I posted a blog earlier this week explaining how 200,000 charities and non-profits are at risk of losing their non-profit status if they do not file a return by this upcoming Monday. The deadline is quickly approaching; are you ready? While you would think this would prompt any organization at risk to act quickly, as this story from NRP asserts, many simply do not know about the looming deadline.
The requirement goes back to a 2006 law that says nonprofits with revenues of $25,000 or less have to start filing annual tax forms — something they never had to do before. The law also says that if they fail to do so for three years in a row, their tax-exempt status will be immediately revoked.
Since nonprofits have to file no later than four months and 15 days after the end of their fiscal year, the three-year deadline for many groups is May 17 (May 15 falls on a Saturday).
Tim Delaney, head of the National Council of Nonprofits, is worried that a lot of tax-exempt groups will miss the deadline. He notes that some of these organizations are run informally by volunteers.
"The concern that a lot of people have is that many smaller nonprofits — a PTA, a local Little League — will even be aware of this change in the law," he says.