Last updated 2026-07-24
TL;DR
Nearly every tax-exempt nonprofit, including small booster clubs and PTOs, must file a Form 990 series return every year, even with zero income. Groups under $50,000 in gross receipts file the simple 990-N e-Postcard. Miss three straight years and the IRS automatically revokes your tax-exempt status [1].
What is Form 990?
Form 990 is the annual information return that tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS. It's not an income tax return in the usual sense, most filers owe nothing, but it's how the IRS (and the public) checks that a nonprofit is still doing what it said it would do when it got tax-exempt status. The IRS puts it plainly: "Tax-exempt organizations, nonexempt charitable trusts, and section 527 political organizations file this form to provide the IRS with the information required by section 6033" [1]. That's the legal hook. Section 6033 of the Internal Revenue Code requires most exempt organizations to file an annual return, and Form 990 (in one of its versions) is how you comply. There isn't one single "990." There's a family of forms sized to the organization. A tiny booster club with $8,000 in gross receipts files something very different from a regional youth sports league moving $400,000 a year. We'll break down which one applies to you in the next section. For background on the form itself and how it ties into keeping your exempt status, see form 990 and irs form 990.
What is the 990 tax form, and which version do I file?
| Gross receipts normally $50,000 or less | Form 990-N (e-Postcard) | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross receipts under $200,000 AND total assets under $500,000 | Form 990-EZ (or full 990) | |
| Gross receipts $200,000 or more OR total assets $500,000 or more | Form 990 (full form) | |
| Private foundations (regardless of size) | Form 990-PF | "Gross receipts" means everything that came in: concession sales, raffle ticket sales, membership dues, sponsorship checks, the works, before you subtract any expenses. It is not net income. A booster club that sold $60,000 in raffle tickets and paid out $40,000 in prizes still had $60,000 in gross receipts, not $20,000. Most small booster clubs, PTOs, and youth sports groups land in the 990-N bucket. The e-Postcard asks for basic identifying information: your EIN, tax year, legal name, mailing address, website (if any), confirmation your gross receipts are $50,000 or less, and a statement that you haven't shut down [3]. There's no financial detail required beyond that receipts threshold check. If your organization outgrows the $50,000 threshold in a good fundraising year, you don't get to keep filing the 990-N out of habit. You have to bump up to the 990-EZ or full 990 for that year. Related reading: 990 tax form and form 990-n. |
Which 990 you file depends almost entirely on your gross receipts and total assets for the tax year. Here's the breakdown the IRS uses [2]: | Your situation | Form to file |
Does my small booster club or PTO actually have to file anything?
Yes, almost certainly, and this is the part new treasurers get wrong most often. The assumption that "we're tiny, we don't file taxes" is the single biggest cause of accidental IRS revocation among booster clubs and PTOs. If your organization has federal tax-exempt status (a 501(c)(3), a 501(c)(4), or another 501(c) subsection), you are required to file some version of the 990 every single year, regardless of how little money moved through your account. The only organizations exempt from this filing requirement are churches, certain church-affiliated organizations, and a short list of other statutory exceptions listed in the Form 990 instructions [1]. A booster club, PTO, or youth sports league does not qualify for those exceptions just because it's small. Here's the trap: a lot of groups that never formally applied for 501(c)(3) status still believe they're "tax-exempt" because they've always been treated that way locally, or because a prior treasurer told them so. If your group was never granted exempt status by the IRS (no determination letter, no listing in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search), the 990 filing requirement doesn't even apply the same way, but you may have separate income tax obligations. Confirm your actual exempt status with the IRS before assuming which rules apply to you.
What happens if a nonprofit doesn't file Form 990 for 3 years?
The organization automatically loses its tax-exempt status. No warning letter with a final deadline, no phone call, no appeal before it happens. The Internal Revenue Code is explicit: "Any organization that fails to file an annual return or notice as required for 3 consecutive years will have its tax-exempt status revoked as of the filing due date of the third year" [4]. This is automatic revocation, and it applies to every size of organization, including the smallest 990-N filers. The IRS publishes the full list of revoked organizations, and it also lists organizations that have applied for and received reinstatement, in its Tax Exempt Organization Search tool [5]. What this means for your group: if the treasurer three years ago never filed, and the one two years ago didn't either, and you don't file this year, your organization is not tax-exempt anymore as of that third missed deadline. You'll usually find out when a bank asks for a determination letter, a grantor rejects your application, or someone checks the IRS database out of curiosity. Reinstatement is possible but it isn't free and it isn't instant. Depending on your situation you may qualify for streamlined retroactive reinstatement (Rev. Proc. 2014-11 outlines the process) if you apply within 15 months of the revocation date, which generally requires filing Form 1023 or 1023-EZ again along with the appropriate user fee [6]. If you're past that window, the process gets more complicated and may not restore your exempt status back to the original date. Confirm current fees and procedures with the IRS since these do change.
When is the Form 990 due?
Your 990, in whichever version applies, is due on the 15th day of the 5th month after your organization's accounting period ends [1]. For a group on a calendar year (ending December 31), that's May 15 of the following year. A lot of school-affiliated booster clubs and PTOs run on a fiscal year that matches the school year, say July 1 to June 30. In that case your 990 is due November 15. If you can't make the deadline, Form 8868 gets you an automatic 6-month extension for most 990 series returns; you don't need a reason and the IRS doesn't require you to explain the delay [7]. File it before your original due date, not after. One important catch: extensions buy you filing time, they don't reset the 3-year revocation clock in a way that lets you skip years. Filing late with an extension still counts as filing that year.
What is a treasurer? What does a treasurer do?
A treasurer is the person responsible for an organization's money: tracking it, reporting on it, and making sure it's spent and recorded the way the bylaws and the law require. In a booster club, PTO, or youth sports league, the treasurer is usually the only person who touches the bank account regularly and the only one who understands where the annual filing obligations, including the 990, actually stand. What does a club treasurer do day to day? The job usually breaks into a few buckets: - Keeping the checkbook or accounting software current: deposits, checks written, reconciliations against bank statements
- Tracking cash from fundraisers (concessions, raffles, car washes) with some kind of two-person count and receipt trail
- Preparing a budget or financial report for board or membership meetings
- Filing the annual 990 (or making sure someone does)
- Handling state-level filings too: charity registration renewals, sales tax if applicable, raffle permits
- Handing off clean records to the next treasurer What does a treasurer do in a club that has no paid staff? Basically everything financial that a business would split between a bookkeeper, a controller, and a compliance officer. That's a lot for one volunteer, which is exactly why so many small nonprofits fall behind on 990 filings: nobody assigned it to anyone specifically, and it fell through the cracks between one volunteer treasurer and the next. If you just took over the books and don't know what's been filed in past years, start by pulling your organization up in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search [5] to see your filing history and current status before you do anything else.
What information does the 990 actually ask for?
This depends entirely on which version you're filing. The 990-N (e-Postcard) is genuinely simple: EIN, legal name and any doing-business-as name, mailing address, website URL if you have one, confirmation of the tax year, and a yes/no on whether gross receipts are still under the threshold and whether the organization has terminated [3]. It's filed electronically through the IRS's own portal, there's no paper option. Form 990-EZ and the full Form 990 ask for real financial detail: revenue by source, expenses by function (program, management, fundraising), a balance sheet, compensation for officers and highest-paid employees over certain thresholds, and a list of the organization's activities and any major changes during the year. The full Form 990 also has a set of schedules (Schedule A for public charity status, Schedule B for major donors, Schedule G for fundraising events and gaming, among others) that trigger based on your answers to earlier questions. For a booster club running a raffle as a fundraiser, Schedule G is the one to watch. If your gross income from gaming and fundraising events exceeds certain thresholds, the IRS wants a breakdown of gross receipts, cash prizes, and non-cash prizes for the largest events, separate from your other fundraising [8]. This is a good moment to double-check that your raffle recordkeeping (ticket sales, prize costs, winner information) is solid before your treasurer sits down to fill out this schedule.
Do state filings matter too, separate from the IRS?
Yes, and this is where a lot of groups get tripped up thinking "we filed our 990-N, we're done." Federal exempt status and state charitable registration are two completely separate systems. Most states require charitable organizations that solicit donations, including booster clubs and PTOs running fundraisers, to register with the state attorney general's office or secretary of state, and many require an annual renewal filing alongside (or referencing) your federal 990. Some states will accept a copy of your 990 as part of that renewal; others want their own financial report form regardless. Separately, if you're running a raffle, you may need a specific state or local raffle or gaming license, which is a different filing entirely from either the 990 or general charity registration. Requirements and fees vary enormously by state and sometimes by county or municipality. Confirm current requirements directly with your state's charity registration office or attorney general and with your state's gaming/raffle licensing authority, since rules here change often and penalties for unregistered solicitation can include fines.
How do I know if my organization already lost its exempt status?
Check the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool directly. It's free, public, and it's the same database the IRS itself uses [5]. Search by your organization's name or EIN. If your group shows up on the "Automatic Revocation of Exemption List" within that tool, your 501(c)(3) status is gone as of the date listed, even if nobody ever told you directly. A few practical signs that something's wrong before you even check the database: your bank suddenly asks for a new determination letter, a grant application gets rejected for lack of current exempt status, or a new treasurer can't find any record of a 990 having been filed in the last two or three years. Any one of those is worth an immediate check. If you find you've been revoked, don't panic and don't guess at the fix. The path back (streamlined retroactive reinstatement under Rev. Proc. 2014-11, or a full new exemption application) depends on how long it's been and how big your organization is [6]. This is genuinely one of the best times to get an accountant or attorney with nonprofit experience involved, even for a one-time consultation. We're not a law firm or an accounting firm and this isn't legal or tax advice; treat the reinstatement process as something to confirm step by step with the IRS.
What if we're a brand-new booster club and have never filed anything?
First, figure out if you actually have federal tax-exempt status. Being a nonprofit under your state's incorporation law and being a federal tax-exempt organization under the IRS code are not automatically the same thing. If you never filed Form 1023 or Form 1023-EZ and never got a determination letter back, you likely aren't tax-exempt at the federal level yet, and the 990 filing requirement in its usual form doesn't apply to you the same way (though you may have unrelated income tax obligations as an unincorporated association or corporation). If you do have exempt status (check the IRS database [5] using your EIN), figure out your gross receipts for the current and prior years to know which 990 version applies, then set a recurring calendar reminder for your filing deadline going forward. A missed first year is recoverable. Three missed years in a row is what triggers automatic revocation [4]. This is exactly the kind of gap a new treasurer inherits without realizing it. If you want a starting point built for exactly this handoff moment, with state-specific raffle and charity-registration guidance layered in alongside the federal 990 basics, the $99 one-time State-Personalized Treasurer Kit is built for that first year in the chair, not for ongoing bookkeeping.
What records should a treasurer keep to make 990 filing easier?
The 990 (in any version) is only as easy as your underlying records are clean. A treasurer who reconciles the bank account monthly, keeps every fundraiser's cash count sheet, and logs board-approved budget changes as they happen can usually pull together a 990-EZ or even a full 990 in a few focused hours. A treasurer starting from a shoebox of receipts and a checkbook register is in for a much longer weekend. Minimum records worth keeping year-round: bank statements and reconciliations, a running ledger of income by source and expenses by category, cash-count sheets signed by two people for every fundraiser, board meeting minutes showing budget approvals, copies of any state charity registration and raffle license paperwork, and prior years' filed 990s themselves (keep at least the last three, ideally longer). The IRS itself notes that organizations should keep records supporting items reported on the 990 for as long as they may be relevant to an examination of the return, which in practice means several years minimum . Good recordkeeping habits are the actual fix for the recurring "we forgot to file" problem. The form itself takes an afternoon once your numbers are organized. What takes weeks is reconstructing a year of transactions from memory and a stack of paper receipts because nobody kept a running ledger.
Frequently asked questions
What is Form 990?
Form 990 is the annual information return the IRS requires most tax-exempt organizations to file under Internal Revenue Code section 6033. It reports revenue, expenses, and activities so the IRS and the public can confirm the organization is still operating within its exempt purpose. It comes in several versions sized to your gross receipts and assets.
What is the 990-N e-Postcard?
The 990-N is the simplest version of Form 990, for organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less. It's filed electronically and asks only for basic identifying information like your EIN, name, address, and confirmation you're still under the receipts threshold. There's no financial detail required.
What does a treasurer do?
A treasurer manages an organization's money: recording deposits and expenses, reconciling bank statements, preparing financial reports for the board, filing required tax returns like the 990, handling state charity or raffle registrations, and handing off clean records to the next treasurer. In a volunteer group, one person usually covers all of it.
What does a club treasurer do that's different from a company treasurer?
A club treasurer usually has no paid bookkeeper or accountant backing them up, so they personally handle cash counts from fundraisers, the annual 990 filing, and any state charity or raffle registrations, on top of routine bookkeeping. The scale is smaller but the range of responsibilities per person is often wider.
Do small PTOs and booster clubs really have to file a 990 every year?
Yes, if the organization has federal tax-exempt status. Nearly every 501(c)(3) or other 501(c) organization must file some version of the 990 annually, even with zero income, unless it falls into a narrow statutory exception like churches. There is no small-organization exemption from filing itself, only from which version applies.
What happens if we don't file for 3 years?
The IRS automatically revokes the organization's tax-exempt status as of the filing due date of the third consecutive missed year, per Internal Revenue Code section 6033(j). There's no warning notice before it happens. You can find revoked organizations listed in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool.
When is Form 990 due?
The 15th day of the 5th month after your accounting period ends. For a calendar-year organization, that's May 15. For a July-to-June fiscal year, common among school-affiliated groups, it's November 15. Form 8868 gives an automatic 6-month extension if filed before the original deadline.
How do I check if my organization's tax-exempt status was revoked?
Search the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool by your organization's name or EIN. It shows current exempt status and lists organizations on the Automatic Revocation of Exemption List, along with the effective revocation date if applicable.
Can we get our tax-exempt status back after revocation?
Often yes, through streamlined retroactive reinstatement under Rev. Proc. 2014-11 if you apply within 15 months of the revocation date, which generally involves refiling Form 1023 or 1023-EZ with the appropriate fee. Past that window the process is more involved. Confirm current procedures and fees with the IRS directly.
Does gross receipts mean net profit or total income?
Gross receipts means total income before subtracting any expenses. Raffle ticket sales, membership dues, and sponsorship payments all count in full, even if a lot of that money went straight back out as prizes or event costs. This affects which 990 version you're required to file.
Do we still need a state charity registration if we file the federal 990?
Usually yes. Federal 990 filing and state charitable solicitation registration are separate systems. Most states require organizations that solicit donations to register, often annually, with the state attorney general or secretary of state, regardless of your federal filing status. Confirm requirements with your specific state's charity registration office.
What is a 990 tax form used for by a raffle-running booster club?
Beyond the basic income and expense reporting, a booster club running a raffle may need to complete Schedule G, which asks for a breakdown of gross receipts, cash prizes, and non-cash prizes for major fundraising events and gaming activities, separate from other program income.
What's the difference between Form 990, 990-EZ, and 990-PF?
Form 990-EZ suits organizations with gross receipts under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000. The full Form 990 applies to larger organizations above those thresholds. Form 990-PF is specifically for private foundations, regardless of size. Smaller groups under $50,000 in gross receipts use the 990-N instead.
Sources
- IRS, Automatic Revocation of Exemption: organizations that fail to file for 3 consecutive years have exempt status automatically revoked
- IRS, Instructions for Form 990: purpose and legal basis of Form 990 under section 6033
- IRS, Annual Exempt Organization Return: Which Forms to File: thresholds for which 990 version to file based on gross receipts and total assets
- IRS, e-file for Charities and Nonprofits (Form 990-N): what information Form 990-N requires and eligibility for the e-Postcard
- IRS, Tax Exempt Organization Search: public database to check exempt status and automatic revocation list
- IRS, Revenue Procedure 2014-11: streamlined retroactive reinstatement process within 15 months of revocation
- IRS, About Form 8868: Form 8868 grants an automatic 6-month extension for exempt organization returns
- IRS, Instructions for Schedule G (Form 990): reporting requirements for fundraising events and gaming, including raffles, on Schedule G