Last updated 2026-07-24
TL;DR
Form 990-EZ must be filed electronically through an IRS-authorized e-file provider; paper filing is no longer accepted. You'll need your EIN, financial totals, board and program info, and a filed 990-EZ is due by the 15th day of the 5th month after your fiscal year ends. Most providers charge $50 to $200. Missing three years in a row triggers automatic revocation of tax-exempt status.
what is form 990 and why does a small nonprofit file it
Form 990 is the annual information return tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS. It's not a tax bill in most cases (exempt orgs generally don't owe income tax on mission-related revenue), it's a disclosure document. The IRS uses it to confirm your group is still operating within its exempt purpose, and the public can pull it to see how you spend money. There isn't one single 990. There's a family of forms sized to your organization's gross receipts and assets. Form 990-N (the "e-Postcard") is for the smallest orgs, generally those with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less [1]. Form 990-EZ is the mid-size version, and Form 990 (the full return) is for larger organizations, generally those with gross receipts of $200,000 or more or total assets of $500,000 or more [2]. If you're running a booster club, PTO, or youth sports league with a modest budget, you're probably filing 990-N or 990-EZ, not the full 990. Get that classification wrong and you either overreport (wasted hours) or underreport (compliance risk), so check your actual numbers against the thresholds every year, more than the year you registered.
who has to file form 990-ez instead of the e-postcard
| Normally $50,000 or less | any | 990-N (or 990-EZ optionally) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than $200,000 | Less than $500,000 | 990-EZ (or full 990 optionally) | |
| $200,000 or more, OR | $500,000 or more | Form 990 | A few groups can't use the EZ regardless of size: private foundations always file 990-PF, and certain sponsoring organizations of donor-advised funds have extra restrictions. If your booster club just had an unusually big fundraising year (a gala, a big raffle payout, a large capital gift), check your totals before assuming you can still use the EZ. Crossing $200,000 in receipts even once bumps you to the full Form 990 for that year. |
You file Form 990-EZ if your organization's gross receipts are less than $200,000 and total assets are less than $500,000 at the end of the tax year [2]. Below the $50,000 gross receipts mark, you can file the much shorter 990-N e-Postcard instead, though you're allowed to file the 990-EZ voluntarily even if you qualify for the N. Here's the practical breakdown a booster club treasurer actually needs: | Gross receipts | Total assets | Form required |
is electronic filing required for form 990-ez
Yes. Since the Taxpayer First Act of 2019, tax-exempt organizations are required to file Form 990-series returns electronically. The IRS confirms that "tax-exempt organizations must file Form 990-series returns and notices electronically" and that Form 990-EZ e-filing became mandatory for tax years beginning after July 1, 2019 [3]. There is no more mailing in a paper 990-EZ, and a mailed paper form for a covered tax year isn't treated as a valid filing. The IRS did phase this in: for a short window, organizations could get transition relief if paper filing caused undue hardship, but that relief period has ended. Practically, if you're filing for a tax year in 2021 or later, electronic filing is the only route [3]. This matters more than it sounds like at first. Treasurers who inherit a shoebox of paper records sometimes assume they can just print and mail the return the way a predecessor did a decade ago. That won't work anymore, and a late e-file after a paper attempt still counts as late.
how do you actually file form 990-ez electronically
You can't file directly on IRS.gov the way you might with 990-N. The IRS doesn't operate its own free e-file portal for 990-EZ, so you need an IRS-Authorized e-File Provider, a private software company approved to transmit these returns. The IRS maintains a list of approved providers for exempt organization returns [4]. The basic steps look like this: 1. Confirm your fiscal year end and due date (see the deadlines section below). 2. Gather your numbers: total revenue, total expenses, net assets, program service accomplishments, and compensation for officers/directors/key employees. 3. Pick an authorized e-file provider from the IRS list [4]. Costs typically range from about $50 to $200 depending on the vendor and whether you need help with schedules. 4. Enter your EIN, organization name exactly as the IRS has it on file, and your accounting method. 5. Complete the required schedules if they apply to you (Schedule A for public charity status, Schedule B for large contributors, Schedule G for fundraising events and gaming, Schedule O for narrative explanations). 6. Have an authorized officer sign electronically (usually via a PIN or e-signature process built into the software). 7. Submit and keep the confirmation/acceptance record. Save the PDF copy of what was filed. Budget real time for this if it's your first year doing it. Even a straightforward booster club return with clean books can take two to four hours the first time through, mostly spent hunting down exact figures and reconciling last year's ending balance to this year's beginning balance.
what information do you need before you start the return
Pull this together before you open any software, because switching between the return and your bank statements mid-filing is where mistakes creep in. Core financial numbers: total revenue by source (contributions, program service revenue, investment income, gaming/fundraising event revenue), total expenses by category, and net assets or fund balances at the start and end of the year. If you run a raffle or bingo night, Schedule G asks for gross receipts and prizes paid out separately, so don't net those against each other in your bookkeeping. Organizational details: your EIN, the exact legal name and any "doing business as" name, mailing address, website if you have one, and a description of your primary exempt purpose activity (what the booster club or PTO actually does, in a sentence or two). Governance information: names of officers, directors, and trustees serving during the year, and whether anyone was compensated. Most volunteer boards report $0 compensation, but you still have to list who served. Prior year return: have last year's 990-EZ or 990-N on hand. The IRS return-preparation software and instructions expect continuity between years, and reviewers (donors, grant funders, state charity regulators) will compare year over year.
when is form 990-ez due
Form 990-EZ is due on the 15th day of the 5th month after the end of your organization's fiscal year [5]. For a calendar-year organization (fiscal year ending December 31), that's May 15 of the following year. For a fiscal year ending June 30, common for school-affiliated groups, the due date is November 15. You can request a single automatic six-month extension using Form 8868, which the IRS says is granted "automatically" if filed properly and on time, no explanation required [6]. That pushes a calendar-year filer's deadline to November 15. There's no second extension available for 990-EZ the way there once was, so treat the extended date as your real hard deadline. If the deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, it moves to the next business day, same as most IRS deadlines.
what happens if you file form 990-ez late or not at all
Missing one year rarely triggers anything severe by itself, though penalties can still apply for a late return. The real cliff is three years. The IRS states plainly: "Organizations that fail to file required returns for three consecutive years automatically lose their tax-exempt status" [7]. This is automatic, not discretionary. No IRS agent reviews your excuse before revoking; the computer system does it based on the filing gap. Once revoked, your organization is no longer exempt from federal income tax, donations made to you are no longer deductible as charitable contributions, and you'll typically need to reapply for exemption from scratch (Form 1023 or 1023-EZ for 501(c)(3) orgs) rather than simply "reinstating" with a form. The IRS does offer streamlined retroactive reinstatement procedures for smaller organizations that missed filings, described in Revenue Procedure 2014-11, but you still have to affirmatively apply and, in many cases, pay the exemption application fee again . Check the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool periodically. It's free, and it will show you plainly if your organization's status has been revoked, sometimes before anyone on your board notices a problem .
what does a treasurer do, exactly
A treasurer is the person on a club, PTO, or booster board responsible for the organization's money: tracking income and expenses, keeping bank accounts reconciled, preparing financial reports for the board, and making sure required filings (like the 990 tax form) actually get submitted on time. In a small volunteer organization, the treasurer often does bookkeeping, budgeting, and compliance all at once, without a paid accountant backing them up. What a club treasurer does day to day usually includes: depositing checks and cash from fundraisers, paying invoices (uniforms, equipment, venue rentals), tracking a budget against actuals, presenting a financial report at board meetings, and maintaining the paper trail auditors or new treasurers will need later. What a treasurer of a club does around tax time specifically is gather the year's financial totals and either file the 990-N or 990-EZ directly, or hand a clean set of numbers to whoever does. The job is part bookkeeper, part records custodian, part compliance officer. Nobody teaches this in a training manual when you take over mid-season, which is exactly why it trips people up. If you inherited the role from someone who "always just handled it," your first task is figuring out what actually got filed and when, before you touch anything else.
what mistakes trip up first-time e-filers
The single most common error is filing under the wrong EIN, either because a booster club shares a number with the school district it supports (it shouldn't) or because someone typos a digit. Double check the EIN against your original IRS determination letter or a prior year's accepted return, not from memory. Second most common: choosing 990-N when the group actually crossed $50,000 in gross receipts that year, usually because of one unusually good fundraiser or a grant. Gross receipts include everything coming in before expenses are netted out; a $60,000 raffle with $40,000 in prizes paid out is still $60,000 of gross receipts, not $20,000. Third: forgetting that a mid-year name change, address change, or change in fiscal year needs to be reflected consistently across the EIN records and the return. If your booster club changed its legal name last year and nobody told the IRS separately, your e-filed return may bounce or get flagged for review. Fourth, and this one's boring but real: waiting until the deadline week to discover last year's return was never actually filed, because the previous treasurer assumed the school's business office handled it. Confirm filing history early using the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool , not late in your term.
does the treasurer need an accountant to file the 990-ez
No, and most small booster clubs and PTOs don't use one. The form is designed to be filed by an organization's own officers using commercial e-file software, and the line items map reasonably closely to normal bookkeeping categories (revenue by source, expenses by function, net assets). That said, get help in two situations. First, if your organization is close to a size threshold (gross receipts creeping toward $200,000, or total assets near $500,000), a bookkeeper or accountant can help you confirm which form you actually owe. Second, if you're dealing with unrelated business income, complicated gaming/raffle revenue reporting on Schedule G, or a prior-year filing gap that might trigger revocation, a professional consult is worth the fee, because the streamlined reinstatement process has real dollar costs and paperwork if you get it wrong . This article and the resources on [990](https://boosterledger.com/articles/treasurer-basics/990) and irs form 990 are meant as a reference, not tax or legal advice. Confirm specifics with the IRS and, for any state charitable registration overlap, your state charity office before you file.
how much does it cost to e-file form 990-ez
There's no IRS filing fee for the 990-EZ itself, but you'll pay the e-file software provider. Pricing generally runs $50 to $200 for a straightforward small-nonprofit return, and can run higher if you need multiple schedules, prior-year amendments, or live support walking you through it. Costs vary by vendor, so check current pricing directly with an IRS-authorized e-file provider from the official list before committing [4]. Compare that to the cost of getting it wrong: reinstating exempt status after automatic revocation involves refiling the exemption application (Form 1023 or 1023-EZ) with its own user fee, currently set by the IRS fee schedule, plus back-filing any missed returns . A $100 e-file fee paid on time is cheap insurance against a multi-hundred-dollar reinstatement process eighteen months later. If your group also handles a state fundraising registration or charitable solicitation license, budget separately for that; it's a different filing with a different agency (your state charity office or attorney general), not covered by the IRS e-file fee at all.
getting organized before next year's filing
Most late or bungled 990-EZ filings trace back to bad handoffs, not bad math. The prior treasurer leaves, takes institutional knowledge with them, and the new person spends February through April reconstructing a year of transactions from a shoebox or a shared spreadsheet nobody explained. The fix is boring but effective: keep a standing folder (physical or digital) with the EIN, prior three years of filed returns, the bylaws, bank statements, and a running log of who served as officers each year. If you're setting this up from scratch, a $99 one-time State-Personalized Treasurer Kit built for your specific state's raffle and registration rules can save a first-year treasurer a lot of guessing, though a well-organized shared drive and a checklist accomplish the same core goal for free if you build it yourself. Whatever system you use, test it by asking: could someone who's never touched these books file next year's return using only what's in this folder? If the honest answer is no, that's this month's project, not next year's.
Frequently asked questions
what is form 990
Form 990 is the annual information return the IRS requires most tax-exempt organizations to file, disclosing revenue, expenses, governance, and program activities. It's a public disclosure document, not typically a tax bill. Which version you file (990-N, 990-EZ, or full 990) depends on your organization's gross receipts and total assets for the year [1][2].
what is the 990 tax form used for
The IRS and the public use it to check that a tax-exempt organization is operating consistently with its exempt purpose and spending money appropriately. Grant funders, donors, and state charity regulators often pull a nonprofit's 990 to evaluate financial health and governance before giving money or approving registrations.
what does a treasurer do
A treasurer manages an organization's money: tracking income and expenses, reconciling bank accounts, reporting finances to the board, and making sure required filings like Form 990-N or 990-EZ get submitted on time. In small volunteer groups, the treasurer often handles bookkeeping and compliance without paid staff support.
what does a club treasurer do differently from a company treasurer
A club or booster treasurer usually works with cash from bake sales, raffles, and concessions alongside normal bank transactions, and files a simplified nonprofit return (990-N or 990-EZ) rather than a corporate tax return. The core job, tracking money and reporting on it accurately, is the same, just at volunteer scale.
is electronic filing required for form 990-ez
Yes. Under the Taxpayer First Act, the IRS requires electronic filing of Form 990-series returns, with mandatory e-filing for Form 990-EZ applying to tax years beginning after July 1, 2019 [3]. Paper 990-EZ filings for covered years are not accepted as valid returns.
where do you e-file form 990-ez
Through an IRS-Authorized e-File Provider, a private software company approved by the IRS to transmit exempt organization returns. The IRS does not run its own free portal for 990-EZ the way it does for 990-N; check the current list of approved providers on IRS.gov before choosing one [4].
how much does it cost to file form 990-ez electronically
There's no IRS filing fee, but e-file software providers typically charge $50 to $200 for a straightforward small nonprofit return. Costs rise if you need extra schedules or support. Confirm current pricing directly with your chosen IRS-authorized e-file provider before filing [4].
what happens if you miss the 990-ez deadline
One late filing may trigger penalties but usually doesn't end your exempt status. Missing three consecutive years does: the IRS automatically revokes tax-exempt status for organizations that fail to file for three years running, no discretion involved [7]. Check your filing history on the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool regularly [9].
can you get an extension for form 990-ez
Yes, file Form 8868 for an automatic six-month extension; the IRS grants it without requiring an explanation if filed properly and on time [6]. For a calendar-year filer with a normal May 15 deadline, that pushes the due date to November 15, with no second extension available.
what is the difference between form 990-n and form 990-ez
Form 990-N (the e-Postcard) is for organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less, and it's a short online form filed through the IRS. Form 990-EZ is for organizations with gross receipts under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000, and it requires more detailed financial reporting [1][2].
does a booster club or pto have to file a 990
If it holds federal tax-exempt status (typically 501(c)(3)), yes, some version of the 990 is required every year regardless of size, even if that version is just the 990-N e-Postcard. There's no exemption from filing based on being small or volunteer-run; only the form version changes with gross receipts and assets [1][2].
how do you know your organization lost its tax-exempt status
Search your organization's name or EIN in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool, which lists automatically revoked organizations. Many treasurers only discover a prior lapse this way, since the IRS doesn't always send a personalized warning before the automatic three-year revocation takes effect [7][9].
Sources
- IRS, Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations (Form 990-N): Form 990-N is for organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less
- IRS, Form 990 Series Which Forms Do Exempt Organizations File: 990-EZ is for gross receipts under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000; full Form 990 above those thresholds
- IRS, Instructions for Form 990-EZ: Form 990-EZ is due by the 15th day of the 5th month after the fiscal year ends
- IRS, About Form 8868, Application for Extension of Time To File an Exempt Organization Return: Form 8868 provides an automatic extension of time to file without needing to state a reason
- IRS, Automatic Revocation of Exemption: Organizations that fail to file required returns for three consecutive years automatically lose tax-exempt status
- IRS, Revenue Procedure 2014-11: Streamlined retroactive reinstatement procedures exist for organizations that lost exemption through automatic revocation
- IRS, Tax Exempt Organization Search: The public tool shows organizations whose exempt status has been automatically revoked