IRS Form 990

IRS Form 990 (officially, "Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax") is a form required by the Internal Revenue Service which gives information about the income, expenses, and assets of non-profit organizations.

In addition to the main Form 990, there are three variants and an associated form:

• "Form 990-EZ", which can be used by smaller non-profits (those with gross receipts less than $200K and assets less than $500K)
• "Form 990-N", which can be used by very small non-profits (those with gross receipts "normally less than $50K"); notably, this is a fully electronic filing (if a non-profit wants a paper filing, it must use the main form or the EZ variant)
• "Form 990-PF", which is used by private foundations
• "Form 990-T" (officially, "Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Return"), which is used to report taxable income unrelated to the organization's main functions (e.g. a private university which operates a fast-food restaurant open to the general public).

The Form is required to be filed no later than the 15th day of the fifth month after the organization's fiscal year ends (e.g. if the organization's fiscal year coincides with the calendar year, the Form must be filed by May 15 of the following year), with one, six-month extension permitted.

Notably, churches and similar religious entities (such as mosques and synagogues) are specifically exempt from filing a Form 990. Due to the ecclesiastical doctrine, which prohibits courts from engaging in matters solely related to religious bodies, many religious organizations have incorporated themselves as "churches" solely to avoid disclosing their income and assets; this is done by nearly every major televangelist, as well as TBN and Daystar - the two largest Christian television networks - along with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (though Samaritan's Purse has not done so).