How to e file form 990: a treasurer's step by step guide

Last updated 2026-07-25

what is form 990?

Form 990 is the annual information return the IRS requires from most tax-exempt organizations, including 501(c)(3) charities, booster clubs, and PTOs. It's not a tax bill in the way a personal 1040 is. Instead, it tells the IRS (and the public) what your organization took in, what it spent, and whether it's still operating the way it claimed when it got tax-exempt status. There isn't one single "990 form." There's a family of them, scaled to your organization's size. The IRS states plainly that "tax-exempt organizations, nonexempt charitable trusts, and section 527 political organizations file Form 990 to provide the IRS with the information required by section 6033" ^[1]. Which version you file depends on your gross receipts and total assets, not on how big your board thinks the group is. Most volunteer-run booster clubs and PTOs fall into the smallest tier and file the 990-N, sometimes called the e-Postcard. It's eight questions. That's genuinely the whole form.

what is the 990 tax form used for, and who has to file it?

The 990 tax form exists so the IRS and the public can see how a tax-exempt organization spends its money. Donors, parents, school administrators, and state charity regulators can all pull a group's 990 to check on it. Nonprofit data sites and some state attorney general offices post them online. Almost every organization recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c) has to file something in the 990 family annually, regardless of size. The narrow exceptions include churches and certain church-affiliated organizations, and a few other categories listed in the Form 990 instructions ^[2]. A booster club or PTO with its own EIN and its own 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) determination almost never qualifies for an exception. If your group operates under a school district's tax ID instead of its own EIN, you may not need to file at all, which is worth confirming before you panic about a missing filing. Here's the part that trips up a lot of new treasurers: filing a 990 has nothing to do with owing tax. Most booster clubs and PTOs owe zero federal income tax. You still have to file the information return. Skipping it because "we don't make any money" is exactly how groups end up on the auto-revocation list.

which 990 version do I file: 990-N, 990-EZ, or full 990?

Gross receipts normally ≤ $50,000	Form 990-N (e-Postcard)
Gross receipts < $200,000 AND total assets < $500,000	Form 990-EZ (or full 990)
Gross receipts ≥ $200,000 OR total assets ≥ $500,000	Form 990
Private foundations (any size)	Form 990-PF	"Normally" matters here. The IRS averages gross receipts over a rolling period (generally the current year and the two before it) rather than judging you on one unusually good bake sale year. Check the exact averaging rule in the Form 990-N instructions before you assume you're stuck in a higher bracket because of one big fundraiser [4]. Most school booster clubs and small PTOs sit comfortably under $50,000 in gross receipts and file the 990-N. Bigger athletic boosters running six-figure concession stands and travel programs often land in 990-EZ or full 990 territory, especially in the year they buy a bus or build a scoreboard, since large one-time gifts count toward gross receipts too.

Your gross receipts and total assets decide the version. The thresholds come straight from the IRS 990-series filing thresholds page ^[3]: | Your situation | Which form |

how do I e-file form 990-n (the e-Postcard)?

Form 990-N can only be filed electronically, and it's free. You file it directly at the IRS's Form 990-N electronic filing system page ^[5], not through a paid preparer, though some paid platforms also route it through for you if you want the extra hand-holding. You'll need: your organization's EIN, tax year, legal name and mailing address, any other names the organization uses, the name and address of a principal officer, your website (if you have one), and a confirmation that gross receipts are still $50,000 or less ^[4]. That's genuinely it. No income statement, no balance sheet, no signatures to notarize. The form has to be filed by the 15th day of the 5th month after your organization's accounting period ends. Calendar-year organizations (the most common setup for school-year-based boosters and PTOs) file by May 15 ^[4]. If your fiscal year runs July to June, matching the school year, your deadline is November 15. One quirk worth knowing: the IRS 990-N filing system doesn't accept late filings gracefully in the way paper forms once did, and there's no extension available for the 990-N itself ^[4]. If you miss the date, you file it late when you remember, and one late 990-N alone isn't the end of the world. Three years missed in a row is the real danger, covered below.

how do I e-file form 990-EZ or the full form 990?

Form 990-EZ and the full Form 990 both have to be filed electronically as well now. The Taxpayer First Act of 2019 required electronic filing for most 990-series returns, and the IRS confirms that "tax-exempt organizations that file Forms 990 and 990-PF, and organizations that file Form 990-EZ, are required to file these forms electronically for tax years beginning after July 1, 2019" ^[6]. Unlike the 990-N, you can't type these directly into an IRS web portal. You file through an IRS-authorized e-file provider, which usually means either a commercial nonprofit tax software package or a CPA/accountant who e-files on your behalf. The IRS keeps a list of approved e-file providers for exempt organizations on its site ^[7]. Budget for this differently than the free 990-N. Nonprofit-focused e-file services generally run somewhere in the range of $100 to $600+ depending on form complexity and whether a preparer reviews it, though pricing varies by vendor and year, so check current rates before committing. A CPA engagement for a first-time 990-EZ can run higher, especially if your books need cleanup first, which is common when a treasurer inherits a shoebox of receipts. The deadline structure matches the 990-N: 15th day of the 5th month after your fiscal year ends. Unlike the 990-N, you can request a 6-month automatic extension using Form 8868 ^[8], which pushes a May 15 deadline to November 15.

what happens if you file form 990 late or not at all?

A single late 990 filing usually doesn't cost a small organization anything if it's the 990-N, since there's no dollar penalty tied to that specific form. Form 990-EZ and full Form 990 are a different story: the IRS can assess a penalty of $20 per day the return is late (up to the lesser of $12,000 or 5% of the organization's gross receipts for that year), and larger organizations face steeper daily penalties, according to the penalty structure in the Form 990 instructions ^[2]. The real cliff isn't a late fee. It's automatic revocation. Section 6033(j) of the Internal Revenue Code requires the IRS to revoke the tax-exempt status of any organization that fails to file a required 990-series return for three consecutive years . There's no warning letter that says "one more miss and you're done." The revocation is automatic by statute, effective on the filing due date of that third missed year. Once revoked, your organization owes federal income tax on its revenue going forward, loses the ability to tell donors their gifts are tax-deductible, and shows up publicly on the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search auto-revocation list . For a booster club running raffles or accepting parent donations, that donor-deductibility loss is often the part that causes the most damage, since some families specifically give because they can deduct it.

how do you fix an auto-revoked 501(c)(3)?

You apply for reinstatement, and the IRS has a formal process for it in Revenue Procedure 2014-11 . Small organizations that would have qualified to file the 990-N or 990-EZ can often use the streamlined retroactive reinstatement process if they apply within 15 months of the revocation date, which involves filing Form 1023 (or 1023-EZ if eligible) along with the missed 990-series returns and a reasonable-cause statement. Miss that 15-month window and the process gets more paperwork-heavy, generally requiring reinstatement effective from the application date forward rather than retroactively, plus filing all delinquent returns. Either path takes real time, often several months of IRS processing, and the user fee for Form 1023 currently runs $600 in most cases (confirm the current fee on IRS.gov before filing, since these are adjusted periodically) . The cheapest fix is never letting it get to three years. Set a calendar reminder the day your board takes over, not the week before the deadline. If you're not sure whether your predecessor filed anything, look your organization up on the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool before you assume everything is fine .

what does a treasurer do, exactly?

A treasurer is the person legally and practically responsible for an organization's money: tracking it, reporting on it, and making sure the group files what it owes to the IRS and state. In a booster club or PTO, that almost always includes preparing or overseeing the annual 990 filing. What does a treasurer do in a club, day to day? It usually breaks down into four buckets: keeping the checkbook and bank reconciliation current, tracking income and expenses by category (concessions, uniforms, travel, fundraisers), preparing financial reports for board meetings, and handling the annual filings, the 990 chief among them for tax-exempt groups. What a treasurer of a club does is less about accounting credentials and more about consistency: recording every deposit and every check, every month, without gaps. What do treasurers do that non-treasurers don't see? A lot of it is compliance nobody notices until it's missing: making sure raffle proceeds get reported correctly, making sure the group's 990-N or 990-EZ actually gets filed on time, making sure there's a paper trail if a parent asks where the concession stand money went. Nobody claps for a clean bank reconciliation. Everybody notices when the group loses its tax-exempt status because nobody filed for three years.

what does a treasurer do in a nonprofit vs. a booster club vs. a PTO?

The core job is the same everywhere: track the money, report on it honestly, file what's required. The differences are mostly about scale and audience. In a larger nonprofit, a treasurer often oversees a paid bookkeeper or accountant and focuses on board-level financial strategy, reserve policy, and audit committee work. In a booster club or PTO, the treasurer usually does the hands-on bookkeeping personally: writing the checks, reconciling the bank statement, tallying concession stand cash at 10pm after a Friday game. There's rarely a bookkeeper to delegate to. A nonprofit treasurer might be dealing with a full Form 990 and audited financial statements. A booster club treasurer is far more likely dealing with the 990-N e-Postcard and a shoebox of receipts from six different fundraisers. Both jobs carry the same legal exposure if filings get missed, which is the part new volunteers underestimate. Nobody warns an incoming PTO treasurer that skipping three years of 990s can end the group's tax-exempt status just as surely as it would for a big nonprofit.

how do you know which 990 your predecessor was filing?

Pull up the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool and look up your organization by name or EIN . It shows filed 990s going back several years, the form type used each year, and whether the organization currently shows as auto-revoked. If nothing shows up under your group's name, check whether your EIN is correct, whether the group has ever changed its legal name, and whether a school district's EIN was used instead of the booster club's own. It's common for a club to think it's been filing when the prior treasurer was actually filing under the wrong entity, or not filing at all because "the school handles that," which it usually doesn't for an independently incorporated booster club. If you find gaps, don't guess at fixes. Confirm with the IRS and, if your state requires charity registration or renewal, with your state charity office or attorney general's office, since some states tie annual charitable solicitation registration renewal to your federal 990 filing and a lapse can affect both at once.

does e-filing form 990 cost anything?

Form 990-N is free, filed directly through the IRS system, no third-party fee required ^[5]. If your group qualifies for the e-Postcard, there's no legitimate reason to pay a service more than a small convenience fee for it, if anything. Form 990-EZ and full Form 990 require an IRS-authorized e-file provider, which does cost money. Expect a range roughly from $100 on the low end for straightforward 990-EZ software filing, up into several hundred dollars for full Form 990 preparation with a CPA doing the work, particularly if your books need reconciliation first. Get a quote before committing, and ask specifically whether the price includes fixing messy books, since that's where costs balloon for first-time treasurers. BoosterLedger's $99 one-time State-Personalized Treasurer Kit isn't a substitute for the e-file service itself, but it gives new treasurers the deadline calendar, form-selection worksheet, and recordkeeping templates that make the actual filing (whichever version you need) a lot less confusing when May 15 sneaks up on you.

what records do you need before you e-file?

Before you sit down to file any version of the 990, gather: your EIN and legal organization name exactly as the IRS has it on file, your fiscal year start and end dates, total gross receipts for the year, a basic breakdown of income by source (dues, fundraisers, donations, concessions), a basic breakdown of expenses by category, your current principal officer's name and address, and your organization's website if it has one. For 990-EZ or full 990, you'll also need a balance sheet (assets and liabilities at year start and year end), a list of officers and their approximate hours worked, and, depending on your revenue, a schedule of fundraising events and any gaming/raffle income reported separately. If your books are a mess, from bank statements you can't fully reconcile to a shoebox of receipts, budget extra time before your deadline to sort it out, or bring in a bookkeeper for a one-time cleanup. Filing a 990 based on bad numbers is worse than filing it a little late, since it creates a public record the IRS and your state charity regulator can both see.

Frequently asked questions

What is Form 990?

Form 990 is the annual information return the IRS requires from most tax-exempt organizations. It reports income, expenses, and organizational details so the IRS and public can verify a group still qualifies for tax-exempt status. It comes in several versions (990-N, 990-EZ, full 990, 990-PF) depending on your organization's size.

What is the 990 tax form used for?

It tells the IRS and the public how a tax-exempt organization raised and spent money during the year. Donors and state regulators can look it up to check on a charity. Filing it is separate from owing income tax; most booster clubs and PTOs owe no federal tax but still must file.

What does a treasurer do?

A treasurer tracks an organization's money, reconciles bank accounts, prepares financial reports for the board, and handles required government filings, including the annual 990 for tax-exempt groups. In a small booster club or PTO, the treasurer usually does this hands-on rather than delegating to staff.

What does a treasurer do in a club?

In a booster club or PTO, the treasurer keeps the checkbook current, tracks fundraiser and concession income against expenses, reports to the board monthly or quarterly, and files the annual 990-series return with the IRS. It's a hands-on bookkeeping role, more than a title.

What does a club treasurer do differently from a big nonprofit treasurer?

A club treasurer usually does the bookkeeping personally instead of overseeing paid staff, deals with cash-heavy income like concessions and raffles, and most often files the simple 990-N rather than a full audited Form 990. The compliance stakes (auto-revocation for missed filings) are identical either way.

Which Form 990 do I need to file: 990-N, 990-EZ, or full 990?

It depends on gross receipts and total assets. Groups normally at or under $50,000 in gross receipts file Form 990-N. Groups under $200,000 in receipts and $500,000 in assets file 990-EZ. Larger groups file the full Form 990. Confirm current thresholds on IRS.gov since they're set by IRS guidance, not fixed by statute.

Can I e-file Form 990-N myself for free?

Yes. Form 990-N (e-Postcard) is filed directly through the IRS's electronic filing system at no cost. You need your EIN, tax year, organization name and address, a principal officer's name, and confirmation that gross receipts are $50,000 or less.

What happens if I don't file Form 990 for three years?

The IRS automatically revokes your tax-exempt status under Internal Revenue Code section 6033(j) if you fail to file a required 990-series return for three consecutive years. There's no separate warning letter for the third miss; the revocation happens by law on the filing due date.

How do I fix an auto-revoked tax-exempt status?

File for reinstatement using the process in Revenue Procedure 2014-11, generally through Form 1023 (or 1023-EZ if eligible), along with the delinquent 990-series returns and, often, a reasonable-cause statement. Applying within 15 months of revocation can qualify small organizations for retroactive reinstatement.

Does e-filing Form 990-EZ or the full Form 990 cost money?

Yes. Unlike the free 990-N, these must go through an IRS-authorized e-file provider, typically nonprofit tax software or a CPA. Costs commonly range from around $100 for straightforward software filing up to several hundred dollars for CPA-prepared full Form 990 returns, depending on complexity.

When is Form 990 due?

The 15th day of the 5th month after your organization's fiscal year ends. For calendar-year filers, that's May 15. Form 990-EZ and full Form 990 can get a 6-month extension via Form 8868; Form 990-N has no extension option.

What is a 990 tax form used for by donors and the public?

Donors, journalists, and watchdog groups use it to check how much of an organization's money goes to programs versus overhead, who runs it, and whether it's still in good standing with the IRS. It's a public document, generally available through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool.

What does a treasurer of a club do if the books are a mess from the last treasurer?

Start by pulling the organization's filing history from the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool, reconcile bank statements against whatever records exist, and don't guess at numbers for a 990 filing. If gaps are large, a one-time bookkeeper cleanup before filing is usually worth the cost.

Sources

1. IRS, About Form 990: Purpose of Form 990 under section 6033
2. IRS, Form 990 Instructions: Filing exceptions and late filing penalty structure
3. IRS, Form 990-N (e-Postcard) FAQs: 990-N due date, required information, and no-extension rule
4. IRS, e-File for Charities and Non-Profits: 990-N is filed free directly through the IRS electronic system
5. IRS, About Form 8868: 6-month automatic extension available for 990-EZ and full Form 990
6. Internal Revenue Code section 6033(j) via IRS, Automatic Revocation of Exemption: Automatic revocation after three consecutive years of unfiled returns
7. IRS, Tax Exempt Organization Search: Public tool to check filing history and auto-revocation status
8. IRS, Revenue Procedure 2014-11: Reinstatement process and streamlined retroactive reinstatement for small organizations