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January 23, 2008

IRS to Release Some 990 Instructions Early

The Internal Revenue Service will release the new informational tax return, known as Form 990 tax, on a staggered schedule, the agency announced last week at a meeting of tax lawyers.

The final draft of the revised 990 will be unveiled in the middle of the year, but the agency will release instructions for certain parts of it and a glossary of terms within the next few months.

The composition of the redesigned form has been pretty clear since a version was released in December, but tax agency officials continue to revise it. The overhaul of the tax form is the first significant change the IRS has made in a quarter of a century.

Instructions for Schedule H, which nonprofit hospitals must fill out, will probably be released first, and the agency will also clarify what qualifies as a hospital. The schedule for tax-exempt bonds, Schedule K, is also likely to come out soon. In addition, instructions for some parts of the standard 990 that all groups fill out, such as a section listing executive compensation, will be released early.

“We’ll release parts of the instructions that can be separated, easily stripped off the from rest,” said Steven J. Pyrek, a spokesman for the agency’s exempt- organizations division. “We want to put it out there and have people react to it.”

The agency will also soon release a glossary of terms to assist groups that cannot afford specialized help when filling out their own 990s.

—Sam Kean

Wednesday January 23, 2008 | Permalink

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