Form 1023-EZ: Streamlined Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code

Not every group can use this short form. Before you start, you work through the Form 1023-EZ Eligibility Worksheet in the instructions. If you answer Yes to any worksheet question, you must apply on the full Form 1023. If you answer No to all of them, you may use Form 1023-EZ. Two of the cutoffs are about money. You cannot project annual gross receipts over $50,000 for this year or the next two years, your receipts cannot have gone over $50,000 in any of the past three years, and your total assets cannot exceed $250,000 in fair market value.

• You must be a corporation, an unincorporated association, or a trust.
• LLCs, sole proprietorships, partnerships, and loosely affiliated groups of individuals cannot use this form.
• Churches, schools, and hospitals that want a determination letter use Form 1023.
• You cannot use it if you were formed under the laws of a foreign country or your mailing address is in one.

The instructions do not set a filing deadline. Timing still matters, because it decides when your exempt status starts. If you file within 27 months after the end of the month in which you were legally formed, and the IRS approves the application, your legal date of formation becomes the effective date of your exempt status. If you file after that, the effective date is the date you filed, called the submission date. If you have existed more than 27 months and want an earlier effective date, you can only request it by completing Form 1023 in full.

You can only file this form electronically, on Pay.gov. The IRS will not accept printed copy submissions. A user fee is required to process the application, and you pay it through Pay.gov when you file, either from your bank account or by credit or debit card. Pay.gov fills in the fee amount for you on line 7. You also need an EIN before you can submit, and every organization needs one whether or not it has employees. Preview and print a copy of your application for your records before you send it.

Most of the form is attestations rather than narrative. You check a box at the top to say you completed the eligibility worksheet and that you read and understand the requirements to be exempt under section 501(c)(3). Part I collects your name, address, EIN, tax year end month, contact person, and up to five officers, directors, or trustees. Part II covers your entity type, formation date, and state of formation, plus boxes confirming what your organizing document says. Part III asks for an NTEE code, your exempt purposes, and Yes or No answers about your activities.

Part IV is where you pick your foundation classification. You check one box in line 1 if you qualify as a public charity, using one of the support tests in the instructions. If none of those describe you, you are a private foundation and you check the box about the provisions section 508(e) requires in your organizing document. An officer, director, or trustee listed in Part I, line 8 who is authorized to sign then signs electronically in Part VI, with title and date.

Part V is only for organizations that lost exempt status automatically after not filing required annual returns or notices for three consecutive years. You can use this form only if you are applying under section 4 or section 7 of Revenue Procedure 2014-11. Section 4 covers retroactive reinstatement when you were eligible to file Form 990-EZ or Form 990-N for each of the three missed years, this is your first automatic revocation, and you apply no later than 15 months after your revocation letter or the posting of your name on the Revocation List. Under section 5 or 6, you must submit the full Form 1023.

Submitting the application does not guarantee that exemption will be recognized. An incomplete or incorrect application may be rejected, and the IRS may contact you for more information. The IRS also selects a random sample of applications for pre-determination reviews. If exempt status is approved, both you and the IRS must make the application available for public inspection, so keep social security numbers off it. You still file Form 990, Form 990-EZ, or Form 990-N each year based on your gross receipts and assets, even while the application is pending.