IRS Releases Revised 2008 Form 990

On December 20, the IRS released a revised version of the Form 990, the information return filed by public charities and other tax-exempt organizations, which will be required for the 2008 tax year (returns filed in 2009). The IRS released an initial draft of the revised Form 990 in June 2007 and requested comments from the public. It received approximately 700 comments by September 14, 2007, and made numerous changes to the form in response. The IRS is still working on the instructions for the revised Form 990 and plans to release them in early 2008.

The revised form has retained the June draft’s format of a core form and schedules that focus on specific topics. In response to criticism, the core form has been modified to allow organizations to describe their missions and program service accomplishments at the beginning of the form. In addition, the revised form eliminates the percentages, ratios, and other metrics about organizations’ compensation, fundraising expenses, total expenses, and governance from the cover page. The revised cover page now includes a two-year summary of financial information comparing the current and prior year.

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