Filing your first Form 990

This guide is for founders, treasurers and volunteers who have just realized their charity owes the IRS a yearly return and aren't sure which one, or how. Many small charities file the 990-N, which asks for only eight items of basic information. After reading, you'll know which form you file, when it's due, how to file it, what the public can see, and what happens if you don't.

The yearly overview of all your duties is on the Staying compliant step of the founder pathway. This page goes deeper on the IRS return alone.

Which form you file

Most tax-exempt organizations must file a return in the Form 990 family every year. Which one depends on your gross receipts, meaning all the money that came in from every source during the year, before you subtract any costs, and on your total assets (everything the charity owns, including cash).

A charity that qualifies for a smaller form may choose to file a bigger one. Some organizations can't use the 990-N even when they're small, and the IRS's 990-N page links to a list of them. If you're part of a group exemption (for example, a local chapter of a national body), you don't file your own 990-N if the parent's group return includes you, so ask the parent whether it does.

What "normally $50,000 or less" means

"Normally" depends on how old your charity is. The IRS gives three tests:

• One year old or less: gross receipts, plus pledges, of $75,000 or less in the first tax year.
• One to three years old: average gross receipts of $60,000 or less across the first two tax years.
• Three years or older: average gross receipts of $50,000 or less over the past three tax years, including the year you're filing for.

When it's due

All three forms are due on the 15th day of the 5th month after your tax year ends. If your year ends December 31, that's May 15. If the date falls on a weekend or legal holiday, it moves to the next business day. You can't file a 990-N until your tax year has ended.

Put the date on your calendar now. Our compliance calendar tool builds a list of your yearly deadlines.

Extensions

Form 8868 gives an automatic six-month extension to file a Form 990 or 990-EZ. File it on or before the original due date; filing it late doesn't extend anything. It can be filed electronically. Two limits: it extends the time to file, not the time to pay any tax owed, and you can't use it to extend a Form 990-N.

Filing the 990-N

The 990-N is a short online notice. There is no paper version. It asks for:

• your employer identification number (EIN)
• your tax year
• your legal name and mailing address, and any other names you use
• the name and address of a principal officer (often the chair or treasurer)
• your website address, if you have one
• confirmation that your gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less
• a statement that you've closed, if that's the case

How to file, at a high level:

1. Sign in to, or create, a Login.gov or ID.me account. The IRS says 990-N filers should use the same email address as their IRS account.
2. Skim the IRS e-Postcard user guide (Publication 5248), which walks through the screens and common problems.
3. Open the Form 990-N submission system from the IRS 990-N page and enter your details.
4. Use a computer. The IRS says not to file from a phone or tablet.

If the system won't let you file and you can't fix it, the IRS says you can call its Customer Account Services line at 877-829-5500, and a representative can file it for you.

Filing the 990-EZ

The 990-EZ is a real tax form, a few pages long, and it must be filed electronically. That means using e-file software or a preparer who files electronically for you. Before you start, gather:

• A full year's income and expenses (Part I): contributions, program income, fundraising event income and costs, and expenses by type.
• Balance sheets for the start and end of the year (Part II): cash, other assets and liabilities. Every 990-EZ filer must complete both columns; if a number is zero, enter zero.
• A description of your programs (Part III): your main purpose, and what you did in your three largest programs, measured by what you spent on them.
• A list of officers, directors, trustees and key employees (Part IV), even if nobody is paid.
• Answers to the yes-or-no questions in Part V, such as political spending and loans to insiders, and in Part VI, which every 501(c)(3) completes, on lobbying and political campaign activity.
• Schedule A, which every 501(c)(3) filing a 990-EZ must complete. It shows whether you qualify as a public charity.
• Donor records for Schedule B (see below).
• A signature from an authorized officer, such as the president or treasurer.

The IRS instructions warn that a return with missing lines or parts can be treated as incomplete, which can bring the same penalties as filing late. Answer every question and enter zero where a number is zero.

Schedule B and donor privacy

Schedule B lists contributors who gave above certain amounts during the year. Whether or not you report any contributions, the 990-EZ instructions say you must either attach Schedule B or check the box in Item H saying you don't need to. Doing neither makes the return incomplete.

For a 501(c)(3) public charity filing Form 990 or 990-EZ, the names and addresses of contributors on Schedule B don't have to be shown to the public. The rest of Schedule B, such as amounts, is public unless it clearly identifies a donor. Private foundations and political organizations follow different rules. Keep a public copy of your return with donor names and addresses removed, ready to share.

What's public

Your charity's tax returns are public records. You must let anyone see, and get copies of, your three most recent annual returns (Form 990 or 990-EZ, with schedules and attachments, except contributor names and addresses), plus your exemption application. The IRS says copies usually must be given immediately for in-person requests, and within 30 days for written requests. You may charge a reasonable copying fee plus actual postage.

The instructions also say not to include anyone's Social Security number on the return, because neither you nor the IRS can generally remove it before the return is made public.

Your state may want a copy

The IRS instructions note that some states accept a copy of the Form 990 or 990-EZ in place of their own financial report, and some ask for extra information. A state's dollar thresholds can differ from the IRS's, so a charity that only needs to file a 990-N federally may still owe a state report. States may also treat Schedule B differently from the IRS. Check with the charity office in each state where you raise money or run programs. If you later amend a federal return, send the amended copy to any state that got the original.

If you don't file

For a late Form 990 or 990-EZ, the 2025 instructions set a penalty of $25 a day, up to the lesser of $13,000 or 5% of your gross receipts for the year, unless you can show reasonable cause. For organizations with gross receipts over $1,309,500, it's $130 a day, up to $65,000. The IRS adjusts these amounts, so check the current instructions. The IRS says there's no penalty for filing a 990-N late, but file it anyway.

The bigger risk is losing your exemption. If you don't file a required return or notice for three years in a row, your tax-exempt status is automatically revoked, effective on the original due date of the third missed return. The IRS lists revoked charities publicly, and there is no appeal. After revocation:

• you're no longer exempt from federal income tax and may need to file a corporate or trust tax return, and
• donations to you are no longer tax-deductible once your name appears on the list.

Getting your status back means applying for reinstatement. See our guide to reinstating your tax-exempt status.

Your first-990 checklist

• Find your tax year end and due date, and put it on the calendar
• Work out your gross receipts and total assets to choose the form
• Create the filer's Login.gov or ID.me account early (990-N)
• Gather a full year's income, expenses and start and end balances (990-EZ or 990)
• Decide whether you need Schedule B, and keep a public copy without donor names and addresses
• Share the return with your board before filing
• File Form 8868 by the due date if you need more time (990-EZ or 990 only)
• Check what your state wants each year
• Save a copy of what you filed and the IRS confirmation

For help with the board's side of the return, see running a good board meeting. If you'd like a volunteer accountant to look over your first 990-EZ, ask a member charity for help through the Exchange.