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October 12, 2009

IRS Offers Online Video Program to Explain the Form 990

The Internal Revenue Service has developed for its Web site a case study — and a series of videos — designed to help charities better understand what is required of them in the Form 990, the informational tax return that the IRS redesigned for the 2008 tax year.

The materials, called “The New Form 990: Getting Started,” were created by the IRS’s Exempt Organizations division “to help illustrate key points and answer important questions” about the revised form, the tax agency said.

The materials begin with a written set of facts that detail the organizational and financial aspects of a hypothetical charity, the Exempt Organization for Disaster Relief, which was “formed” to help people in three states.

Next comes a filled-out Form 990 with two schedules that show how the hypothetical organization would properly complete the annual return.

The IRS then offers seven videos, each between five and 10 minutes long, that explain key sections of the Form 990, using facts from the case study.

The videos, which can be viewed in any order, focus on an overview of the Form 990; two parts of the form that cover the organization’s revenues and expenses; the form’s balance sheet and supplemental financial statements; the form’s program services section, which the IRS said “allows an organization to ‘tell its story;’” compensation questions; governance questions; and a checklist of required schedules and overview of new schedules for 2008.

— Grant Williams

Monday October 12, 2009 | Permalink

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