"IRS Overhauls Old Form 990"

Implications of the Revised Form 990

Recently, the IRS released a discussion draft of the revised Form 990, the annual reporting form for certain tax-exempt organizations. The revised Form 990 marks a significant redesign of the form, which, as a result of having only been revised on a piecemeal basis since 1979, failed to present a full picture of a tax-exempt organization because of unclear questions often arranged in an illogical sequence. The proposed form consists of a 10-page core form, 15 schedules and a summary page. The IRS’s stated objective for the new Form 990 is to enhance transparency, to promote compliance with the Internal Revenue Code, and to minimize burden, so that the form is "relatively easy to fill out, and there is not an undue recordkeeping burden imposed."