Form 990, 990-EZ, Form 990-N, or 990-PF must be filed by the 15th day of the 5th month after the end of your organization's accounting period. For a calendar year taxpayer, Form 990, 990-EZ, Form 990-N, or 990-PF is due May 15 of the following year. For 2024, the deadline is Wednesday, May 15^th.

Under Internal Revenue Code Section 6033(j), the tax-exempt status of an organization that does not file a required return or notice for three consecutive years will be automatically revoked as of the due date of the third unfiled return.

If an organization does not file an annual return or notice for three consecutive years, the organization is automatically revoked by operation of law, and not by a determination made by the IRS. The law provides no appeals process for automatic revocations.

Effect of automatic revocation

An organization that has lost its tax-exempt status through automatic revocation may be required to file one of the following federal income tax returns and pay any applicable income taxes:

Form 1120, U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return, due by the 15th day of the 3rd month after the end of an organization’s tax year, or
Form 1041, U.S. Income Tax Return for Estates and Trusts, due by the 15th day of the 4th month after the end of an organization’s tax year.

In addition, a section 501(c)(3) organization that loses its tax-exempt status cannot receive tax-deductible contributions and will not be identified in the IRS Business Master File extract as eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions, or be included in Tax Exempt Organization Search.

Action needed for reinstatement

To have its tax-exempt status reinstated, the organization must file an application for exemption. An organization may also request retroactive reinstatement as part of its application.

Erroneous revocation

The IRS has procedures in place to assist organizations that believe they have been erroneously listed as auto-revoked. This includes situations where an organization has documentation that it met its filing requirement for one or more years during the three-consecutive-year period. An organization can fax us the relevant information (an IRS receipt for a filed return, for example) to 855-247‑6123 to resolve the issue.

Additional resources

For the latest exempt organization news, connect via IRS Social Media and subscribe to this and other IRS Newsletters.

If you have a technical or procedural question about Exempt Organizations, visit the Charities and Nonprofits homepage on IRS.gov.

If you have a specific question about exempt organizations, please contact us.

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