Schedule B: who must list contributors

Unless a special rule below applies, list every person who contributed $5,000 or more during the tax year. A person here includes individuals, fiduciaries, partnerships, corporations, associations, trusts and other exempt organizations. Section 509(a)(2) and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) organizations also list governmental units.

To total a contributor, add their separate gifts of $1,000 or more; gifts under $1,000 may be disregarded. Count every contribution reported on the main form's contributions line, including noncash gifts at their value and, under the accrual method, pledges reported as revenue even if the property hasn't arrived. Contributions here are gifts, grants and bequests of money or property, not fees for services.

A private foundation follows the same $5,000 rule on Form 990-PF. Part I of the schedule gives each contributor a number, their name and address, the total for the year, and whether the gifts were direct, through payroll deduction or noncash.

A section 501(c)(3) organization that meets the 33⅓% public support test of sections 509(a)(1) and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) lists only contributors whose gifts for the year were $5,000 or more and more than 2% of its total contributions: the amount on Form 990, Part VIII, line 1h, or Form 990-EZ, line 1. To use it, the organization must check the box on Schedule A, Part II, line 13, 16a or 16b: its first five years, or 33⅓% met on this year's or last year's computation. An organization relying on the 10% facts-and-circumstances test doesn't get the special rule and lists everyone at $5,000.

With $700,000 in contributions, the instructions' own example, a donor who gave $11,000 is not listed, because $11,000 is over $5,000 but not over $14,000.

Section 501(c)(7), (8) and (10) organizations follow the $5,000 rule for ordinary contributions. For gifts given to them for exclusively religious, charitable, scientific, literary or educational purposes, or to prevent cruelty to children or animals, the threshold is lower: list each contributor whose such gifts totaled more than $1,000 for the year, counting every gift whatever its size, and complete Part III for those gifts, showing how the money is held or to whom it was passed on, plus the total of such gifts of $1,000 or less.

These organizations enter “N/A” in place of contributor names and addresses. If no one gave more than $1,000 for those purposes, the organization only checks the third Special Rules box on the front of the schedule and enters the total it received for them.

Section 501(c)(3) organizations, including private foundations and section 4947(a)(1) charitable trusts, and section 527 political organizations enter each listed contributor's name, address and ZIP code in Part I, column (b). Under final regulations issued in 2020 (T.D. 9898), every other exempt organization enters “N/A” there instead. Those organizations must still collect the names and addresses, keep them in their books and records, and produce them if the IRS asks.

Write “anonymous” only when the organization doesn't know who the donor is. A donor who asked not to be named is still listed. Don't enter a contributor's social security number anywhere on the schedule.

For a gift of property, check the “Noncash” box in Part I and describe the property in Part II, with its fair market value or an estimate and the date received. Securities the organization sold at once are still reported as property, at the net proceeds plus the broker's fees. Publicly traded securities are valued at the average of the high and low quoted prices on the date of the gift. If the property is subject to a debt, subtract the debt from its value.

If a donor gives you a partly completed Form 8283, complete your part and return it. If the organization sells or otherwise disposes of donated property other than money or publicly traded securities within three years, it files Form 8282.

If no contributor reached your threshold, the main form certifies it. Each return has a place for that:

Do one or the other on every return. The Form 990-EZ instructions say a return that neither checks the box nor attaches Schedule B is incomplete, and an incomplete return can draw the same penalty as a late one. When you file here, we ask for Schedule B unless your return marks it as not needed.

Exempt organizations must make their annual returns available for public inspection, and the IRS publishes them. Schedule B is treated differently from the rest of the return. For a public charity or other organization filing Form 990 or 990-EZ, the names and addresses of contributors are not required to be made available for public inspection. Everything else on the schedule is, including the amounts and the descriptions of noncash gifts, unless it would clearly identify the contributor.

A private foundation's Schedule B is open to public inspection in full, names and addresses included. So is a section 527 political organization's.

If you send a copy of your return to a state, the instructions say to leave Schedule B out unless that state specifically requires a schedule of contributors.