Form 990-N, 990-EZ or 990: which one to file

Two numbers decide it: gross receipts for the year, and total assets at the end of it. Gross receipts are everything the organization took in from every source before any costs come off, so a fundraiser counts at its sales, not its profit.

The 990-N test isn't one year's receipts. The IRS averages the last three, and relaxes the limit for a new organization:

• Up to a year old: it received, or donors pledged, $75,000 or less during its first tax year.
• One to three years old: it averaged $60,000 or less in gross receipts in each of its first two tax years.
• Three years or older: it averaged $50,000 or less over the three tax years ending with the one you're filing for.

So one good fundraising year doesn't by itself push an organization off the 990-N, and a quiet year doesn't by itself bring it back. The 990-EZ and 990 tests, by contrast, look at the year itself. The 990-N guide has the thresholds as a table and what the notice asks for.

An organization that qualifies for the 990-N may file Form 990-EZ or 990 instead, and one that qualifies for the 990-EZ may file Form 990. The IRS's one condition is that the return be complete: an incomplete 990-EZ or 990 doesn't satisfy the filing requirement, and can draw the late-filing penalty. You can't go the other way; an organization over the thresholds can't choose a shorter form. Organizations file up for a funder that asks for financial statements, or to keep a continuous public record. This is what filing up involves:

The Form 990-EZ instructions name organizations that must file the full Form 990 even when their receipts and assets are under the limits:

• Sponsoring organizations of donor advised funds.
• Organizations that operated one or more hospital facilities during the year (they also complete Schedule H).
• Section 501(c)(29) nonprofit health insurance issuers.
• Controlling organizations under section 512(b)(13) that had certain transfers with a controlled entity during the year.

Separately, some organizations can't use the 990-N however small they are. Most section 509(a)(3) supporting organizations file Form 990 or 990-EZ, as do section 527 political organizations that have to file at all. The IRS lists a few other types, such as section 501(c)(1) instrumentalities and section 4947 trusts.

None of the three tests applies to a private foundation. It files Form 990-PF every year regardless of its receipts or assets, because the requirement follows from its classification. Your IRS determination letter says whether your organization is a public charity or a private foundation, and so does our nonprofit lookup.

Some exempt organizations have no annual return to file. From the IRS's list:

• Churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches.
• Church-affiliated schools below college level, schools run by a religious order, and the exclusively religious activities of a religious order.
• Church-affiliated organizations that only manage funds or retirement programs, and certain mission societies.
• State institutions whose income is excluded under section 115, governmental units and their affiliates, and section 501(c)(1) instrumentalities of the United States.
• Certain state and local political party and candidate committees.
• An organization included in a group return filed by its parent. One that isn't included files its own return unless another exception applies.

Others file a different return: a section 401 plan files Form 5500, and a section 501(d) religious or apostolic organization files Form 1065. These exceptions have conditions, and the organizations they cover usually know it. If you think one applies to yours and you aren't sure, that's a question for a professional, because a return you were required to file and didn't counts toward automatic revocation, and getting exemption back means applying again. Source: IRS: annual exempt organization return, who must file.

Nothing ties you to last year's form. Apply the tests to each year on its own: an organization that filed Form 990-EZ last year files the 990-N this year if its receipts now pass the three-year test, and one that filed the 990-N files Form 990-EZ the year its receipts stop passing it. The IRS keeps no record of a "usual" form for you. If you enter this year's Form 990 or 990-EZ online here, we can start it from last year's return in either direction between the two forms, once the IRS has published it.

Our nonprofit lookup shows the annual returns the IRS lists for any organization, by name or EIN. The lookup on our home page also suggests the form it most likely files next: the one it filed last, or the 990-N when the IRS's records say it is a 990-N filer, and can start that form. A suggestion is a starting point; the tests above decide.

All three forms are due on the 15th day of the 5th month after the tax year ends; the filing deadlines guide gives the date for your year end, and Form 8868 extends a 990 or 990-EZ, never a 990-N.

Whichever form you file, an organization with $1,000 or more of gross income from an unrelated trade or business also files Form 990-T. See the Form 990-T guide.