Nonprofit 990: what it is and what a treasurer must file

Last updated 2026-07-24

what is form 990

Form 990 is the annual information return that tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS to report income, spending, and activities for the year. It's not an income tax return in the way a business files one, since exempt organizations generally don't owe federal income tax on money related to their mission. Think of it as a public accountability document instead. The IRS uses it to check that a nonprofit still deserves its exempt status, and anyone else, a donor, a reporter, a rival booster club, can pull it up and read it too. The legal requirement lives in the Internal Revenue Code. Section 6033 requires most organizations exempt under section 501(a) to file an annual return, and the IRS has built four versions of that return scaled to organization size ^[1]. Small nonprofits get a short electronic postcard. Bigger ones fill out a real form with financial statements, program descriptions, and governance questions. Here's the part new treasurers miss: filing some version of the 990 is required even if your booster club or PTO never applied for a formal exemption letter and just assumes it's tax-exempt because it's a school group. If the IRS has you on file as exempt (or you're claiming exemption under a group ruling through a parent organization), the filing duty applies.

what is the 990 tax form used for

The 990 tax form reports four things: money in, money out, who runs the place, and what the organization actually did with its funds during the year. The IRS reviews it to confirm continued eligibility for tax-exempt status. Grantmakers and the public use it to research a nonprofit before writing a check or joining the board. For a booster club or parent group, the practical use is smaller in scope but the exposure is the same. If your concession stand, raffle, and fall auction raised $40,000 last year, that gets reported. Officer names go on the form. If you paid a coach a stipend or reimbursed a parent volunteer more than a token amount, some versions ask about that too. A useful fact for skeptical board members: 990s are public record. GuideStar (now Candid) and the IRS's own Tax Exempt Organization Search tool let anyone look up a filed 990 for free. That transparency is the tradeoff for the tax break.

which version of the 990 does my nonprofit file

Normally $50,000 or less	Form 990-N (e-Postcard)
Gross receipts under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000	Form 990-EZ (or full 990)
Gross receipts $200,000 or more, or total assets $500,000 or more	Form 990 (full form)
Private foundations, any size	Form 990-PF	Most booster clubs, PTOs, and youth sports leagues land in the first row. If your group's gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less, you can (and should) file the 990-N, sometimes called the form 990-n e-Postcard. It's eight data fields, filed online, and takes about ten minutes once you have your EIN and basic org info. If you crossed $50,000 in a strong fundraising year, jump to 990-EZ. You can also choose to file the full 990 or 990-EZ voluntarily even if you qualify for the N; some fiscal sponsors or state charity registries want the fuller form regardless of size. Confirm which applies to your group with the IRS and your state charity office, since state filing thresholds don't always match the federal ones.

The version you file depends almost entirely on gross receipts and total assets, not on how the IRS feels about you. Here's the breakdown the IRS publishes for choosing among the family of forms ^[2]: | Gross receipts / assets | Form required |

what is form 990-n and who can file it

Form 990-N, the e-Postcard, is for small tax-exempt organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less ^[3]. It's filed exclusively online through the IRS's e-Postcard system, there is no paper version, and there's no fee to file it. You need eight things: your EIN, tax year, legal name and mailing address, any alternate names, your website if you have one, confirmation your gross receipts are still $50,000 or under, and a statement that the organization hasn't terminated. That's it. No balance sheet, no line-item expenses. The catch that trips people up: you still have to file it every single year, on time, even though it's short. "Gross receipts normally $50,000 or less" uses a rolling average test over the current and two prior years, not a hard annual cap, so check the IRS's specific averaging rule before assuming you qualify ^[3]. For background on the difference between this and the fuller forms, see form 990 and 990 tax form.

when is the 990 deadline

The 990, in any version, is due by the 15th day of the 5th month after your organization's accounting period ends ^[4]. For a nonprofit on a calendar year (ending December 31), that's May 15 of the following year. For a group running on a school-year fiscal calendar ending June 30, the deadline lands November 15. Extensions exist. Filing Form 8868 gets you an automatic six-month extension for most 990 versions ^[4]. That moves a May 15 deadline to November 15. It costs nothing to file the extension, but it doesn't extend any tax payment that might be due (rare for a small booster club, more relevant for organizations with unrelated business income). Mark this date the day you take over as treasurer. New treasurers often inherit a filing that's already overdue because the prior treasurer assumed the school or district handled it. Nobody handles it but you.

what happens if you don't file the 990

Miss three consecutive years and the IRS automatically revokes your tax-exempt status, no hearing, no warning letter required by statute. This is the automatic revocation rule under Internal Revenue Code section 6033(j), added by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 ^[5]. The IRS states plainly on its automatic revocation guidance page: "Organizations that do not file for three consecutive years automatically lose their tax-exempt status" ^[5]. Revocation isn't a slap on the wrist. Once it happens, the organization owes corporate income tax on its revenue going forward, donations made to it are no longer tax-deductible to donors, and many state charity registries and school districts will pull the plug on the group's ability to fundraise on campus until it's fixed. The IRS publishes a running Tax Exempt Organization Search tool that includes the Auto-Revocation List, searchable by name or EIN. The fix is Streamlined Retroactive Reinstatement under Revenue Procedure 2014-11, section 4, for organizations that were eligible to file 990-N or 990-EZ for the years they missed ^[6]. You file the current year's 990-EZ or 990-N, write "Streamlined Retroactive Reinstatement" at the top, pay the applicable user fee, and if approved, the IRS treats your exempt status as never having lapsed. It's genuinely fixable. It's just paperwork and a fee, not a funeral, but it eats a weekend and sometimes a Form 1023 or 1023-EZ application fee on top ^[7].

what does a treasurer do

A treasurer is the officer responsible for an organization's money: tracking it, reporting on it, and making sure the group meets its legal and tax obligations around it. In a booster club, PTO, or youth sports league, that usually means one volunteer wearing the hat of bookkeeper, tax filer, and internal auditor all at once. Day to day, what a treasurer does breaks into four buckets. First, recordkeeping: logging every deposit and expense, reconciling the bank statement monthly, keeping receipts. Second, reporting: giving the board a clear picture at every meeting of what's in the account and what's committed. Third, compliance: filing the 990 (or 990-N) on time, renewing any state charitable solicitation registration, handling raffle license paperwork if the group runs raffles. Fourth, controls: making sure no single person can both collect cash and record it without a second set of eyes, which protects the treasurer as much as it protects the organization. What a club treasurer does specifically often includes managing a concession stand's cash box, reconciling registration fees against a roster, and preparing a year-end financial summary for the annual handoff to the next volunteer. None of it requires a CPA license. It requires consistency and a system, which is exactly what most groups lack until something goes wrong.

what is a treasurer, in plain terms

A treasurer is simply the person legally and practically accountable for an organization's finances. The title shows up in bylaws as an elected or appointed officer position, usually alongside president, vice president, and secretary. What separates a treasurer from a bookkeeper is authority and responsibility, more than task list. A bookkeeper might enter transactions. A treasurer signs the 990, presents the budget, and answers to the board (and sometimes to the IRS or a state charity regulator) if numbers don't add up. In a small volunteer group, one person often does both jobs, which is fine as long as someone else reviews the bank statement each month. Bylaws should spell out the treasurer's specific powers: check-signing authority, spending limits without board approval, and what reports are owed and when. If your group's bylaws are silent on this, that's a fixable gap, and it's the kind of thing worth nailing down before the next handoff rather than during a crisis.

what does a treasurer of a club do differently from a corporate treasurer

A corporate treasurer usually manages cash flow, debt, and investment strategy for a company with paid finance staff underneath them. A club treasurer, by contrast, is often the entire finance department: the person cutting checks, counting concession cash, and filing the tax return, all with no staff and often no accounting background. The stakes differ too. A corporate treasurer's mistakes get caught by internal audit and external auditors before they become public. A club treasurer's mistakes, an unfiled 990-N, a raffle run without a license, cash that goes missing from an unlocked box, tend to surface at the worst moment: an IRS revocation notice, a state investigation, or an accusatory parent at a board meeting. That's why financial controls matter disproportionately more for small volunteer groups than the dollar amounts might suggest. A $15,000 concession stand budget with no receipts and one signer is a bigger practical risk than a $15 million company with an audit committee, because nobody is watching the small group until something's already wrong.

how do i find and read a nonprofit's 990

Anyone can look up a filed 990 for free. The IRS's own Tax Exempt Organization Search tool lets you pull recent filings by organization name or EIN, and Candid's GuideStar database mirrors much of the same data with a friendlier interface. When you open one, focus on three sections first. Part I gives the summary: total revenue, total expenses, net assets at year end, compared to the prior year. Part VII lists officers, directors, and their compensation, useful for confirming who's actually running the show. Schedule O (on the full 990) is where organizations explain unusual line items in plain language, and it's often the most honest part of the whole document. For a booster club evaluating whether to merge with, absorb, or split off from another group, pulling the other group's last two 990s or 990-Ns before the conversation saves a lot of awkward surprises later.

what should a new treasurer check first

Before anything else, confirm the organization's current IRS status. Search the EIN on the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool and check whether it shows active, or whether it's sitting on the Auto-Revocation List. This takes five minutes and tells you immediately whether you're starting clean or starting in a hole. Next, pull the last three years of filed 990s or 990-Ns, if any exist, and check the dates against the deadline math above. If nothing was filed and the group has existed more than three years, assume revocation has already happened until proven otherwise. Then check the bank account: who has signing authority, whether statements reconcile to any existing records, and whether the group has an EIN of its own versus improperly using the school district's or another parent group's. This is also the moment to confirm whether your state requires a separate charitable solicitation registration; that's handled by your state's charity regulator or attorney general's office, not the IRS, and it's a completely separate filing with its own deadline. A state-personalized treasurer kit built for your specific state can shortcut a lot of this research, since state raffle licensing and charity registration rules vary widely and change often.

does a booster club or pto have to file a 990 every year

Yes, in nearly every case, if the organization has (or claims) federal tax-exempt status. Section 6033 requires an annual information return from most exempt organizations regardless of whether they owe any tax, and the smallest version, the 990-N, exists specifically so tiny groups don't need an accountant to comply ^{[1] [3]}. The narrow exceptions involve certain church-affiliated organizations and a few other statutory categories the IRS lists in its instructions; a typical booster club, PTO, or youth sports league doesn't fall into those. If your group has never applied for formal exemption and has no EIN of its own (some booster clubs improperly operate under the school's tax ID), that's a separate problem worth fixing before worrying about the 990 at all, since operating that way muddies liability and banking. Confirm your specific filing obligation with the IRS directly and, for any state-level charitable registration renewal, with your state charity office or attorney general, since those thresholds and deadlines run independently of the federal 990 calendar.

Frequently asked questions

What is a treasurer?

A treasurer is the officer responsible for an organization's finances: tracking income and expenses, reporting to the board, and handling legal obligations like tax filings. In a volunteer group, one person usually does the recordkeeping, reporting, and compliance work that a paid finance department would split among several staff at a larger company.

What does a treasurer do in a club?

A club treasurer records deposits and expenses, reconciles the bank account monthly, reports finances at meetings, files the group's IRS Form 990 or 990-N, and manages any state raffle or charity registration paperwork. In practice it's bookkeeping plus compliance plus reporting, all rolled into one volunteer role.

What is Form 990?

Form 990 is the annual information return the IRS requires from most tax-exempt organizations under Internal Revenue Code section 6033. It reports revenue, expenses, and governance details, and comes in four versions (990-N, 990-EZ, full 990, 990-PF) scaled by organization size.

What is the 990 tax form for?

It reports a nonprofit's income, spending, and leadership to the IRS each year so the agency can confirm the organization still qualifies for tax-exempt status. It's also a public document, so donors and the public can look up any nonprofit's filed 990 through the IRS's Tax Exempt Organization Search tool or Candid's GuideStar.

What is Form 990-N?

Form 990-N, the e-Postcard, is a short online-only annual filing for tax-exempt organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less. It asks for eight basic data points, has no paper option, and must be filed every year even though it takes only minutes.

Which version of the 990 does my nonprofit file?

It depends on gross receipts and assets: 990-N if normally $50,000 or less, 990-EZ if gross receipts are under $200,000 and assets under $500,000, and the full Form 990 above those thresholds. Private foundations always file Form 990-PF regardless of size.

When is the 990 deadline?

The 990, in any version, is due the 15th day of the 5th month after your fiscal year ends. Calendar-year organizations file by May 15. A six-month extension is available by filing Form 8868, moving that deadline to November 15.

What happens if a nonprofit doesn't file its 990 for three years?

The IRS automatically revokes tax-exempt status after three consecutive years of missed filings, under Internal Revenue Code section 6033(j). There's no warning letter required. Reinstatement is possible through Streamlined Retroactive Reinstatement under Revenue Procedure 2014-11 if the group was eligible for 990-N or 990-EZ.

How do I find out if my organization is on the IRS auto-revocation list?

Search your organization's name or EIN using the IRS's Tax Exempt Organization Search tool at irs.gov. It shows current exempt status and flags organizations whose status was automatically revoked for failing to file three years running.

Does a PTO or booster club really need to file taxes if it doesn't owe any?

Yes. Filing the 990 (or 990-N) is an informational requirement, separate from owing tax. Most small booster clubs and PTOs owe no federal income tax but still must file annually to keep their tax-exempt status active.

What's the difference between a club treasurer and a corporate treasurer?

A corporate treasurer typically manages cash flow, debt, and investments with finance staff support. A club treasurer is usually a solo volunteer handling bookkeeping, cash handling, tax filings, and board reporting all at once, with far less oversight and often no accounting background.

Where can I read a nonprofit's actual 990 filing?

The IRS's Tax Exempt Organization Search tool and Candid's GuideStar database both let you search and view filed 990s for free. Look at Part I for the financial summary, Part VII for officer compensation, and Schedule O for plain-language explanations of unusual items.

Is filing the 990-N enough, or does my state require something separate?

The 990-N only satisfies the federal IRS requirement. Most states have a separate charitable solicitation registration with its own deadline and threshold, handled through the state charity office or attorney general, not the IRS. Confirm your specific state's rule directly with that office.

Sources

1. 26 U.S. Code section 6033, Cornell Legal Information Institute: requirement for exempt organizations to file an annual return
2. IRS, Annual Exempt Organization Return: Which Forms to File: gross receipts and asset thresholds determining which 990 version to file
3. IRS, Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations (Form 990-N): 990-N eligibility for organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less and required data fields
4. IRS, About Form 8868, Application for Extension of Time to File an Exempt Organization Return: 990 due date of the 15th day of the 5th month after fiscal year end, and six-month extension
5. IRS, Automatic Revocation of Exemption: automatic revocation after three consecutive years of not filing, under IRC section 6033(j)
6. IRS Revenue Procedure 2014-11: streamlined retroactive reinstatement process for small organizations after automatic revocation
7. IRS, Form 1023-EZ, Streamlined Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Section 501(c)(3): Form 1023-EZ application used by small organizations seeking reinstatement of exemption
8. Pension Protection Act of 2006, Public Law 109-280, section 1223: statutory origin of the three-year automatic revocation rule added to section 6033(j)