Nonprofit Mailing Change

The U. S. Postal Service (USPS) will soon require nonprofit organizations to update their mailing lists as a condition for keeping their discount rate for service. Effective November 23, 2008, addresses on all pieces must be updated within 95 days before mailing through a USPS-approved address update method in order to qualify for the discount for nonprofit mailers. Nonprofit organizations may wish to consider the use of an enhancement service to get change-of-address updates so they may continue receiving the discounted nonprofit mail rate. Other advantages of keeping an up-to-date mailing list include an estimated cost savings of between 7% and 10% on mailings for most organizations each time they send a mailing plus help in maintaining key membership revenue.

New Form 990 - On Line Course

StayExempt.org, which provides online IRS educational resources for tax-exempt organizations, now features five new mini-courses on the redesigned Form 990. These mini-courses provide information on preparing to file the new Form 990 as well as a walk-through of the entire form and frequently used schedules. Check out other StayExempt mini-courses on topics of interest to exempt organizations as well as the web-based version of our popular workshop on tax basics for small and mid-sized organizations.

Elimination of Advance Ruling Process

The IRS has issued yet another update to its growing list of revised forms, documents, and policies. No more double applications for newly formed organizations wanting to be recognized as public charities. The old five-year advanced ruling period has been abandoned in favor of a simpler process. A new 501(c)(3) can be immediately classified as a publicly supported charity, not a private foundation. In the organization’s sixth year, it must convince the IRS that it meets the public support test by filing Schedule A of Form 990. More...