Last updated 2026-07-24
TL;DR
The IRS 990-N lookup tool is called Tax Exempt Organization Search (TEOS), free at irs.gov. Search by EIN or name to see if your booster club or PTO filed its e-Postcard, when, and whether the group has been auto-revoked for missing three years in a row. Results usually update within a day or two of filing.
What is the IRS 990-N lookup tool?
The IRS 990-N lookup tool is officially called Tax Exempt Organization Search, or TEOS. It's a free database on irs.gov that lets anyone search for a nonprofit by name, EIN, state, or city and pull up its filing history, including 990-N (e-Postcard) submissions [1]. You don't need an account or a login. You don't need permission from the organization either, because this is public information. That's the whole point: Form 990 series filings are public disclosures, and the IRS wants donors, board members, and new treasurers to be able to check status without calling anyone. If you just inherited the treasurer role for a booster club, PTO, or youth sports league, this tool is the first place to look. It tells you three things fast: whether the group is still tax-exempt, when it last filed, and whether it's been auto-revoked for missing three consecutive years.
How do I actually search for my organization's 990-N filings?
Go to the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search page and choose the "Form 990-N (e-Postcard)" filter, or use the general search and look at the filings tab [1]. Type in the organization's legal name or, better, its EIN if you have it. EIN search is faster and more reliable. Names get mangled. A booster club might be registered as "Lincoln High School Athletic Booster Club Inc" in one place and "Lincoln HS Boosters" in local paperwork. If you search by name and get nothing, don't panic yet. Try partial names, try the city filter, and check for typos in how the group was originally registered. Once you find a match, click through to see the filing list. For 990-N specifically, you'll see submission dates and tax years covered. The e-Postcard itself is short (it only asks for a handful of data points: legal name, EIN, tax year, mailing address, website if any, name and address of a principal officer, and confirmation that gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less) so there isn't much to review, but the dates matter enormously [2]. A gap of one or two years usually just means a late filing that hasn't posted yet, or a treasurer transition where nobody filed on time. A gap of three or more years is the red flag.
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 traditional sense (most exempt organizations don't owe income tax), it's a disclosure document that reports revenue, expenses, executive compensation, program activities, and governance practices [3]. There are several versions scaled to organization size. Form 990-N (the e-Postcard) is for organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less. Form 990-EZ is for organizations with gross receipts under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000. Full Form 990 is required above those thresholds. Form 990-PF is a separate version for private foundations [4]. For a small booster club or PTO, the 990-N is almost always the right form. If your group crossed $50,000 in gross receipts in a given year (a big fundraiser, a large grant, a one-time equipment purchase reimbursement that got booked as revenue), you may need to step up to the 990-EZ for that year instead. Check the actual threshold and your specific numbers with a tax professional or the IRS, because gross receipts calculations have quirks (a good number of small nonprofits misjudge them). See our form 990 explainer for the full breakdown of which version applies when.
What is a 990 tax form, exactly, and why does my small booster club need one?
A 990 tax form is how the IRS keeps tabs on organizations that don't pay income tax because they're recognized as exempt under Section 501(c) of the tax code. Booster clubs, PTOs, and youth sports leagues that got formal 501(c)(3) recognition (or fall under a group exemption) still owe this annual filing even though they don't owe tax. Here's the part that surprises new treasurers: filing is required every single year regardless of how small the group is or how little money moved. There's no minimum revenue exemption from filing itself, only from which version of the form you use. A booster club that raised $4,000 selling concessions still has to file a 990-N. Skip it, and skip it three years running, and the IRS revokes your exemption automatically, no warning letter required beyond what's already been sent [5]. That's the mechanism that catches so many volunteer-run groups off guard. Treasurers change every year or two. The person who knew the login and the deadline moves on, the next person doesn't know a filing was ever required, and three years later the group is off the list without anyone noticing until a bank or a grantor asks for exempt status proof.
How do I know if my organization has been auto-revoked?
The IRS lookup tool doubles as your revocation check. Search your organization in Tax Exempt Organization Search and look for a status flag or check the separate Auto-Revocation List, which the IRS publishes and updates as part of the same search system [6]. If your group shows up on that list, exempt status was automatically revoked under Internal Revenue Code Section 6033(j) for failing to file a required return or notice for three consecutive years [5]. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 created this automatic revocation rule, and it applies uniformly, there's no case-by-case leniency built in at the point of revocation itself. What revocation actually means in practice: your organization is no longer tax-exempt, donations made to it are no longer tax-deductible to donors, and depending on your state, you may also need to fix state-level charity registration or sales tax exemption status separately. It does not mean your organization stops existing as a legal entity (your state nonprofit corporation filing is a separate thing), and it doesn't mean you did anything fraudulent. It almost always means paperwork got dropped during a leadership transition.
What do I do if my 990-N filing is missing or my status was revoked?
First, confirm the problem with the actual lookup tool rather than guessing. Search your EIN in Tax Exempt Organization Search and check both the filing history and the Auto-Revocation List [1] [6]. If you're just missing one year and haven't hit revocation, file the missing 990-N as soon as possible through the e-Postcard filing system at irs.gov. Late is better than never, and the system will let you file for the current and prior years even if you're behind. If you've been auto-revoked, reinstatement requires a formal application, more than catching up on the missing e-Postcards. Small organizations that would have qualified to file 990-N or 990-EZ can generally use the streamlined retroactive reinstatement process under Revenue Procedure 2014-11, which requires filing Form 1023 (or Form 1023-EZ if eligible) with the appropriate user fee, along with the specific required statement about the missed filings . The IRS itself describes it this way: organizations eligible for the streamlined process are "those that were eligible to file Form 990-EZ or 990-N for the years they failed to file, and are applying for reinstatement within 15 months of the later of the date of the organization's revocation letter... or the date the organization appeared on the IRS Revoked Organizations List" . Miss that 15-month window and the process gets more complicated and more expensive, generally requiring the full Form 1023 application and, in some cases, an explanation of reasonable cause for the missed filings covering the whole gap. Confirm current fees and forms with the IRS directly, since user fees change (Form 1023-EZ and Form 1023 fees are listed on irs.gov and have moved over time). This is exactly the kind of situation where paying a CPA or an attorney who does nonprofit reinstatement work for a few hours saves you far more in wasted volunteer time. See our guides on 990-N and form 990-N for the mechanics of the annual filing itself once you're back in good standing.
What is a treasurer, and what does a treasurer do?
A treasurer is the officer responsible for an organization's money: tracking it, reporting on it, and making sure required filings happen on time. In a booster club, PTO, or youth sports league, the treasurer is usually a volunteer parent, not a professional accountant, and the job is part bookkeeper, part compliance officer, part institutional memory. What does a treasurer do day to day? Realistically: deposit checks and cash from fundraisers, reconcile the bank statement every month, pay approved invoices, track budget versus actual for events, and prepare a financial report for board meetings. What does a treasurer do annually? File the 990-N (or whatever 990 version applies), renew any state charitable solicitation registration, and hand off clean records to the next person. What does a club treasurer do that's different from a corporate treasurer? Scale, mostly. A youth soccer league treasurer might handle $30,000 a year moving through concession stands, tournament fees, and uniform sales, with zero paid staff and a rotating cast of volunteers helping. The job is the same in kind as a corporate treasurer's job, just compressed and under-resourced. What does a treasurer of a club do that people forget? Keep the paper trail. Bank statements, receipts, the 990-N confirmation email, board minutes approving big expenditures. When the next treasurer takes over (often with almost no handoff), that paper trail is the only thing standing between "smooth transition" and "nobody knows if we're still tax-exempt."
What does a treasurer do in a club versus what a nonprofit's 990 requires?
The day-to-day treasurer job (deposits, reconciliations, budget tracking) and the annual 990 filing obligation are two different things that new treasurers often conflate. You can do the day-to-day job perfectly and still miss the 990-N if nobody told you it existed, because it's an IRS-facing filing, not a club-facing bookkeeping task. This is where a lot of small nonprofits fall through the cracks. The treasurer role in a booster club bylaws document usually describes cash handling, budgeting, and reporting to the board. It rarely spells out "you must confirm the group's IRS exempt status and file an e-Postcard by the 15th day of the 5th month after your fiscal year ends." That's a federal requirement layered on top of the club-level job description, and it doesn't show up unless someone specifically hands it down. If you're setting up a treasurer binder or transition packet for your organization, put the IRS lookup process and the filing deadline right at the front, not buried in an appendix. The single highest-value habit a volunteer treasurer can build is checking Tax Exempt Organization Search once a year, right after filing, to confirm the filing actually posted.
What information shows up in a 990-N lookup result, and what's missing?
A 990-N lookup result is intentionally thin because the form itself is thin. You'll typically see the organization's legal name, EIN, tax year, and submission date. You will not see revenue, expense breakdowns, or program details, because the e-Postcard doesn't collect that information in the first place [2]. That's a meaningful limitation if you're a donor or grantor trying to evaluate a small nonprofit's finances. A 990-N filer has disclosed almost nothing about its actual money. If you need financial detail (for a grant application, a bank loan, or due diligence before a big sponsorship), you'll need to ask the organization directly for internal financial statements, since the public 990-N record won't give you that picture. For organizations that file 990-EZ or full 990 instead, the lookup tool shows much more: the actual form images or data are viewable, including revenue and expense line items, compensation of officers, and program service descriptions. Nonprofit-focused databases and journalism outlets also republish this data from IRS bulk downloads, which is one reason full 990s show up on sites like ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer, while 990-N filers largely don't get that same secondary coverage since there's so little to show.
How often does the IRS update the 990-N lookup database?
The IRS updates Tax Exempt Organization Search periodically, and the agency's own guidance notes that newly filed 990-N submissions may take some time to appear, generally described as within a couple of days to a few weeks depending on the filing volume and processing backlog at the time [1]. Don't panic if you file today and don't see it tomorrow. If it's been over a month and your filing still isn't showing, first double check you actually completed the submission (the e-Postcard system sends a confirmation, and no confirmation usually means the filing didn't go through). If you have a confirmation and it's still not showing after a reasonable wait, that's worth a call to the IRS Exempt Organizations customer account services line to confirm receipt, since data entry delays do happen. The Auto-Revocation List specifically is described by the IRS as being updated monthly [6]. If you just fixed a missing filing and are waiting to see your organization drop off that list, expect it to take at least one monthly cycle, sometimes longer if reinstatement required a full application review rather than a routine catch-up filing.
Where else can I verify nonprofit status besides the IRS tool?
The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search is the primary source and the one that actually matters for legal exempt status, but a few secondary sources are useful for context. ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer republishes IRS 990 data (though 990-N e-Postcard detail is limited there too, since the underlying form has so little to show) and is often easier to browse for full 990 filers. Your state's charity regulator or attorney general's office is the second place to check, separately from the IRS. Federal tax exemption and state charitable registration are two different systems, and a group can be in good standing with one and out of compliance with the other. Confirm requirements with your state's specific charity registration office or attorney general's office, since rules and renewal cycles vary widely by state. If you're building an ongoing compliance calendar (990-N deadline, state annual report, state charity registration renewal, raffle license renewal if applicable) rather than checking each system one-off every year, a State-Personalized Treasurer Kit built for your specific state can save real time by putting all the deadlines and required documents in one place instead of hunting through five different agency websites every spring.
What's the difference between 990-N, 990-EZ, and full Form 990?
| 990-N (e-Postcard) | Normally $50,000 or less | N/A | 8 basic data points, filed online only | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 990-EZ | Under $200,000 | Under $500,000 | Summary financial statements, some program detail | |
| Full Form 990 | $200,000 or more, or assets $500,000+ | Over $500,000 | Full financial statements, compensation disclosure, detailed program reporting | |
| 990-PF | All private foundations, any size | N/A | Separate form regardless of receipts | Organizations can generally file a more detailed form than required if they want (some do it voluntarily for grant applications), but they cannot file a simpler form than their size allows. Getting this wrong in either direction can cause processing delays or, in a worse case, contribute to an incomplete filing that doesn't actually satisfy the annual requirement. Our 990 tax form and irs form 990 guides walk through picking the right version in more detail. |
The version you file depends on gross receipts and total assets, not on organization type. Here's the breakdown as of current IRS guidance [4]: | Form | Gross receipts threshold | Total assets threshold | What it requires |
Frequently asked questions
What is the IRS 990-N lookup tool called?
It's called Tax Exempt Organization Search, or TEOS, hosted free on irs.gov. It lets you search by organization name, EIN, city, or state to see filing history for Form 990-N, 990-EZ, and full Form 990, plus check the Auto-Revocation List for exemption status [1].
Is the 990-N lookup free to use?
Yes. Tax Exempt Organization Search is a free public tool on irs.gov. No account, login, or fee is required. Anyone, donor, board member, or new treasurer, can search any organization's public filing history at any time [1].
What is Form 990?
Form 990 is the annual information return tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS to report revenue, expenses, and governance activity. It comes in several versions (990-N, 990-EZ, full 990, 990-PF) scaled to organization size, and it's a public disclosure document, not an income tax bill [3].
What does a treasurer do in a booster club or PTO?
A treasurer tracks incoming and outgoing money, reconciles bank statements, reports to the board, and handles annual compliance like filing Form 990-N and renewing any state charity registration. It's part bookkeeper, part compliance officer, usually done by an unpaid volunteer.
How do I know if my nonprofit has been auto-revoked?
Search your organization's EIN in IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search and check the Auto-Revocation List within that same tool. Revocation happens automatically after three consecutive years of missing a required 990-series filing, under Internal Revenue Code Section 6033(j) [5] [6].
How long does it take for a 990-N filing to show up in the lookup tool?
It varies, generally a couple of days to a few weeks depending on IRS processing volume [1]. If it's been over a month with no confirmation email on file for the original submission, call the IRS Exempt Organizations line to confirm the filing was received.
What do I do if my organization was auto-revoked?
Small organizations often qualify for streamlined retroactive reinstatement under Revenue Procedure 2014-11 by filing Form 1023 or 1023-EZ within 15 months of the revocation date, along with the required statement about missed filings [7]. Miss that window and the process gets more involved. Confirm current forms and fees with the IRS.
What's the gross receipts threshold for filing Form 990-N?
Form 990-N is for organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less. Above that, you generally step up to Form 990-EZ (under $200,000 receipts and under $500,000 total assets) or full Form 990 above those figures [4].
Does a 990-N lookup show my nonprofit's actual finances?
No. The e-Postcard only collects basic identifying information (name, EIN, tax year, mailing address, a principal officer's name) and a confirmation that receipts are under the threshold. It doesn't report revenue or expense details the way 990-EZ or full 990 do [2].
What is a treasurer of a club supposed to hand off to the next person?
Bank statements, reconciliations, the current year budget, receipts for major purchases, board minutes approving spending, and proof of the last filed 990-N. A clean handoff packet is the single biggest thing that prevents accidental auto-revocation during leadership turnover.
Is Form 990-N the same as a 990 tax form?
Form 990-N is one version of the 990 tax form series, specifically the simplified e-Postcard for organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less. "990 tax form" is often used loosely to mean any version in the family: 990-N, 990-EZ, full 990, or 990-PF [4].
Can I look up another organization's 990-N filing, or only my own?
Anyone can look up any organization's filing history. Form 990 series filings are public records by law, and IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search doesn't restrict access to the organization itself. This is by design, so donors and grantors can verify status independently [1].
Sources
- IRS, Tax Exempt Organization Search: Free public tool to search 990-N filings, filing history, and revocation status
- IRS, Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations (Form 990-N): 990-N gross receipts threshold and the basic data points required on the e-Postcard
- IRS, About Form 990: Form 990 is the annual information return for tax-exempt organizations
- IRS, Which Form to File: Gross receipts and asset thresholds distinguishing 990-N, 990-EZ, full 990, and 990-PF
- IRS, Automatic Revocation of Exemption: Exempt status is automatically revoked after three consecutive years of failing to file a required 990-series return
- IRS, Automatic Revocation of Exemption List: Auto-Revocation List is part of the same search tool and is updated periodically