Mwa ha ha ha!
Our story begins early on the morning of May 16, 2017. Outside it’s still dark and somewhere in America, in a bedroom, a fan lazily blows cool air while an alarm clock in the corner blinks a red 5:55. 5:55. 5:55.
You awake with a start, cold sweat dripping down your face. There’s something you’ve forgotten, something important.
Your tax-exempt organization’s 990 Form! It was due yesterday!
You jump out of bed and speed to the IRS office. This being Nightmare Mode, you arrive just as the office is filling with other tax filers and just in time to realize you’ve forgotten your pants. But you’ve got a mission. Grabbing a folder and using it as a shield, you make your way to the desk of one of the agents and tell him that you need to file a 990 for your tax-exempt organization as soon as possible because you’re running late.
Hearing you’re late, he gives you a stern look and quietly says, “Come with me.”
Moments later, you’re in the IRS dungeons. Your organization’s tax-exempt status has been revoked and the guards are demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties from you before you can go anywhere. When they’ve finally gotten all they can, they drop you back on your doorstep, defeated and penniless.
For the record, this is a completely fabricated exaggeration of what happens if you miss the May 15th deadline* for filing Form 990 (or whichever day your 990 deadline falls on). Just as you never failed a final you took naked, this nightmare scenario is but a dream.
If you do miss the May 15th deadline, your main goal is to file your completed 990 Form - whether it’s the 990 Long Form, the 990-EZ, 990-PF, or 990-N - as soon as possible. Of course, any IRS office will have agents to help accommodate you as best they can (without the dungeons), but your best bet is with ExpressTaxExempt.
We’ve been around for a few years now, and we’re leading the pack among the IRS-authorized e-file providers for the 990 Forms. We break down each form into a simplified, Q & A style interview and run error checks to ensure you’ve completed every part of the form needed. And we don’t mind if you file late. The IRS may still charge you a late-filing penalty, but the sooner you submit your 990 Form, the lesser these penalties will be.
You’ve still got a couple more weeks to submit your 990 Form, so there’s still a pretty good chance you can make the deadline. If, however, you start thinking you’ll need more time, you can always get an automatic 6-month extension by e-filing Form 8868 from your ETE account. Then you won’t even have to worry about May 15!
And if you have any questions about e-filing your 990 Form or need help getting started, please don’t hesitate to give us a ring!
*The May 15th deadline is for tax-exempt organizations that follow a calendar year tax year, which runs from January 1 to December 31. The official deadline for 990 Forms is the 15th day of the fifth month after your tax year ends so you may not be required to file May 15.
