The Internal Revenue Service recently unveiled an updated, shorter application to assist small charities with applying for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen says the new Form 1023-EZ will help reduce long processing delays for small tax-exempt groups as well as larger organizations.
“The change cuts paperwork for these charitable groups and speeds application processing so they can focus on their important work,†said Koskinen in a statement.
Form 1023-EZ, is available on IRS.gov. It is now three pages long, instead of the standard 26-page Form 1023.
The IRS says most small organizations, as well as about 70% of all applicants, qualify to use the new form. Most organizations with gross receipts of $50,000 or less and assets of $250,000 or less are eligible.
The updated form will help speed up the process for approval and alleviate some of the pile up of applications. The IRS says it has more than 60,000 501(c)(3) applications in its backlog—many of them have been pending approval for nine months.
In addition the $50,000 gross receipts threshold was revised down from $200,000.
If your organization is interested in filling out the new form, know that it has to be filed online through the pay.gov website. Also know that you will be required to complete an eligibility checklist and pay a $400 user fee.
See Revenue Procedure 2014-40 for more information.