Last updated 2026-07-24
TL;DR
Small nonprofits with $50,000 or less in annual gross receipts file Form 990-N, the e-Postcard, through the IRS website. It takes about 10 minutes, needs 8 basic data points, and is due by the 15th day of the 5th month after your fiscal year ends. Miss three years running and the IRS auto-revokes your tax-exempt status.
what is form 990-n and who has to file it
Form 990-N, nicknamed the e-Postcard, is the shortest annual filing the IRS offers to tax-exempt organizations. It exists because Congress decided in the Pension Protection Act of 2006 that even the smallest nonprofits needed to check in with the IRS every year, more than go silent for a decade. Before 2008, organizations with under $25,000 in gross receipts didn't have to file anything at all. That silence is exactly what let so many booster clubs and PTOs quietly lose their exempt status without anyone noticing until years later. You can file the 990-N if your organization's gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less per year. "Normally" is an IRS term of art: it's based on a rolling average over your current year and the two before it, not a hard one-year cutoff, so a single unusually good fundraiser year doesn't automatically bump you up. If your receipts run higher, you'd file the 990-EZ or full Form 990 instead. The e-Postcard is not optional paperwork you can skip because your club is small and informal. Even a booster club that never applied for its own IRS determination letter, and is just piggybacking off a school's tax status, needs its own EIN and its own annual filing once it operates as a distinct entity with its own bank account. If that describes your group, sort out the EIN question first, because the 990-N system won't let you file without one.
what does a treasurer do (and why the 990-n lands on their desk)
A treasurer is the person legally and practically responsible for an organization's money: tracking it, banking it, reporting it, and making sure the required government filings happen on time. In a booster club, PTO, or youth sports league, that job usually falls on one volunteer parent who inherited a shoebox of receipts and a login nobody wrote down. What does a treasurer do in a club, day to day? Reconcile the bank account monthly, approve or track reimbursements, keep a simple ledger of income and expenses, present numbers at meetings, and file the required tax paperwork once a year. What does a treasurer do in a club that's just forming? Open a bank account under an EIN (not a personal SSN), decide on a fiscal year, and figure out whether the group needs its own 501(c)(3) determination or can operate under a fiscal sponsor. What does a treasurer of a club do that's easy to overlook: they're the one person who knows whether last year's 990-N actually got filed. In a lot of small nonprofits, that knowledge walks out the door with the outgoing treasurer, and the incoming one discovers the gap only when a bank asks for a copy of a determination letter that no longer exists because the IRS auto-revoked it two years earlier. So when people ask what does a treasurer do, or what do treasurers do, the honest short answer is: they're the compliance backstop. Bookkeeping is the visible part. Filing the 990-N on time, every single year, is the part that keeps the whole organization legally able to accept tax-deductible donations.
what is the 990 and how is the 990-n different
| 990-N (e-Postcard) | Smallest orgs | $50,000 or less | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 990-EZ | Small-to-mid orgs | Under $200,000 receipts AND under $500,000 total assets | |
| 990 (full) | Larger orgs | $200,000+ receipts OR $500,000+ total assets | |
| 990-PF | Private foundations | Files regardless of size | The 990-N asks for almost nothing: legal name, EIN, tax year, mailing address, website if you have one, name and address of a principal officer, confirmation that gross receipts are $50,000 or under, and a statement if the organization has terminated. There's no financial detail line by line, no program description, nothing about salaries. That's the whole point: it's a postcard, not a return. For background on how the full form works if your booster club grows past the threshold, see [990](/articles/treasurer-basics/990) and irs form 990. |
Form 990 is the IRS's annual information return for tax-exempt organizations, the document that discloses income, expenses, program activities, and governance to the public. What is a 990 tax form in plain terms: it's not a tax bill (exempt organizations generally don't owe income tax on program-related revenue), it's a public disclosure form that lets the IRS, donors, and watchdog groups see how a nonprofit spends its money. There are four versions, sized to the organization: | Form | Who files it | Gross receipts threshold |
how do you actually file the 990-n, step by step
You file the 990-N electronically through the IRS website; there's no paper version and no mailing address to send it to. As of the current system, filing goes through the IRS's Tax Exempt Organization Search e-filing portal, which the IRS moved from the older Urban Institute-hosted system in 2016. Here's the actual sequence: 1. Confirm your organization's EIN, legal name, and tax year exactly as the IRS has them on file. Mismatches are the number one cause of rejected e-Postcards. 2. Go to the IRS's 990-N filing page and sign in or create an account (the IRS uses ID.me or a similar credentialing system for this). 3. Enter the eight required data points: EIN, tax year, legal name and mailing address, other names the organization uses, website URL (or note that you don't have one), name and address of a principal officer, and confirmation of the gross receipts threshold. 4. Answer whether the organization has terminated or is going out of business. 5. Submit. You'll get an immediate accepted or rejected confirmation on screen, and the IRS says most orgs finish in about 10 minutes if they have their information ready. Keep a screenshot or the confirmation email in your files. It's the only proof you filed, since there's no signed paper copy and no separate tax bill sent afterward.
when is the 990-n due
The 990-N is due by the 15th day of the 5th month after your organization's fiscal year ends. For a calendar-year organization (fiscal year ending December 31), that's May 15 of the following year. For a school-year-based booster club with a fiscal year ending June 30, the due date is November 15. There's genuinely no extension available for the 990-N and no way to request one, unlike the full 990 or 990-EZ which can get an automatic 6-month extension via Form 8868. If you miss the date, the filing just becomes late; you file it as soon as you catch it, and there's no dollar penalty attached to a late 990-N by itself. The real risk isn't a fine, it's the three-year clock described below. Mark the date on whatever calendar your board actually looks at, more than the treasurer's personal one. A shockingly common failure mode: the treasurer who filed on time resigns, the new treasurer doesn't know the date exists, and nobody notices until year three.
what happens if you miss filing for three years in a row
The IRS automatically revokes tax-exempt status for any organization that fails to file its required 990 (in any version, including the 990-N) for three consecutive years. This is written directly into the Pension Protection Act of 2006 and codified in the tax code: "Failure to file for 3 consecutive years results in loss of tax-exempt status". This is automatic. There's no warning letter that says "this is your final notice before revocation," and there's no appeal process for the revocation itself, because it's not a discretionary IRS decision, it's a statutory trigger. The organization's name shows up on the IRS's Auto-Revocation List, which is public and searchable [1]. Losing exempt status means the organization owes income tax as a regular taxable entity going forward, and donations made to it are no longer tax-deductible, which matters a lot if your booster club solicits corporate sponsorships or year-end gifts. It also frequently trips up bank accounts, grant applications, and any state charity registration that depends on federal exempt status. The fix is Streamlined Retroactive Reinstatement (Rev. Proc. 2014-11), available to organizations that were eligible to file the 990-N or 990-EZ, applied for reinstatement within 15 months of the revocation date, and file Form 1023 or 1023-EZ along with all delinquent 990-N filings. It's a real process with a real fee (currently $275 for Form 1023-EZ, higher for the full 1023; confirm current fees on IRS.gov since these change), and it generally restores exempt status back to the original revocation date if you qualify.
how do you check if your organization is already revoked
Search the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool directly; it's free and takes about a minute. Enter your organization's name or EIN, and the tool shows current exempt status along with the Auto-Revocation List and Form 990-series filings on record [1]. Do this the day you take over as treasurer, before you do anything else. It's the single fastest way to find out if the group you just inherited has a silent three-year gap in its filing history. If the search shows the org on the revocation list, don't panic and don't assume the club has to dissolve. Streamlined reinstatement exists for exactly this situation, and a lot of small booster clubs and PTOs go through it every year without major drama, just paperwork and a fee. If you find gaps but haven't hit three consecutive years yet, file the missing 990-Ns now. There's no penalty for filing late as long as you haven't crossed the revocation threshold, so catching up is close to free.
what records do you need before you sit down to file
You need less than most new treasurers expect, which is the whole appeal of the 990-N. Gather these before you start: - The organization's EIN (check a prior year's bank statement or old filing if you don't have it memorized)
- Legal name exactly as registered with the IRS
- Any "doing business as" or former names
- Current mailing address
- Website URL, if the organization has one
- Name and mailing address of a principal officer (usually the president or treasurer)
- Your fiscal year start and end dates
- A rough total of gross receipts for the year, just to confirm you're under $50,000 You don't need itemized income and expense statements, program descriptions, or board minutes to file the 990-N itself. That said, keep your actual bookkeeping current anyway, because if your gross receipts creep past $50,000 you'll need to step up to the 990-EZ or full 990, both of which do want real financial detail. This is one reason a lot of treasurers build a simple year-round ledger rather than scrambling in April. If your paperwork situation is more chaos than ledger, a state-personalized packet like the Treasurer Kit Builder ($99 one-time) walks through what to collect for your specific state and org type, though the free IRS tools above are enough for most straightforward 990-N filings.
does the 990-n replace state filing requirements
No. The 990-N satisfies your federal IRS reporting requirement only; most states have a completely separate charity registration and annual reporting system, run through the state Attorney General's office or Secretary of State. A booster club can be fully current on its federal 990-N and still be delinquent, or even administratively dissolved, at the state level. Requirements vary widely. Some states require annual financial reports for any organization soliciting donations above a small dollar threshold; others exempt small volunteer-run groups below a certain revenue level. Confirm with your state charity office or Attorney General's charitable trusts division what your specific state requires, since thresholds and exemptions change and differ state to state. If your group also runs raffles or games of chance as a fundraiser, that's usually a third, entirely separate licensing track through a state gaming or charitable gaming division, on top of both the federal 990-N and any state charity registration.
what does a treasurer do to stay ahead of all this
The realistic answer: build a one-page calendar with three dates on it (990-N due date, state charity report due date, and a mid-year check-in), and put it somewhere the next treasurer will actually find it, more than in your own email. What do treasurers do that separates the ones who never get caught by auto-revocation from the ones who do? They check the IRS exempt organization search once a year even when nothing seems wrong, they keep the confirmation screenshot or email from every filing, and they hand off login credentials and prior filings explicitly at the end of their term instead of assuming the next person will figure it out. That handoff moment is where most of the damage happens. A treasurer who filed diligently for four years retires, the new volunteer has no idea the e-Postcard exists, and by year three of silence the organization is auto-revoked without a single person doing anything obviously wrong. Building that transition documentation into your process, even something as simple as a shared folder with the EIN, prior filings, and the due-date calendar, closes most of the gap.
Frequently asked questions
what is form 990-n
Form 990-N, also called the e-Postcard, is the shortest IRS annual information return, for tax-exempt organizations with $50,000 or less in normal gross receipts. It's filed online only, asks for about 8 basic data points, and takes roughly 10 minutes according to the IRS's own filing system [1][4].
what is form 990
Form 990 is the IRS's annual information return for tax-exempt organizations, disclosing income, expenses, and governance to the public. It comes in four sizes depending on gross receipts and assets: 990-N, 990-EZ, full 990, and 990-PF for private foundations [1][2].
what does a treasurer do
A treasurer manages an organization's money: bank reconciliation, expense tracking, financial reporting to the board, and required tax filings like the 990-N. In a small booster club or PTO it's often one volunteer handling all of it, which makes annual filing deadlines easy to lose track of during a handoff.
what do treasurers do differently in a booster club versus a big nonprofit
The core job is the same, tracking money and filing required returns, but booster club treasurers are almost always volunteers doing it part-time with no accounting staff. That means simpler systems (a basic ledger, not accounting software) and more reliance on personal diligence to catch deadlines like the 990-N due date.
is the 990-n the same as a tax return
Not really. It's an information return, not a return reporting taxable income owed, since exempt organizations generally don't pay income tax on program-related revenue. It exists so the IRS and public can confirm the organization is still operating and still meets the size threshold for the smallest filing category [3].
what happens if i never file a 990-n
Nothing happens after missing one year beyond a late filing. Miss three consecutive years and the IRS automatically revokes your tax-exempt status by statute, no warning letter required, and the organization appears on the public IRS Auto-Revocation List [6][7].
can i still file a 990-n if i'm late
Yes, as long as you haven't crossed three consecutive missed years. There's no separate penalty fee for a late 990-N by itself. File it as soon as you notice the gap using the same IRS online system you'd use for a current-year filing [1].
how do i know if my gross receipts qualify for the 990-n
The IRS uses a rolling average across your current tax year and the two before it, more than the most recent year, to decide if you're "normally" at $50,000 or less [1]. A single big fundraiser year doesn't automatically disqualify you; check the average across three years.
what if my organization has never had its own irs determination letter
If your booster club or PTO operates with its own EIN and bank account, it likely needs its own exempt status and its own 990-N filings, separate from the school or league it supports. Confirm your entity's actual status using the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool before assuming coverage under someone else's exemption [7].
what is the difference between 990-n and 990-ez
The 990-N is for organizations with $50,000 or less in gross receipts and asks for 8 basic data points online. The 990-EZ is for organizations under $200,000 in receipts and under $500,000 in total assets, and requires actual financial detail: income, expenses, and program information [1][2].
how do i reinstate my nonprofit after irs auto-revocation
Use Streamlined Retroactive Reinstatement under Rev. Proc. 2014-11 if eligible: file Form 1023 or 1023-EZ within 15 months of the revocation date along with any delinquent 990-N filings. This generally restores exempt status back to the original revocation date, though fees and exact eligibility rules should be confirmed on IRS.gov [8].
does filing the 990-n cover my state charity registration too
No. The 990-N only satisfies the federal IRS requirement. Most states run a completely separate charity registration and reporting system through the Attorney General or Secretary of State, with its own deadlines and thresholds. Confirm requirements directly with your state charity office [9].
Sources
- IRS, Tax Exempt Organization Search: Public tool to check exempt status and the Auto-Revocation List
- IRS: Form 990-N (e-Postcard) is an annual electronic filing requirement for small tax-exempt organizations
- IRS: Explanation of how the Form 990 series (990, 990-EZ, 990-N) filing requirements are phased in based on organization size
- IRS: Organizations that fail to file required 990-series returns for three consecutive years automatically lose their tax-exempt status
- IRS Publication 4573: IRS guidance document (Form 990-N e-Postcard Filing Information) summarizing filing steps and requirements