Is My 990 Information Return Due on September 15th?

Does your organization operate on a fiscal tax year instead of a calendar tax year? Are you unsure of what the difference is between the two? Well let’s find out right now!

If your organization operates from January 1 to December 31 it is considered to have a calendar tax year with a standard tax filing deadline each year. Organizations that function for 12 consecutive months but end on any month besides December are operated as a fiscal tax year. 

Tax exempt organizations that operate on a fiscal tax year and function from May 1 to April 30 have a tax filing deadline this Friday, September 15th to file their 990 Information Returns. 

Form 990 is considered to be the Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax form which many tax exempt organizations such as religious groups, educational groups, charities, and other nonprofit groups are required to file each year to provide the public with financial information about their organization. 

Forms included in the Form 990 Series are Form 990, 990-EZ, 990-PF, and 990-N. Form 1120-POL, the newest ExpressTaxExempt tax form, is specifically designed for political organization tax filing. The appropriate form that your organization should file will be dependent upon the amount of gross receipts that it accumulates throughout its accounting period (tax year). 

To find out which tax form your organization should e-file, click here.

Is your nonprofit's tax return due tomorrow (September 15)?

 

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No need to worry or stress out! Our user-friendly tax filing software makes your e-filing experience very simple and easy to complete. Simply go to ExpressTaxExempt to begin filing or if you need some extra time to gather all of your information, quickly file a Form 8868 for a Form 990 Extension to avoid penalties and receive an additional 6 months of filing time for your tax exempt organization. 

Operating your nonprofit organization without tax-exempt status can be extremely challenging and quite difficult. Eliminate the worry and concern of losing your tax status or even regain tax-exempt status by filing your Form 990 series returns with us at ExpressTaxExempt. With affordable pricing and a safe, secure and easy-to-use e-filing system, organizations can quickly and accurately file their forms directly to the IRS. Need help during the filing process? No worries. We’re always here to help! Feel free to contact our support team of e-file experts at 704.839.2321 for any questions or help with the e-filing experience. We’re here to assist you Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST or feel free to reach us 24/7 via email at support@ExpressTaxExempt.com.

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Filing Form 990 with a Fiscal Tax Year

Earlier this month, we had a pretty big deadline for tax-exempt organizations required to file some version of Form 990. Whether you file the original long form, Form 990-EZ, Form 990-N, or Form 990-PF, if you operate on a calendar year tax year, your 2016 return was due to the IRS May 15th of this year.

Now, if you missed the deadline, don’t freak out: you can still file your return with the IRS and the sooner you do, the better.

But what about those folks who don’t follow a calendar year tax year? Whose tax year maybe starts each June 1st and ends each May 31st? Or starts September 1st and ends August 31st? Or any other combination of 365-day cycles?

These organizations have what we call a “fiscal tax year,” because their tax year has been determined for fiscal reasons rather than simply to follow the calendar year. For instance, many school-related tax-exempt organizations will follow an August to July fiscal tax year since the school year generally starts sometime in August. Other organizations may also find it simpler for tax purposes to have their tax year start the same month that the organization was founded.

The IRS is able to allow for this kind of flexibility when it comes to tax-exempt return deadlines. After all, the official deadline for tax-exempt organizations isn’t May 15th, but rather the fifteenth day of the fifth month following the organization’s tax year end date. And so long as your organization’s founding documents on file with the IRS have your fiscal tax year listed, the IRS won’t consider you having filed incorrectly or late for filing on a deadline other than May 15th.

So, if you know your organization operates on a fiscal tax year, but are unsure of your deadline, we can help with that! Just find your tax year on this chart to confirm your Form 990 due date:

Tax Year Begin Date	Tax Year End Date	Form 990 Deadline
January 1	December 31	May 15
February 1	January 31	June 15
March 1	February 28/29	July 15
April 1	March 31	August 15
May 1	April 30	September 15
June 1	May 31	October 15
July 1	June 30	November 15
August 1	July 31	December 15
September 1	August 31	January 15
October 1	September 30	February 15
November 1	October 31	March 15
December 1	November 30	April 15

With ExpressTaxExempt, you can e-file your Form 990 all throughout the year, no matter when your deadline is. Just as you begin your form in the program, we’ll ask you for some organization details, including your tax year to help make sure you’re filing on time. Of course, if you have any questions along the way, you can also get in touch with our all-star support team. Just give us a call or send us a live chat or email and we’ll be happy to help!

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Amending Form 990-N: Changing the Fiscal Year

No one likes to hear they’ve made a mistake. But, hey, it happens. Still, when the IRS is the one telling you that you’ve messed up, things can get unnecessarily stressful. You were so sure you did everything right, yet here’s your rejected Form 990-N (“ePostcard”) reporting that the fiscal year on your return doesn’t match the IRS’s records. If you’re like me, your brain’s probably flooding with questions: How could I get a year wrong? Don’t they all start in January? How can I fix this? How much will it cost me to fix this? Is the IRS mad at me? Did I leave the oven on?

First, inhale deeply. Remember that Express990 is here to help. Aaaand exhale.

Recording your fiscal year as the calendar year is a common mistake, and no, the IRS isn’t mad at you for it. Once you verify with your organization the actual start date of your fiscal year, correcting this error is easy and, with Express990, free! Just follow these simple steps to amend the fiscal year for your submitted Form 990-N:

Step 1. Begin by logging into your Express990 account.

Step 2. Once at your Dashboard, click the “Edit” button next to the tax period that’s currently listed. This will take you to the point in your return where you’ll select your actual fiscal year.

Step 3. Select the “Fiscal Tax Year” button. It will turn green to indicate it’s been selected.

Step 4. Click the blue calendar icon next to “Tax Year Begin Date.” Select the beginning month and year by accessing the drop down menus, then click the day your fiscal year began. (In this example, the fiscal year began May 1, 2014.)

Step 5. Once you click the day, the calendar will go away, the program will fill in your “Tax Year Begin Date” and “Tax Year End Date,” and your due date will update. Verify that all of this is correct, and click “Next.”

Step 6. After you click “Next,” your fiscal year will update on Express990, but you still need to resubmit your Form 990-N to the IRS. To do this, continue to click “Next” until you reach the Summary page of your 990-N, shown below. Confirm that it’s correct and click “Review.”

Express990 will then generate an Audit Report to check for any obvious errors; if no errors were found, click “Next” until you come to the option to “Authorize and Transmit to the IRS.” Until you select this, your amended return will not be sent to the IRS.

So there ya go - your mistake has been fixed! The birds are still chirping, the world is still turning, and you can go check that oven if you haven’t already.

And if you have any other questions or need further assistance, our live experts in Rock Hill, South Carolina can be reached Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST by phone (704-839-2321) and live chat (www.expresstaxexempt.com) or through our 24/7 email support service (support@expresstaxexempt.com).

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What Is A Fiscal Year?

Determining when to file your Form 990 with Express990 depends on when you start your fiscal year. You would be surprised at how many different interpretations there are for a Fiscal Year. Even more confusing a fiscal year is not one established time frame for businesses, organizations, or the government. To best understand what a fiscal year is...let's get to the basics first then build a better understanding form there.

The Basics:
Fiscal Year - a 12-month period used by a government, business, or organization to calculate how much money is being earned, spent, etc. A fiscal year is sometimes referred to as a budget year. Fiscal years vary between businesses and countries. Nevertheless, the fiscal year is identical to the calendar year for about 65% of publicly traded companies in the United States.

Fiscal Year Fun Facts: 

• - The first known fiscal year was in 1843. 
• - Many universities have a fiscal year which ends during the summer, both to align the fiscal year with the school year because the school is normally less busy during the summer months.
• - Some companies choose to end their fiscal year on the same day of the week, such day being the one closest to a particular date (ex. the Friday closest to December 31). Under such a system, some fiscal years will have 52 weeks and others 53 weeks.

Fiscal Year and the United States Government:
The United States federal government's fiscal year is a 12-month period beginning on October 1st and ending on September 30th of the following calendar year. The identification of a fiscal year is the calendar year in which it ends; thus, the current fiscal year is 2014 - shortened to FY2014. Prior to 1976, the fiscal year began on July 1st and ended June 30th of the following year.

To Sum It Up:
Just remember a fiscal year is any yearly period without regard to the calendar year, at the end of which a business, organization, government, etc., determines its financial condition.

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