IRS Offers Relief to Small Non-Profits

Nonprofit organizations that fail to satisfy annual IRS filing requirements for three consecutive years automatically lose their tax-exempt status. On July 26, 2010, the IRS announced that it is providing one-time relief that will allow small exempt organizations to come back into compliance and retain their tax-exempt status even though they failed to file for three consecutive years. The original deadline for filing a return was in May. IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said the agency is extending the deadline to Oct. 15, 2010.

This one-time relief benefits organizations with gross receipts less than $500,000 and total assets of less than $1,250,000 only (i.e., organizations that are eligible to file Form 990EZ or Form 990-N).

The IRS website has a list of organizations at risk of losing their tax-exempt status (IRS link) because, according to IRS records, they have not filed for 2007, 2008 and 2009. The list contains the name of the organization and its last-known address.