Many fraternity and sorority chapters and house corporations understand they must file the Form 990 each year with the IRS to maintain their tax-exempt status. Many fraternal organizations may not realize the rules about electronic and paper filing are changing.
990-N
For tax exempt, fraternal organization with gross receipts totaling $50,000 or less, the IRS has required the 990-N to be filed electronically for years. There is no paper form option. Nonprofits and other tax-exempt organizations can use the IRS portal to file the Form 990-N. In addition, authorized IRS e-filing services like File990.org make it easy to file online and maintain filing information from year to year.
990-EZ
For those fraternal organizations required to file the 990-EZ, the rules are changing in 2021. Those organizations with a tax year ending before July 31, 2021, can file either electronically or by paper. Those organizations with a tax year ending on or anytime after July 31, 2021, must file their Form 990-EZ electronically. If you are not sure how to figure out your tax year ending date, you can learn more in this article.
Generally, fraternities, sororities and house corporations use Form 990-EZ when they have annual gross receipts of more than $50,000 but less than $200,000. Authorized IRS e-filing services like File990.org provide a simple, step-by-step solution to help fraternal and other tax exempt organizations file their 990-EZ electronically.
Form 990
The most recent change involves the “full” Form 990. Beginning with tax years ending on or after July 31, 2020, fraternal organizations required to file the full 990 (usually those with more than $200,000 in annual gross receipts or more than $500,000 in total assets) must file electronically. If an organization tries to file their Form 990 by paper, the IRS will send it back. File990.org does not currently offer electronic filing of the Form 990, but most reputable tax professionals, including Greek Resource Services can help nonprofits complete and electronically file the Form 990 given the new electronic filing requirements.
