Last updated 2026-08-14
TL;DR
The 990-N (e-Postcard) deadline for a 2020 fiscal year was the 15th day of the 5th month after the tax year ended, usually May 15, 2021 for calendar-year groups. There's no penalty for filing late, but missing three years in a row triggers automatic revocation of tax-exempt status. If that's your group, you can check status and refile now.
When was the 990-N deadline for 2020?
For most booster clubs and PTOs running on a calendar year (January 1 to December 31, 2020), the 990-N was due May 15, 2021. That's the standard rule: the e-Postcard is due by the 15th day of the 5th month after the close of your organization's tax year [1]. If your group runs on a fiscal year instead (say, July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021), the math shifts. Count five months from your fiscal year-end and file by the 15th of that month. A June 30 year-end pushes the 990-N deadline to November 15. A lot of groups also got tangled up in COVID-era filing relief. The IRS extended many 2020 and 2021 filing and payment deadlines under Notice 2020-23 and related guidance, mostly for deadlines falling between April 1 and July 15, 2020 [2]. That relief mattered more for organizations with fiscal year-ends in that window than for the typical calendar-year booster club filing in May 2021, so don't assume you got extra time unless your specific deadline fell inside that stated window. When in doubt, confirm the exact dates that applied to your organization's tax year with the IRS. There's no way to get a paper extension form for the 990-N the way you can for a full 990 or 990-EZ. The e-Postcard is take-it-or-leave-it: file it electronically by the deadline, or don't, and deal with the consequences later. One genuinely helpful fact: filing 990-N late does not create a late-filing penalty by itself, unlike the 990 or 990-EZ. That's a rare bit of good news buried in an otherwise strict system.
What is Form 990?
Form 990 is the annual information return tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS. It reports income, expenses, activities, and governance information, and it's a public document once filed [3]. Big nonprofits file the full Form 990. Smaller ones qualify for the shorter Form 990-EZ. The smallest ones, those with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less, file the 990-N instead [1]. Think of the 990 family as a scale that adjusts with your organization's size. A booster club that took in $12,000 last year from concessions and a car wash files a completely different form than a national charity moving eight figures. Same basic purpose (tell the IRS and the public what you did with the money) but wildly different paperwork. For most volunteer-run booster clubs, PTOs, and youth sports organizations, the 990-N (also called the e-Postcard) is the one that applies. It's eight questions, filed online, and takes maybe ten minutes once you have your EIN and basic organization details handy. You can read more about the 990 tax form family and how the thresholds work.
What is a 990 tax form, exactly, and who has to file one?
| Normally $50,000 or less | 990-N (e-Postcard) | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross receipts under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000 | 990-EZ (or full 990) | |
| Gross receipts $200,000 or more, or assets $500,000 or more | Full Form 990 | |
| Private foundations (any size) | 990-PF | The IRS defines 'normally $50,000 or less' using an averaging rule if your organization is newer or your income swings year to year, so check the specific test on the irs.gov 990-N page rather than eyeballing a single year's number [1]. Most school booster clubs, team parent groups, and small PTOs land in the 990-N category. If your group runs a big annual gala, owns property, or moved past $50,000 in a strong fundraising year, you may need the 990-EZ instead, and that has its own set of questions about revenue and expenses by category. |
Every organization recognized as tax-exempt under Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code has to file some version of Form 990 every year, with very few exceptions (churches and some church-affiliated organizations are the main ones) [3]. The version you file depends on your gross receipts and total assets: | Organization size (gross receipts) | Form required |
What information does the 990-N actually require?
The e-Postcard is short by design. You need: your organization's legal name and any other names used, mailing address, website (if you have one), Employer Identification Number (EIN), the name and address of a principal officer, your tax year, confirmation that gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less, and a statement if the organization has terminated or is going out of business [1]. That's it. No financial statements, no attachments, no signatures beyond the electronic filing certification. You file it through the IRS's registration system, not by mail. One wrinkle worth flagging: the IRS moved the 990-N filing system in 2021 from the old Urban Institute-hosted portal to a new system on IRS.gov requiring an ID.me or Login.gov account [4]. If you filed a 990-N for 2020 sometime in 2021 or later and it felt unfamiliar compared to prior years, that's why. New treasurers taking over mid-cycle sometimes assume they need special software or an accountant for this. You don't. It's genuinely a ten-minute task once you have the login sorted out.
What happens if you missed the 990-N deadline for 2020?
Nothing happens the first time. The IRS does not assess a late-filing penalty for a single missed 990-N, which is different from the 990 and 990-EZ, where penalties can run $20 to $110 per day depending on the organization's size, up to statutory caps [5]. The real danger is cumulative. Under Section 6033(j) of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization that fails to file its required 990-series return (including the 990-N) for three consecutive years automatically loses its tax-exempt status, by operation of law, no notice required beyond what the IRS already sends [6]. This is called automatic revocation, and it has hit tens of thousands of small nonprofits since the rule took effect for tax years beginning in 2007. So if your booster club's 2020 e-Postcard is the one that's missing, ask yourself: did you also miss 2019 and 2021 (or whatever three consecutive years bracket it)? If you're only missing one year, you're very likely fine. File the current year's 990-N as normal and move on. If you've missed three years running, check the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool right now to see if your organization shows up as auto-revoked [4]. That's covered in more depth on our [990](/articles/treasurer-basics/990) page and our irs form 990 explainer.
How do you check if your organization got auto-revoked?
Go to the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search (TEOS) tool at irs.gov and search by your organization's name or EIN [4]. There's a specific 'Auto-Revoked' filter you can select to check current status. If your group shows up there, your 501(c)(3) or other exempt status is gone as of the revocation date listed, and you're now, technically, a taxable entity until you get reinstated. This catches a lot of booster clubs and PTOs specifically because they run on total volunteer turnover. A treasurer files faithfully for two years, hands off to a new parent who doesn't know the login exists, that parent misses a year, the next parent misses another, and suddenly it's been three years and nobody noticed. It's not negligence exactly. It's just what happens when the only person who knew about the 990-N moved away or graduated their kid out of the program. If you're newly taking over the books and you're not sure whether your predecessor filed anything, checking TEOS is step one, before you do anything else with the checkbook or the bank account.
How do you fix auto-revocation if it already happened?
You apply for reinstatement using Form 1023 (or Form 1023-EZ if you qualify) and pay the associated user fee, which was $275 for Form 1023-EZ and $600 for the full Form 1023 as of the IRS fee schedule in effect for 2024 filings . Confirm the current fee with the IRS before you file, since these amounts do get adjusted. The IRS has a streamlined retroactive reinstatement process for organizations that were auto-revoked and are applying within 15 months of the later of the revocation date or the date the organization appeared on the Auto-Revocation List, if they meet certain conditions (haven't previously had exemption automatically revoked, weren't required to file 990 or 990-EZ for the years the 990-N would have covered) . Groups outside that window, or that don't qualify for the streamlined path, use a different reinstatement procedure described in Revenue Procedure 2014-11. Reinstatement is not instant, and it's not guaranteed. Nobody can promise your application sails through. Budget real time for it, probably a few months, and expect the IRS to ask follow-up questions if your paperwork is incomplete.
What does a treasurer do?
A treasurer tracks the money coming in and going out, keeps the bank account reconciled, keeps records straight enough that someone else could pick them up cold, and makes sure required filings (like the 990-N) happen on time. That's the job in one sentence. In practice, for a booster club or PTO treasurer, that breaks down into a handful of recurring tasks: recording every deposit and expense, reconciling the bank statement every month, keeping receipts and invoices organized, reporting a simple income and expense summary to the board or membership at meetings, and filing the annual 990-series return. Bigger organizations add budgeting, fundraising compliance (raffle licenses, sales tax on concessions), and coordinating with an outside bookkeeper or CPA if they use one. The treasurer is not usually the person who decides how money gets spent. That's the board's job, or the membership's, depending on your bylaws. The treasurer's job is to make sure the spending that gets approved actually gets recorded accurately and that the organization stays compliant with the state and the IRS.
What does a club treasurer do day to day?
Day to day, a club treasurer's work is mostly small and repetitive: depositing checks and cash from fundraisers, paying invoices (uniforms, equipment, tournament fees), keeping a simple ledger or spreadsheet current, and answering 'how much money do we have' when someone asks. Most of that takes 30 to 60 minutes a week for a small club with modest activity. Around year-end, the job gets heavier for a short stretch: reconciling the full year, preparing a summary for the annual meeting, and filing the 990-N (or 990-EZ) within the deadline described above. If the club has a checking account with a bank, the treasurer usually also handles signature authority questions and makes sure at least one other officer can access records if something happens to the treasurer. For multi-sport booster organizations or larger PTOs handling six figures a year, the treasurer role expands to include budget tracking by program, coordinating with a bookkeeper, and sometimes managing state charitable registration renewals alongside the federal filing.
What does a treasurer of a club do that a president doesn't?
The president runs meetings, sets agenda priorities, and represents the club publicly. The treasurer owns the money: the bank account, the books, the filings, and the financial reporting to the board. They're distinct roles by design, and most bylaws require them to be separate people specifically so no single person controls both the decision to spend and the record of what was spent. A well-run club also splits check-signing authority (often requiring two signatures above a certain dollar threshold) and keeps the treasurer's records visible to at least one other officer at all times. That's basic internal control, not paranoia. It protects the treasurer as much as the organization, since a treasurer working in isolation is the one who gets blamed if something looks off later, even if nothing improper happened. If you're stepping into the treasurer role for the first time, our handoff and audits resources cover what a clean transition from the outgoing treasurer should look like, and what records you should demand before you accept the books.
What's the difference between 990, 990-N, and 990-EZ for a small booster club?
They're all versions of the same annual filing requirement, sized to the organization. The 990-N is for groups with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less: eight questions, no financials attached, filed online [1]. The 990-EZ is for groups with gross receipts under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000: it does require actual financial detail, a summary of revenue and expenses by category, and some program information . The full Form 990 is for anyone bigger, and it's a genuinely long document with schedules covering governance, compensation, and detailed financial activity. Here's the thing new treasurers get wrong most often: you file based on your gross receipts for the year, not based on what you filed last year. A booster club that files 990-N for three quiet years and then runs an unusually successful capital campaign that pushes receipts over $50,000 needs to file the 990-EZ (or full 990) for that year instead, even if they go back to 990-N eligibility the following year. Check your actual numbers every single year before you assume the 990-N applies. Our form 990 and form 990-n pages walk through the threshold math and what triggers a step up to the EZ form.
Where do you actually file the 990-N?
You file through the IRS's own online system at irs.gov, not through a third-party site and not by mail [1]. As of the system migration completed in August 2021, filers need an IRS-recognized login through ID.me or a Login.gov account to access the e-Postcard filing tool [4]. If you're the new treasurer and the organization's prior 990-N filings were done under a previous officer's personal login, you may need to set up a new account under your own credentials, or under the organization's principal officer. That's normal. Keep a note in your handoff file about which login and email address the organization uses for IRS filings, so the next treasurer doesn't hit the same wall you did. This is exactly the kind of detail that falls through the cracks during a volunteer handoff, and it's part of why we built the $99 one-time State-Personalized Treasurer Kit: it walks a new treasurer through exactly which filings apply to their organization's size and state, with the actual thresholds and deadlines filled in, so you're not guessing whether 2020's e-Postcard ever got filed.
What should a new treasurer do first if the 990-N history looks messy?
Start with the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool and confirm your current status: active, or auto-revoked [4]. That single check tells you whether you're dealing with a routine filing catch-up or a full reinstatement project. If status is active, just file the current year's 990-N (or whatever form applies based on this year's gross receipts) and set a calendar reminder for next year, five months out from your fiscal year-end. If status shows auto-revoked, gather your EIN, your original determination letter if you have it, and your financial records for the past few years, and start the Form 1023 or 1023-EZ reinstatement application . Either way, don't guess on the specifics of your situation. Confirm current thresholds, fees, and deadlines with the IRS directly, and if your state also requires charitable registration renewal (many do, separate from the IRS filing), check with your state charity office or attorney general's office too, since that's a completely separate requirement with its own deadlines. For general background on the treasurer role itself, see treasurer-basics.
Frequently asked questions
What does a treasurer do?
A treasurer manages an organization's money: recording deposits and expenses, reconciling bank statements, keeping financial records organized, reporting balances to the board, and handling required tax filings like Form 990-N. For a booster club or PTO, it's mostly bookkeeping and compliance, not spending decisions, which usually stay with the board.
What is Form 990?
Form 990 is the annual information return the IRS requires from most tax-exempt organizations, reporting income, expenses, and activities [3]. It scales by size: full Form 990 for larger organizations, 990-EZ for mid-size ones, and 990-N (e-Postcard) for those with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less [4].
What is a 990 tax form used for?
It's how the IRS and the public track what a tax-exempt organization does with its money each year. Filing it (in whatever version applies to your size) is a condition of keeping your tax-exempt status. Skipping it for three consecutive years triggers automatic revocation under IRC Section 6033(j) [8].
What was the 990-N filing deadline for 2020?
For a calendar-year organization (tax year ending December 31, 2020), the 990-N was due May 15, 2021, the 15th day of the 5th month after year-end [1]. Fiscal-year organizations count five months from their own year-end date instead.
Is there a penalty for filing the 990-N late?
No direct dollar penalty for a single late 990-N, unlike the 990 or 990-EZ. The real risk is cumulative: missing the 990-N for three consecutive years triggers automatic loss of tax-exempt status under Section 6033(j) of the Internal Revenue Code [8].
How do I know if my organization got auto-revoked?
Search your organization's name or EIN in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool at irs.gov and check the Auto-Revoked filter [9]. If it shows up, your exempt status was revoked as of the listed date and you'll need to apply for reinstatement.
How do you fix auto-revocation from a missed 2020 filing?
File Form 1023 or Form 1023-EZ (if eligible) to apply for reinstatement, paying the applicable user fee ($275 for 1023-EZ, $600 for full 1023 as of 2024 fee schedules, confirm current amounts with the IRS) [10]. Groups applying within 15 months of revocation may qualify for streamlined retroactive reinstatement [11].
What does a club treasurer do differently from a president?
The president leads meetings and represents the organization publicly. The treasurer owns the money: the bank account, the books, the filings, and financial reporting to the board. Bylaws usually keep these as separate people so no one person controls both spending decisions and the record of spending.
What's the difference between 990-N and 990-EZ?
990-N is for organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less: eight questions, no financial detail required, filed online only [4]. 990-EZ is for organizations under $200,000 in gross receipts and under $500,000 in total assets, and it requires actual revenue and expense reporting [12].
Where do you file the 990-N?
Through the IRS's own online system at irs.gov, using an ID.me or Login.gov account since the system migrated in August 2021 [6]. There is no paper version and no third-party filing option for the e-Postcard itself.
Does a new booster club treasurer need to worry about past years' 990-N filings?
Yes, check first. Search the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool for your organization's current status before doing anything else [9]. If status is active, just file going forward. If it shows auto-revoked, you'll need to start a reinstatement application before anything else matters.
Does the 990-N require financial statements?
No. The e-Postcard asks for eight basic items: legal name, EIN, tax year, mailing address, website if any, a principal officer's name and address, confirmation gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less, and a note if the organization is terminating [4]. No financial statements or attachments are required.
Sources
- IRS, Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations (Form 990-N): 990-N is due by the 15th day of the 5th month after the tax year ends
- IRS, Notice 2020-23: IRS extended certain 2020 filing and payment deadlines falling between April 1 and July 15, 2020
- IRS, Form 990 Series which forms do exempt organizations file: Form 990 is the public annual information return for tax-exempt organizations
- IRS, Form 990-EZ instructions, penalties for failure to file: 990/990-EZ late filing penalties can run $20 to $110 per day depending on organization size, subject to caps
- 26 U.S.C. Section 6033(j), Internal Revenue Code: Failure to file required annual returns for three consecutive years results in automatic revocation of tax-exempt status
- IRS, Tax Exempt Organization Search: Organizations can check current exemption status including auto-revocation using the IRS TEOS tool