Last updated 2026-07-25
TL;DR
The 990-N (e-postcard) is the shortest IRS annual filing for small tax-exempt nonprofits, including most boosters and PTOs with gross receipts normally $50,000 or under. It's free, filed online at irs.gov, and takes about eight questions. Miss it three years running and the IRS automatically revokes your exempt status.
What is Form 990-N (the e-postcard)?
Form 990-N, usually called the e-postcard, is the smallest of the IRS annual information returns for tax-exempt organizations. It's not really a "form" in the paper sense. It's an eight-question online submission you file at irs.gov, and there's no paper version at all [1]. Small tax-exempt organizations, meaning those with annual gross receipts normally $50,000 or less, file the e-postcard instead of the longer Form 990 or Form 990-EZ [2]. The IRS is direct about who this covers: "most small organizations that receive tax-exempt status... may be required to file an annual electronic notice called the Form 990-N (e-Postcard)" [1]. The questions are basic: your EIN, tax year, legal name and mailing address, any other names the org uses, the name and address of a principal officer, confirmation your gross receipts are $50,000 or less, and a statement that the organization hasn't terminated [1]. There's no place to itemize expenses or list your board. If your booster club or PTO is small, this is genuinely the easy version of nonprofit paperwork. For most volunteer treasurers running a school booster club, PTO, or youth sports league, this is the filing you'll deal with every single year, and it's worth understanding fully rather than dreading. See our 990-n guide for the deadline and gross receipts math specific to your fiscal year.
What is Form 990 (the full return), and how is it different?
| 990-N (e-postcard) | Gross receipts normally ≤ $50,000 | 8 questions, online only | Free | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 990-EZ | Gross receipts < $200,000 and assets < $500,000 | ~4 pages + schedules | Free (self-file) or paid preparer | |
| Full 990 | Gross receipts ≥ $200,000 or assets ≥ $500,000 | Full return + schedules | Free (self-file) or paid preparer | All tax-exempt organizations, regardless of size, are required to file some version of the 990 series annually. There is no size threshold below which you're exempt from filing entirely. Read the full breakdown in our form 990 explainer and the 990 tax form overview if you're not sure which version applies to your group. |
Form 990 is the IRS's long-form annual information return for tax-exempt organizations, the one with schedules for compensation, program service accomplishments, and governance policies. Organizations with gross receipts of $200,000 or more, or total assets of $500,000 or more, generally must file the full Form 990, not the e-postcard or the EZ version [3]. In between sits Form 990-EZ, a shorter but still substantive return (roughly four pages plus schedules) available to organizations with gross receipts under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000 [3]. A small booster club that grows past $50,000 in gross receipts but stays under $200,000 typically graduates from the e-postcard to the 990-EZ. Here's the quick comparison most treasurers actually need: | Filing | Who files it | Length | Cost to file |
What is a 990 tax form used for?
The 990 series isn't an income tax return in the way most people think of taxes. Tax-exempt organizations generally don't owe federal income tax on money raised for their exempt purpose, so the 990 series exists mainly to report activity to the IRS and to the public, not to calculate a tax bill. The IRS uses these filings to confirm an organization is still operating within its exempt purpose and hasn't crossed into private benefit or unrelated business activity that would jeopardize its status. State charity regulators and the general public use them too. Full Form 990 and 990-EZ filings are public record; donors, watchdog sites, and journalists can and do pull them. The e-postcard doesn't disclose financial detail beyond the receipts threshold confirmation, which is one reason it's popular with small volunteer-run groups that don't want to publish a detailed budget. But "less disclosure" doesn't mean "less required." Filing something, even the e-postcard, every year is not optional for a group that wants to keep its exempt status [1].
Who has to file the 990-N e-postcard?
You must file the 990-N if your organization is tax-exempt (or applying to be), your annual accounting period ends, and your organization's gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less [2]. "Normally" matters here: the IRS uses an averaging test over three years for orgs in their first three years, and a similar look-back for established ones, so one unusually big fundraiser year doesn't automatically bump you to the EZ or full 990 [2]. A few groups are exempt from filing anything in the 990 series: churches and certain church-affiliated organizations, and some governmental units [3]. Private foundations file Form 990-PF regardless of size, not the e-postcard. Most booster clubs, PTOs, and small youth sports leagues with 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) status and a modest annual budget fall squarely into e-postcard territory. If your group's gross receipts jumped past $50,000 this year because of a big one-time fundraiser (a gala, a capital campaign for new equipment), don't assume you're automatically bumped up. Run the three-year average first before deciding you need the 990-EZ instead.
When is the 990-N due, and what happens if I file late?
The e-postcard is due by the 15th day of the 5th month after your organization's accounting period ends. For a calendar-year organization (fiscal year ending December 31), that's May 15 [1]. There's genuinely good news buried in the IRS's own language here: "There is no penalty assessment for filing Form 990-N late" [1]. Unlike the full 990 or 990-EZ, which carry a per-day late-filing penalty, the e-postcard itself has no monetary penalty for a late submission. But don't relax too much. The real danger isn't a fine, it's silence. If you fail to file any required return or notice, including the e-postcard, for three consecutive years, the IRS automatically revokes your tax-exempt status, and that revocation happens by operation of law, effective on the original filing due date of the third year [4]. There's no warning letter that says "this is your final notice" in the way you might expect. Groups often find out only when a bank, a grant funder, or a state charity office asks for a determination letter that no longer applies.
How do I file the 990-N e-postcard?
You file the 990-N electronically through the IRS's own portal. As of the current system, filers submit through the IRS website using the process described at the agency's Form 990-N landing page, which requires you to register and log in before submitting [1]. What you'll need before you start: your organization's EIN, the tax year you're filing for, your legal business name and any doing-business-as names, your mailing address, your website if you have one, the name and address of a principal officer, and confirmation of the $50,000 gross receipts threshold [1]. Have last year's e-postcard confirmation handy too, if you can find it, since it's easy to enter the EIN wrong on a first attempt and pull up a different organization's exempt status entirely. The whole process, once you have the information gathered, takes most treasurers under 15 minutes. The IRS site gives you an immediate confirmation once it's accepted; save that confirmation as a PDF or screenshot and drop it in your organization's permanent records folder, more than your email inbox, since inbox access changes when the treasurer role turns over.
What if my club has never filed, or the IRS says our status was revoked?
This is one of the most common situations booster and PTO treasurers walk into: you take over the books, go looking for the group's IRS determination letter, and discover the organization isn't listed as tax-exempt anymore, or was never properly registered in the first place. If your organization's exempt status was automatically revoked for failing to file three years running, the fix is a formal reinstatement application, more than filing this year's e-postcard and hoping it self-corrects. The IRS publishes retroactive reinstatement procedures, including a streamlined process for small organizations that were eligible to file the 990-N or 990-EZ for the years they missed [5]. There's also a separate, lower-cost "Streamlined Retroactive Reinstatement" path specifically for organizations that have not previously had their exemption revoked and that file within 15 months of the revocation date [5]. The application fee for reinstatement (filed with Form 1023 or Form 1023-EZ, depending on eligibility) is currently $275 for Form 1023-EZ or $600 for the full Form 1023 [6]. Confirm current fees on the IRS's own fee schedule before you file, since these numbers do change. If you're in this spot, don't try to guess your way through it from a blog post, including this one. Confirm the specific reinstatement path and required attachments with the IRS directly, and if your state also requires separate charity registration, confirm with your state charity office or attorney general as well, since state and federal exempt status are two different things.
What is a treasurer? What does a treasurer do?
A treasurer is the person (usually a volunteer, in a booster club or PTO) responsible for the organization's money: tracking income and expenses, keeping bank accounts reconciled, and making sure required filings like the 990-N happen on time. It's part bookkeeper, part compliance officer, part institutional memory. In a typical volunteer club, the treasurer role includes several concrete jobs: recording every deposit and expense, reconciling the bank statement monthly, preparing a budget-to-actual report for board meetings, signing or co-signing checks, and filing the annual IRS return, whichever version applies. None of this requires an accounting degree. It requires consistency and a habit of writing things down the same day they happen, not three weeks later from memory. What a club treasurer does day to day looks less like tax prep and more like bookkeeping hygiene: depositing concession stand cash promptly and with a second person present, keeping receipts for reimbursements, and not letting the checkbook and the spreadsheet drift apart. The annual 990-N filing is the one moment a year the treasurer's ongoing recordkeeping meets a federal deadline. If the books have been kept honestly all year, the e-postcard itself is a ten-minute task. If they haven't, filing season is where that catches up with you.
What does a treasurer do in a club or PTO specifically?
A club or PTO treasurer's job breaks into four buckets: recordkeeping, reporting, filing, and controls. Recordkeeping means every dollar in and out gets logged, ideally in something more durable than a single person's memory or a shoebox of receipts. Reporting means the treasurer shows up to board meetings with a current balance and a budget comparison, not vague reassurance that "things are fine." Filing means the annual IRS return (990-N, 990-EZ, or full 990, depending on size) plus, in many states, an annual charity registration renewal that's entirely separate from the IRS filing [7]. Controls means basic separation of duties: the person collecting concession cash shouldn't be the only person counting it, and the person writing checks shouldn't be the only signer. A new treasurer inheriting a club mid-year should ask for three things immediately: the EIN, the most recent IRS filing confirmation (990-N, EZ, or full 990), and the state charity registration status if the state requires one. If any of the three is missing or the prior treasurer can't locate it, that's the first project, before worrying about this year's fundraiser calendar.
990-N vs 990-EZ vs full 990: which one does my group actually file?
Use gross receipts and total assets from your most recent completed year as the deciding factors, applying the three-year averaging rule if your numbers bounce around [2][3]. | Your situation | Likely filing | |---|---| | Gross receipts normally $50,000 or less | 990-N (e-postcard) | | Gross receipts under $200,000, assets under $500,000 | 990-EZ | | Gross receipts $200,000+ or assets $500,000+ | Full 990 | | Private foundation, any size | 990-PF | | Church or certain church-affiliated org | Generally not required to file | If you're right on a threshold (say, $48,000 one year and $52,000 the next), don't guess. Pull your actual three-year gross receipts and run the IRS's own averaging test described in the 990-N filing requirements page before deciding [2]. Filing the wrong version isn't usually penalized on its own, but filing nothing because you assumed you were under the threshold is exactly how three-year revocations happen. For a side-by-side on when to step up from the e-postcard, our irs form 990 page walks through the EZ schedules in more detail, and form 990-n covers the receipts test with worked examples.
Does my state also require a separate charity filing?
Almost certainly, yes, and this is the piece most new treasurers miss entirely. Federal tax-exempt status (what the IRS grants) and state charitable solicitation registration (what your state attorney general or secretary of state requires) are two completely separate systems. Filing the 990-N with the IRS does nothing for your state registration, and vice versa. Most states that regulate charitable solicitation require an annual or biennial renewal, often with its own small fee, and many require it before your group raises a single dollar through raffles, galas, or public solicitation. Requirements, forms, and fees vary widely by state, so confirm directly with your state's charity registration office or attorney general's charities division for your specific state's threshold and deadline; don't rely on a generic multi-state guide to get the exact number right for you. A good habit: put both deadlines, the IRS 990-N (or EZ/full) due date and your state charity renewal due date, on the same calendar, since they're easy to conflate and easy to let one slide while handling the other.
What records should I keep after filing?
Save your e-postcard confirmation the day you file it, not "sometime this month." The IRS confirmation email or on-screen receipt is your proof of timely filing if a question ever comes up later, and it's genuinely easy to lose track of once the current treasurer moves on and the next one doesn't know it exists. Beyond the filing confirmation itself, keep your EIN letter, your IRS determination letter (the original document granting exempt status), the last three years of whatever 990 version you filed, and your state charity registration confirmation, all in one physical or shared digital folder that transfers with the treasurer role, not with one person's personal email account. This is the exact gap a lot of booster clubs fall into: the founding treasurer had everything, then retired, and nobody could find the EIN two years later. A State-Personalized Treasurer Kit built for your specific state builds this handoff folder for you up front, with the IRS and state deadlines your group actually faces, rather than a generic checklist. It's a $99 one-time tool, not tax advice, and it doesn't replace confirming specifics with the IRS or your state charity office.
What's the single biggest mistake new treasurers make with the e-postcard?
Assuming someone else already filed it. Booster clubs and PTOs turn over treasurers every year or two, and the e-postcard's ten-minute simplicity cuts both ways: it's easy to file, and it's easy to forget entirely because nothing dramatic happens if you skip one year. The second biggest mistake is filing under the wrong EIN or a stale mailing address, then never realizing it, because there's no penalty notice to correct the mistake for you. Verify your organization's EIN and legal name directly against your original IRS determination letter, not against whatever name is stitched on the team jackets. The third: not checking your state's separate charity registration status at the same time you check the federal one. Treat the annual filing season as one job with two halves, federal and state, and calendar both. A quick way to sanity-check where your organization stands right now is to search the IRS's own Tax Exempt Organization Search tool for your EIN or name before you assume everything's current.
Frequently asked questions
What is Form 990-N (the e-postcard)?
Form 990-N, called the e-postcard, is the IRS's shortest annual filing for tax-exempt organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less. It's an eight-question online submission at irs.gov with no paper version, no financial detail beyond the receipts confirmation, and no filing fee.
What does a treasurer do?
A treasurer tracks an organization's money: recording deposits and expenses, reconciling bank accounts, reporting balances to the board, and handling required filings like the IRS 990 series and state charity registration. In a small club, it's mostly consistent bookkeeping plus one annual filing deadline.
What is Form 990?
Form 990 is the IRS's annual information return series for tax-exempt organizations. It comes in three main sizes: the 990-N e-postcard for gross receipts under $50,000, the 990-EZ for receipts under $200,000, and the full Form 990 for larger organizations.
What does a club treasurer do?
A club treasurer keeps the books current, reconciles the bank account monthly, prepares budget reports for meetings, controls check-signing and cash-handling procedures, and files the club's annual IRS return, whether that's the e-postcard, the EZ, or the full 990.
Is the 990-N e-postcard free to file?
Yes. There's no IRS fee to submit the 990-N. You file it directly through the IRS's own online portal at irs.gov; you don't need a paid preparer or third-party software, though some organizations use a bookkeeper anyway for convenience.
What happens if I file the 990-N late?
The IRS states there's no penalty for filing the e-postcard late, unlike the 990-EZ or full 990 which carry per-day penalties. The real risk is failing to file at all for three consecutive years, which triggers automatic revocation of tax-exempt status.
How do I know if my organization qualifies for the e-postcard instead of the 990-EZ?
Check your gross receipts using the IRS's averaging test: if they're normally $50,000 or less over a three-year look-back, you likely qualify for the e-postcard. If receipts run higher but stay under $200,000 with assets under $500,000, you'd file the 990-EZ instead.
What if our club's tax-exempt status was already revoked?
You'll need to apply for reinstatement, typically using Form 1023 or the streamlined Form 1023-EZ, more than resume filing the e-postcard. The IRS offers a streamlined retroactive reinstatement path for small organizations that file within 15 months of revocation; confirm current fees and eligibility with the IRS directly.
Do I still need to register with my state if I file the 990-N federally?
Almost always yes. Federal IRS filing and state charitable solicitation registration are separate systems with separate deadlines and fees. Confirm your specific state's requirements directly with your state's charity registration office or attorney general's charities division.
What is a 990 tax form used for?
The 990 series reports a tax-exempt organization's activity and finances to the IRS and the public each year. It's not used to calculate income tax owed; it confirms the organization is still operating within its exempt purpose and hasn't crossed into disqualifying activity.
Can churches skip the 990-N?
Yes. Churches and certain church-affiliated organizations are generally exempt from the 990 filing requirement entirely, along with some governmental units. Most booster clubs, PTOs, and youth sports leagues don't qualify for this exception and must file some version of the 990 series.
What information do I need before filing the 990-N?
Gather your EIN, tax year, legal organization name and any other names used, mailing address, website if applicable, the name and address of a principal officer, and confirmation your gross receipts are $50,000 or less. Filing itself typically takes under 15 minutes once you have these ready.
Sources
- IRS, Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations (Form 990-N): 990-N is an eight-question online notice, required info, no paper version, no late penalty, due date rule
- IRS, Who Must File Form 990-N: gross receipts normally $50,000 or less threshold and three-year averaging test
- IRS, Form 990-EZ instructions and filing thresholds: 990-EZ eligibility thresholds under $200,000 gross receipts and under $500,000 total assets; full 990 required above those
- IRS, Automatic Revocation of Exemption: automatic revocation after three consecutive years of non-filing, effective on original due date
- IRS, Rev. Proc. 2014-11, Streamlined Retroactive Reinstatement: streamlined retroactive reinstatement process for small organizations filing within 15 months of revocation
- IRS, Instructions for Form 1023-EZ (user fee): current application fees for Form 1023-EZ ($275) and Form 1023 ($600) reinstatement filings
- IRS, Exempt Organizations Annual Reporting Requirements (state law overview reference): state charitable solicitation registration is a separate requirement from federal IRS filing, administered by state charity offices