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Irs Issues Instructions For New Form 990

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IRS Issues Instructions for New Form 990

IR-2008-98, Aug. 19, 2008

WASHINGTON –– The Internal Revenue Service released the

revised instructions

that tax-exempt

organizations will need to fill out the redesigned Form 990, which must be filed starting with tax

year 2008 (filed in 2009).

Most charities and other tax-exempt organizations must file an annual informational return with the

IRS to maintain their tax-exempt status. Information reported on Form 990 is made available to the

public.

“These instructions are the final step in a tremendous effort to bring the Form 990 up to date and

to reflect the diversity and complexity of the tax-exempt community,” said IRS Commissioner Doug

Shulman. "The revised form will give the IRS and the public a much better view of how exempt

organizations operate. The improved transparency provided by these changes will also benefit the

tax-exempt community.”

Form 990 had previously not seen major revisions since 1979. The revised instructions and

redesigned Form 990 can be found on IRS.gov.

The

revised instructions

feature several new tools that make it easier to answer questions line-by-

line and that facilitate uniform reporting. Input from the tax-exempt community played a major role

in how the new instructions were designed.

“We were gratified by the amount of help the IRS received from the tax-exempt community through

public comments to redesign the Form 990 and revise its instructions,” said Steven T. Miller,

Commissioner of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division. “This input helped us achieve

our goal of improving compliance while minimizing burden. We will now begin working with the tax-

exempt sector to help organizations complete the form and prepare for the 2009 filing season."

The IRS expects to release instructions to the 2008 Form 990-EZ, Short Form Return of

Organization Exempt from Income Tax, in the next few weeks.

As part of the phase in of the redesigned Form 990 over a three-year transition period, many

organizations not eligible to file the Form 990-EZ for 2007 will be eligible to file Form 990-EZ or

Form 990 for 2008. A

summary of the transition period

filing requirements for Form 990, 990-EZ,

and 990-N is also available.

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Irs Issues Instructions For New Form 990