Courtesy of Tom Ploskonka —

The April 17 tax deadline might be a distant memory for some, but charities have another due date to contend with: May 15. That’s the deadline for most nonprofit annual returns, and missing it could be a serious problem for your charity.

Last year the IRS reported that it had revoked the tax-exempt status of more than 275,000 charities for failure to file their annual return. And the consequences of this action are rather severe. Donors can no longer deduct contributions to these organizations on their tax returns, and the organizations might be taxed as corporations.

With some exceptions, such as for qualified church and other religious organizations, every nonprofit is required to complete a Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N. Private foundations are required to file Form 990-PF.

The good news, however, is that filing your charity’s return might be easier than you think. A nonprofit with annual gross receipts of less than $50,000 can file Form 990-N, which has only eight questions and is filed electronically. Larger nonprofits, however, are left with the Form 990-EZ or the longer Form 990. If your charity runs a business on the side to help raise funds, it might have to file Form 990-T, where income on those unrelated sales could be taxed.

So what can you do if your nonprofit fails to file its return by May 15? Your first step might be to contact a tax professional to determine the full extent of the delinquency. Here’s why: May 15 is the deadline for charities with a December 31 accounting year-end, but your charity might have a different year-end. In that situation, the due date is the 15th day of the 5th month after the close of the fiscal year. If you need help with this or other tax issues, give our office a call.