Shutdown Would be Tricky for IRS, Commissioner Says

On Thursday, the head of the IRS warned that a federal shutdown during tax season would be a challenge that they are not prepared for.

The Hill.com reports:

Doug Shulman, the IRS commissioner, also signaled at a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing that his agency was discussing how to address a potential shutdown with the Obama administration, though he did not spell out any details of those talks.

“We run a $13 billion financial services operation, so the idea of stopping it for a few days or a few weeks is strange,” Shulman said, adding that he was hopeful, based on ongoing negotiations, that a shutdown could be averted.

“Our old plan was: We deposited checks, we didn’t process returns. That was a plan that was built in ’95 when there wasn’t so much electronic filing, and now we’re closely looking at it,” he added.

The deadline to file taxes this year is April 18, and the federal government is currently funded through April 8. The government shutdowns during the Clinton administration occurred in fall and winter months.

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IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman's Remarks from the 990 Filing Extension Conference

From the IRS Newsroom:

Today, we’re announcing relief for small nonprofit organizations who are at risk of losing their tax-exempt status because they have missed or are about to miss the deadline for filing Form 990-N or Form 990-EZ with IRS. We believe it’s important to give these organizations an opportunity to preserve their valuable tax exemption.

Here’s why relief is needed: Back in 2006, Congress passed legislation mandating that all tax-exempt organizations, except churches and church-related groups, file annual returns with the IRS starting in 2007. This meant that very small organizations that had never filed before would have to start doing so.

This law also said that any organization failing to file for three consecutive years would automatically lose its federal tax-exempt status. So the IRS spent the past three years conducting an extensive and unprecedented outreach effort to alert very small organizations to their new filing responsibility. Among the examples, we have sent over 1 million letters to small nonprofit organizations alerting them about the filing requirement since the law was passed. But even with that effort, we found when we got to May 17, the first date that would trigger the three-year rule, we found that many organizations still had not filed a return.

So here is what we’re doing: We’re offering a two-part program to bring small organizations back into compliance. First, we’re extending the filing deadline to Oct. 15 for the smallest organizations, those with gross receipts of $25,000 or less. These are the groups that have to file the Form 990-N, the e-postcard. It’s very simple. All they need to do is provide eight information items. If an organization goes to our Web site, IRS.gov, supplies those eight items, and files electronically by Oct. 15, it will be back in compliance and its tax-exempt status will be intact.

We’re also offering relief for somewhat larger organizations, which are eligible to file the Form 990-EZ. For these groups, we’re launching a voluntary compliance program. Under this program, you file your three delinquent returns and pay a small fee. As long as you file by Oct. 15, you won’t lose your tax exemption. I should note that none of this relief is open to larger organizations that have to file the Form 990 or to private foundations that file Form 990-PF.