How to File Form 990-N: Eligibility, Deadline, and Reinstatement

To file Form 990-N, submit the electronic notice (the e-Postcard) through the IRS website by the 15th day of the fifth month after your tax year ends. The filing is free, takes about five minutes, and requires eight pieces of information about your organization. You’ll need a Login.gov or ID.me account to access the system.¹

Confirm You’re Eligible to File the e-Postcard

Form 990-N is for small tax-exempt organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less.¹ Gross receipts means everything the organization took in from all sources before expenses. Above $50,000, you file Form 990 or Form 990-EZ instead.²

The word “normally” matters, because the IRS looks at a rolling picture rather than a single year:

Up to one year old: gross receipts received or pledged of $75,000 or less in the first tax year.
Between one and three years old: averaged $60,000 or less per year across the first two tax years.
Three years or older: averaged $50,000 or less across the immediately preceding three tax years, including the current one.

You can always choose to file Form 990 or Form 990-EZ voluntarily. Some organizations that dip below the threshold in a given year keep filing the longer form for donor and grantmaker transparency.

A few categories of organization can’t use the e-Postcard at all, regardless of receipts: private foundations (which file Form 990-PF), most Section 509(a)(3) supporting organizations, Section 527 political organizations required to file annually, and a handful of specific entities including Section 501(c)(1) U.S. government instrumentalities, Section 501(c)(20) group legal services plans, ERISA trusts, Section 501(d) religious and apostolic organizations, Section 529 qualified tuition programs, and split-interest or charitable trusts treated as private foundations.² Churches and certain church-affiliated organizations are excepted from the annual filing requirement altogether.³

Gather the Eight Pieces of Information

Before you log in, have these ready:

Employer Identification Number (EIN), the nine-digit number the IRS assigned to your organization.
Tax year (calendar or fiscal) and the year you’re reporting.
Legal name and mailing address, matching IRS records.
Any other names the organization uses, such as trade names or DBAs.
Principal officer’s name and address.
Website address, if you have one.
Confirmation that annual gross receipts are $50,000 or less.
A termination statement, if the organization has terminated or is going out of business.

The principal officer is typically whoever runs day-to-day operations on behalf of the board, such as an executive director or president.¹ If no one holds that title formally, list whoever the board has authorized to manage the organization.

Know Your Deadline

Form 990-N is due by the 15th day of the fifth month after your tax year closes.⁴ For a calendar-year organization, the deadline is May 15. If that date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, it moves to the next business day.

One important restriction: you cannot use the 990-N for a short tax year. Short years happen when an organization starts operations mid-year, changes its accounting period, or terminates before year end. In those situations you file Form 990-EZ or Form 990 for the shortened period, or use Form 1128 to request an accounting-period change.⁵

Submit the Form Online

There is no paper version. Form 990-N must be filed electronically through the IRS website.⁶

Go to the IRS Form 990-N submission page and sign in with a Login.gov or ID.me account.¹ If you don’t have one, you’ll create it and verify your identity. That step can take a few minutes, so don’t leave it until the day the form is due.

Once you’re in, enter your EIN. The system pulls up your organization’s record and walks you through screens for each of the eight items. When everything is entered, you electronically sign and submit. The IRS shows a confirmation screen immediately. Save or print it, and hold onto any follow-up email from the IRS with your permanent records. There is no separate acknowledgment letter.

Fixing Mistakes After You File

There is no amended Form 990-N. If you spot an error after submitting, you correct it when you file next year’s e-Postcard.⁷ For a mailing-address or responsible-party change that needs to take effect sooner, file Form 8822-B separately with the IRS.

Your filings are public. The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool lets anyone look up your filing history, including e-Postcard submissions.⁸ Donors, grantmakers, and state regulators use it to check standing.

What Happens If You Miss It

There’s no monetary penalty for filing the 990-N late. The consequence is bigger. If your organization fails to file its required annual return or notice for three consecutive years, the IRS automatically revokes its tax-exempt status.⁹ Revocation takes effect on the original filing due date of the third missed year.¹⁰

The IRS sends a warning after two consecutive missed filings, but small nonprofits often never see it because their address on file is out of date. That is why keeping your address current matters even on a form this short.

Once revoked, the organization is no longer exempt from federal income tax and may owe corporate income tax on income received while unexempt. For 501(c)(3) organizations, donations are no longer tax-deductible for donors from the date the organization appears on the IRS Automatic Revocation List.⁹ The IRS has no authority to undo a proper automatic revocation and offers no appeal. The only path back is formal reinstatement.

Getting Reinstated

To reinstate, file Form 1023, Form 1023-EZ, Form 1024, or Form 1024-A depending on your exemption category, and pay the user fee: $600 for Form 1023 or $275 for Form 1023-EZ.¹¹ The IRS requires this application even if your organization was never originally required to apply for exemption.¹²

Small organizations eligible to file Form 990-EZ or 990-N during the missed years may qualify for streamlined retroactive reinstatement. You must not have been previously revoked, and you must submit the application and user fee within 15 months of the later of the revocation letter date or the date you appeared on the IRS Revocation List.¹³ Under this procedure, the IRS won’t impose the Section 6652(c) penalty for the three missed years. If you were eligible to file the 990-N for those years, you don’t need to go back and file prior-year returns. Organizations required to file Form 990-EZ for the missed years must submit completed paper Forms 990-EZ marked “Retroactive Reinstatement” and mail them to the IRS in Ogden, Utah.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations Form 990-N
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 990-N (e-Postcard) Organizations Not Permitted to File
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Internal Revenue Service. Filing Requirements for Churches and Religious Organizations
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Internal Revenue Service. Annual Electronic Notice (Form 990-N) for Small Organizations FAQs: When to File
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Internal Revenue Service. Exempt Organizations Annual Reporting Requirements – Filing Procedures: Change in Accounting Period
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Internal Revenue Service. Annual Electronic Notice (Form 990-N) for Small Organizations FAQs: How to File
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Internal Revenue Service. Annual Electronic Notice (Form 990-N) for Small Organizations FAQs: After You File
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Internal Revenue Service. Tax Exempt Organization Search
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Internal Revenue Service. Automatic Revocation of Exemption
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6033 – Returns by Exempt Organizations
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 1023 and 1023-EZ: Amount of User Fee
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Internal Revenue Service. Automatic Exemption Revocation for Nonfiling: Reinstating Tax-Exempt Status
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Internal Revenue Service. Automatic Revocation – How to Have Your Tax-Exempt Status Reinstated