Late filing and revocation

990-N not filed for 2 years: what to do before the third deadline

If your organization hasn't filed Form 990-N for two years in a row, file this year's e-Postcard by its due date. A third missed year in a row revokes tax-exempt status automatically, on that third due date. You can also catch up on the two missed years, but only through an IRS-approved e-file provider.

How do we know if our 990-N was not filed for 2 years?

Look your organization up in the IRS's Tax Exempt Organization Search:

1. Search by your EIN, your nine-digit employer identification number. A search by name can miss you if the IRS has your name differently.
2. Open the Form 990-N (e-Postcard) results and note the most recent tax year shown.
3. Compare that year with the years your organization should have filed.

The IRS says to allow up to four weeks for new filings to show up, so a very recent e-Postcard may not appear yet (IRS).

Check your filing status

Which years count?

The IRS labels each year by the year your fiscal year began (IRS Publication 5248). Two examples:

Fiscal year ends June 30

• Missed: tax years 2023 and 2024.
• Your third deadline is tax year 2025 (July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026), due Monday, November 16, 2026.

Fiscal year ends December 31

• Missed: tax years 2024 and 2025.
• Your third deadline is tax year 2026, due Monday, May 17, 2027.
• If you'd also missed 2023, the third missed year already happened (tax year 2025, due May 15, 2026). Skip ahead to what to do if the deadline has passed.

What happens if we miss a third year?

Your organization's tax-exempt status ends automatically. The law says exemption "shall be considered revoked on and after the date set by the Secretary for the filing of the third annual return or notice" (26 U.S.C. §6033(j)). In plain terms, that's the due date of the third missed year.

After that, the IRS sends a letter saying your status has been revoked, and adds your organization to its public Auto-Revocation List.

A late e-Postcard on its own carries no penalty (IRS). The three-year rule is the consequence that matters.

Does filing this year stop revocation?

The law revokes exemption after three consecutive missed years (26 U.S.C. §6033(j)). Filing this year's e-Postcard by its due date means you haven't missed three in a row. If you're unsure how this applies to your organization, ask a tax professional or call the IRS at 877-829-5500.

The filing requirement is still annual (IRS), so plan to file the missed years too.

How do we file the two years we missed?

The IRS's free e-Postcard site only lets you file your most recent tax year. For earlier years, the IRS says to use one of its approved e-file providers (IRS).

Order matters:

1. File the current year first, on the IRS site, by its due date. It's free, and it's the filing that decides your status.
2. Then file the missed years through a provider. Our guide to filing a 990-N for earlier years compares the options and prices.

Each year needs the same eight items, including the principal officer and your gross receipts for that year. If your gross receipts were normally over $50,000 in any of those years, that year needed a Form 990-EZ or 990 instead. Late penalties can apply to those (see which form you file).

What if we can't sign in, or the IRS doesn't recognize our EIN?

Two problems often get in the way:

• Sign-in problems: see signing in to the IRS 990-N system.
• "EIN not found": see what that error means. An officer may need to call the IRS and allow about six weeks. Calling early matters when your third deadline is close.

If you can't fix a filing problem, the IRS says to call TE/GE Customer Account Services at 877-829-5500, and "a representative will file your Form 990-N information" (IRS).

What if the deadline has already passed?

Then your status was revoked on that date, even if the letter hasn't arrived yet. Small organizations have a simpler way back:

• Who qualifies: organizations that were eligible to file a 990-N or 990-EZ for the three missed years, and have never been revoked before.
• What you get: reinstatement back to the date of revocation.
• What to do: apply within 15 months of the IRS revocation letter or the date you appeared on the revocation list, whichever is later.
• Bonus: you don't need to file the missed e-Postcards (IRS).

See our reinstatement guide.

How many organizations are in this position?

• Two missed. 39,921 organizations the IRS lists as 990-N filers (4.0%) have missed their two most recent past-due e-Postcards. For each of them, the next deadline decides.
• Current. Most organizations (69.1%) are up to date.
• By state:

Sources

• IRS, Annual electronic filing requirement for small exempt organizations
• IRS, Form 990-N FAQs: When to file
• IRS, Automatic revocation: notifying the organization
• IRS, How to have your tax-exempt status reinstated
• IRS, Publication 5248 (Rev. 8-2023)
• 26 U.S.C. §6033(j)