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IRS Officials Discuss Initial Revisions to New Form 990

October 17, 2007

A recent meeting of the American Bar Association's Exempt Organizations Committee focused on the Form 990 redesign. Ronald J. Schultz, senior technical adviser to the IRS Commissioner, Tax Exempt/Government Entities, reported on a few decisions that have been made about the redesign. A draft of the new form was published June 14, with a 90-day comment period. The Service received more than 650 comments on the draft (see NACUBO's comments to IRS on behalf of the higher education community.)

A new feature included in the redesigned form is a summary page intended to provide the reader with a snapshot of the filing organization's mission and financial information.  After reviewing the voluminous comments, officials at IRS made an early decision to eliminate from the summary page a series of questions that would have required filers to report compensation percentages, fundraising percentages, and comparisons of net assets to total expenses. 

Schultz also reported that the Service will eliminate the column on the summary page asking for percentages of total contributions and expenses. The IRS has also decided to move a section about the organization's activities and accomplishments from the back of the core form to the front.

Schultz noted that almost one third of the comments the Service has received on the draft form have been related to Schedule H, addressing hospitals.  He reported that the Service still anticipates finalizing the form by the end of the year.