NAICU Washington Update

IRS Releases Draft of New Form 990

July 18, 2007

The Internal Revenue Service has released a discussion draft of a redesigned Form 990, Return of Organizations Exempt from Income Tax, and invited public comment on the proposed changes. The IRS anticipates using the revised Form 990 for returns filed for the 2008 tax year. There is a three month public comment period, ending on September 14, 2007.

The discussion draft reflects the first significant redesign of the Form 990 since 1979. The redesign is based on three principles: enhancing transparency, promoting tax compliance, and minimizing the burden on the filing organization.

With the redesign, the IRS hopes to gather a more realistic picture of tax-exempt organizations and their operations, and establish a basis for comparing these organizations with similarly operated groups. The IRS also wants to get an accurate reflection of the tax-exempt organization’s operations and use of assets, so the agency can efficiently assess the risks of noncompliance.

The IRS would like the forms to contain questions that are easy to answer, and that do not impose unwarranted additional record keeping or information gathering burdens to obtain and substantiate the reported information.

Additional information can be found at the IRS Web site at www.irs.gov/eo.  Comments should be e-mailed to the IRS at Form990Revision@irs.gov, or mailed to:

Form 990 Redesign
Attn: SE: T: EO
1111 Constitution Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20224
 
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