today due to a large amount of traffic. The Dispatch article indicates that approximately 8,900 charities have a filing requirement with most of those having a filing deadline of Monday, May 17.

The good news is that gives most charities enough time to become compliant. If the charity's gross receipts are less than $25,000, all it needs to do is file a Form 990-N (e-postcard) that consists of eight easy questions. If the charity's gross receipts are over $25,000, a Form 990 return is required to be filed. It is possible to get an extension on filing the Form 990.