New 990 Resources and Links

Thanks to all the people who have come to our recent, "New 990" workshops. Below are a list of questions from them and resources I said I would post. If I miss any or you have other questions please feel free to put them in the comments below.

• Form 8734 - the end of advance ruling form is no longer required for groups who's advance ruling periods expire on or after June 8th 2008. Click here for the details.
• The IRS's recent 990 webinar is still available on line for folks who want to know more.
• Here is a link to SOP 98 2 issues regarding joint costs (costs that have BOTH a fundraising component and a program component. be careful with these, they can get you into trouble if you do not know the rules and the IRS is looking closer at this stuff.
• Here is the complete list of new 990 forms, instructions and schedules including J which list all the types of reportable compensation
• Other websites I referred to:
  www.stayexempt.org - helpful IRS resource
  www.guidestar.org - where our 990's reside
  hrcalifornia - labor and employment issues
• There was a question on schedule G part II. the text reads, "Events. (Complete this part if the organization reported more than $15,000 on Form 990, Part VIII, line 8a or
  Form 990-EZ, line 6a. List events with gross receipts greater than $5,000.)" The questioner asked why the 990 amount was $15,000.00 and the 990-EZ amount is $5,000.00. I had no idea until I looked at it now and realized there is a period that separates the two sentences. The $15,000.00 amount is for both the 990 and 990-EZ.
• Another question was asked about question 6 of part I of the core form, why does the IRS need to know the number of volunteers a nonprofit utilizes? I'm not really sure, maybe someone out there knows? Here is the text from the form 990 instructions:
  

  Line 6. Number of volunteers. Provide the number of volunteers, full-time and part-time, who provided volunteer services to the organization during the reporting year. Organizations that do not keep track of this information in their books and records or report this information elsewhere (such as in annual reports or grant proposals) may provide a reasonable estimate, and may use any reasonable basis for determining this estimate. Organizations may, but are not required to, provide an explanation in Schedule O of how this number was determined, and the types of services or benefits provided by the organization’s volunteers.

If I missed any question please let me know.

990-EZ Update

Thanks to GuideStar for this bit of news. Yesterday I mentioned the 990-EZ and said that is was unchanged. Not so, at least officially. It does not look like the form itself will change but the IRS proposes to allow filers of the 990-EZ to file six of the new schedules developed for the updated 990:

1. Schedule A, Public Charity Status and Public Support
2. Schedule C, Political Campaign and Lobbying Activities
3. Schedule E, Schools
4. Schedule G, Supplemental Information Regarding Fundraising or Gaming Activities
5. Schedule L, Transactions with Interested Persons
6. Schedule N, Liquidation, Termination, Dissolution, or Significant Disposition of Assets

Details on these schedules can be found here.

Got comments about these changes? Here are the details:

Send written comments on or before September 8, 2008, to:

R. Joseph Durbala
Internal Revenue Service, Room 6129
1111 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20224

All comments will become part of the public record and will be
summarized or included in the IRS request for OMB approval of the
changes to the 990-EZ.

IRS Round Up

News from the Internal Revenue Service's Exempt Organizations Division:

1. 2008 Form 990 Instructions
   Public commenting on the new form's draft instructions closed in June and the IRS is getting ready to release the final version by August 15. You can click here to get a preview of what changes have been made the instructions.


2. Political Activity
   A friendly reminder from the IRS about what is allowed and not allowed during this exciting political season. The top two links are probably the most useful, including the link to the handy StayExempt.org website.
   
   
3. Form 990 Filing Phase-In
   Another reminder about the phase-in of filing the new form 990. The IRS came up with this as a way to mitigate the filing burden on smaller nonprofits. Click here to see what the schedule is. It is conceivable that organizations that filed a form 990 for 2007 may only have to file the (unchanged) form 990-EZ for 2008.
   

And now your reward for reading about the IRS updates. Kitties!