From NCCS Wiki

The IRS released the final versions of the Form 990, 990-EZ and related schedules in December 2008: http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=185561,00.html.

Contents 1 Form 990 Review: Let's Reason Together to Create the Best Possible Form 1.1 Discussion: Form-Wide & Other Issues 1.2 Discussion: Parts and Schedules 1.3 Getting Started: The new IRS Forms and Instructions 1.4 Getting Started: How to use this wiki 1.5 Other Resources 1.6 Understanding IRS Regulations and Charity Law 1.7 Priority Changes

[edit] Form 990 Review: Let's Reason Together to Create the Best Possible Form

The revisions to the Form 990 this year represent a "once in lifetime" opportunity help shape the development of the nonprofit sector. Here are a few of the ways that it could help the nonprofit sector:

• The 990 (or electronic reports derived from it) becomes a truly "public-friendly" document, widely used by donors large and small.
• The governance questions spur significant improvements in how nonprofits are managed and in the relationships between executives and boards.
• The document becomes the foundation for standardized reporting of program outcomes.
• Expense reporting spurs improvements in both internal tracking of fundraising costs and in their public reporting, leading to better decision-making by managers as well as better informed donors and regulators.

All comments were submitted to the IRS by n Sept. 14, 2007. Click here to see the primary NCCS comments, or here to see our comments from the software development perspective.

This site is now closed to editing.

The last major revision to the 990 occurred decades ago. The IRS and software developers are likely to spend millions of dollars making revisions. We need to get it right this year since major revisions are unlikely after this year. The IRS has limited staffing and resources for changing the form. I fear that a rash of lengthy recommendations and comments will make it all the more difficult for the IRS to improve the form between the end of the comment period in September and the deadline for getting the form ready in paper and in an XML schema that can be used by efiling software developers. Over the years that we have hosted the Form 990 meetings, provided 990 efiling software and used 990s for our own research purposes, we have become acutely aware of the numerous ways that the 990 can be improved. Unfortunately, we have also seen how many ideas that seem sensible on their face either conflict with one another or lead to unintended and harmful consequences. Thus, we are proposing a process for people who understand the Form 990 and who care about how it is used to work together collaboratively over the summer to systematically review the form and instructions, and work through the practical implications of the draft document or possible alternatives. NCCS in collaboration with Guidestar propose that we try to reason together: We have a wiki -- a collaborative website like the one used by Wikipedia -- that we would like to use. Its advantages over other options are several:

1. It imposes a structure on the discussion. We are building separate pages for each major issue with lists of alternatives, pros and cons, and perhaps sample sections. A user can easily see the full discussion on an issue without sorting through numerous emails or documents. One can also receive an email whenever particular pages change, so you will know when new comments have been added.
2. Unlike face-to-face meetings or teleconferences, users can carefully prepare responses or documents to add to the conversation or to test their ideas.
3. At the end of the process, we can have a cohesive document that shows both areas of consensus as well as areas where it is lacking. This should help IRS staff make sound decisions.
4. Our hope is that we can also engage the IRS staff in the process. We find that IRS staff sometimes have a perspective that simply would not have occurred to us on the outside. If we can air their perspective, we may be able to find a compromise that meets their needs as well as ours.
5. Organizing our comments will save everyone time! It takes a bit longer to put your comments in, but once they are there, they are easily viewed in context.
6. Last, but not least, we think this is a terrific opportunity for the nonprofit research and practitioner communities to experiment with a new way to collectively create a body of knowledge that will serve the field as a whole. Think of the possibilities: The field could create nonprofit governance or outcome measurement wikis, or make a concerted effort to expand on the slim Wikipedia pages dealing with the nonprofit sector...

Ready to begin? Click [here]. Comments? If you wish to contact us directly, please e-mail us at [nccs@ui.urban.org].

[edit] Discussion: Form-Wide & Other Issues

• Ordering of Document - What is in core vs. what is in a schedule
• Success in Monitoring Compliance
• Instructions
• Missed Opportunities / Missing Content Areas
• Program activity codes
• E-Filing issues
• Comments, Notes and Footnotes
• Key Issues for Researchers and Practitioners: Are these addressed by the new form? Use this page to compile a list of critical issues to check.

[edit] Discussion: Parts and Schedules

• Header (Page 1 before Part I)
• Part I: Summary
• Part II: Compensation and Other Financial Arrangements
• Part III: Governance, Management & Financial Reporting
• Part IV: Statement of Revenue
• Part V: Statement of Functional Expenses
• Part VI: Balance Sheet
• Part VII: General Activities
• Part VIII: Other IRS Filings
• Part IX: Statement of Program Service Accomplishments
• Signature Block
• Schedule A: Supplementary Info for 501(c)(3) Orgs.
• Schedule B: Schedule of Contributors - no change from 2006 form
• Schedule C: Political Campaign and Lobbying Activities
• Schedule D: Supplemental Financial Statements - 15 parts
• Schedule E: Private Schools
• Schedule F: Statement of Activities Outside the U.S.
• Schedule G: Supplemental Information Regarding Fundraising Activities
• Schedule H: Hospitals
• Schedule I: Supplemental Information on Grants and Other Assistance to Organizations, Governments, and Individuals in the U.S.
• Schedule J: Supplemental Compensation Information
• Schedule K: Supplemental Information on Tax Exempt Bonds
• Schedule L: Supplemental Information on Loans
• Schedule M: Non-Cash Contributions
• Schedule N: Liquidation, Termination, Dissolution, or Significant Disposition of Assets
• Schedule R: Related Organizations
• Create a new discussion page...

[edit] Getting Started: The new IRS Forms and Instructions

Getting started is easy:

• [Browse this site] to review the work that's been done so far. (No registration is required.)
• Download and print the forms
  • Sept. 2008 update: http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=181089,00.html
  • IRS Draft Form 990 Materials
    • IRS draft forms
    • IRS press release

[edit] Getting Started: How to use this wiki

• To begin editing or adding pages:
  • Click on "Create Account" in the upper right corner of any page and enter a user name, email address and password of your choice.
  • Consult the User's Guide for information on using the wiki software. The best place to start is with the [formatting guide].
  • "Be bold, but not reckless in your editing!" That's the recommendation of the Wikipedia team: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:BB.
  • When you see a page that needs editing, click on the Edit tab at the top of the page.
  • To create a new page from an existing link (links that need pages are in red), simply click on the red link.
  • At the end of a section that you add or change, please put 4 tildes (~) and the system will automatically add your user name and date.
• Receive automatic notification when a page changes:
  • Once you are registered, you can click on the "Watch" tab at the top of any page and you will receive automatic notification when the page changes. You can also log on and see a summary of your pages and their recent changes.

[edit] Other Resources

• Panel on the Nonprofit Sector ("Independent Sector panel") - http://www.nonprofitpanel.org/
  • April 2006 Supplement to the Final Report - http://www.nonprofitpanel.org/supplement/Panel_Supplement_Final.pdf
• U.S. Senate Finance Committee's Senators Grassley & Baucus comment on new form: http://www.senate.gov/~finance/press/Gpress/2007/prg061407a.pdf
• IRS Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt & Government Entities (ACT) (5th Report, 2006) - http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/tege_act_rpt5.pdf (Pages 1-44 of the PDF include the preliminaries and the discussion of Form 990.)
  • Additional reports from the ACT: http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=98353,00.html
• IRS Exempt Organizations Continuing Professional Education Technical Instruction Program (2002): Chasin, Kawecki & Jones. Form 990 - http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/topicg02.pdf
• Reengineering Nonprofit Financial Accountability: Toward a More Reliable Foundation for Regulation, (Elizabeth K. Keating and Peter Frumkin, 2000) - http://www.ksghauser.harvard.edu/PDF_XLS/workingpapers/workingpaper_4.pdf
• IRS Form 990 Disclosure Requirements - See General Instructions M on the Form 990 instructions or the IRS website.
• Wiki_Administration
• MediaWiki release mailing list

[edit] Understanding IRS Regulations and Charity Law

Understanding IRS Guidance - A Brief Primer (IRS) - http://www.irs.gov/irs/article/0,,id=101102,00.html

Code of Federal Regulations - http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/index.html (Title 26)

U.S. Code, Title 26 (Internal Revenue Code) (cite as, e.g., "22 USC 501"):

• sec. 501. Exemption from tax on corporations, certain trusts, etc. - http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode26/usc_sec_26_00000501----000-.html
• sec. 170. Charitable, etc., contributions and gifts - http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode26/usc_sec_26_00000170----000-.html
• sec. 6033. Returns by exempt organizations - http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode26/usc_sec_26_00006033----000-.html

[edit] Priority Changes

• This section reflects NCCS's initial thoughts on priorities for changes to the proposed forms.