If you forgot, Form 8868 buys you six (6) more months. But only if you file it before midnight.
By Gordon Fischer
May 15, 2026
Today is “990 Day.” If your Iowa nonprofit runs on a calendar fiscal year, your annual return to the IRS is due today.
Most Iowa 501(c)(3) organizations must file some version of Form 990 every year. Miss three (3) years in a row and the IRS automatically revokes your tax-exempt status. So let’s talk.
Pick Your 990.
Four (4) versions, based on size:
- Form 990-N (the “e-Postcard”): gross receipts normally fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) or less. Eight (8) questions. No extensions allowed.
- Form 990-EZ: gross receipts under two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) and total assets under five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000).
- Form 990 (full version): gross receipts of two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) or more, OR total assets of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) or more.
- Form 990-PF: private foundations, any size.
All due today for calendar-year filers.
File Up.
You are allowed to file a longer 990 than the IRS requires. A 990-N filer can file a 990-EZ. A 990-EZ filer can file the full 990. Please consider it. Three (3) reasons.
One (1). Your 990 is public.
Donors read it. Foundations read it. Reporters read it. Charity Navigator, Candid, and ProPublica republish it. Anyone can find it in ninety (90) seconds.
Two (2). A clean 990 is a credibility document.
A thoughtful, organized Form 990 tells the world your nonprofit has it together. A sloppy, half-finished one tells the world the opposite. Same form, very different message.
Three (3). Schedule O is a gift. Use it.
Schedule O is the narrative section of Form 990 and 990-EZ. It is where the IRS invites you to explain, in your own words, your programs, your governance, your policies, and the operations behind the numbers. It is a free marketing page from the federal government.
Here is what a short Schedule O entry might look like:
“During 2025, the Anytown Iowa Food Pantry served four thousand two hundred (4,200) families across twelve (12) eastern Iowa counties, distributing more than one hundred eighty thousand (180,000) pounds of food. Our seven (7) member board meets monthly, reviews and approves the annual budget and audit, and conducts an annual conflict-of-interest disclosure for every director and officer. Our full board reviewed this Form 990 before it was filed. We adopted eleven (11) written policies, including a Conflict of Interest Policy, Whistleblower Policy, and Document Retention and Destruction Policy, all of which are available to the public on request.”
Three (3) sentences. Fifteen (15) minutes to write. Worth more than almost anything else on the form.
Bonus move: once you have filed a 990 you are proud of, post it on your own website. Link to it from your “About” or “Financials” page. Donors notice.
Behind? File 8868.
If today snuck up on you, audit is not done, books are a mess, treasurer just quit, board has not reviewed the draft, whatever: file IRS Form 8868 today and buy yourself six (6) more months.
Seven (7) things to know:
- It is automatic. No explanation required. Check the box, sign, submit.
- Six (6) full months. Pushes the calendar-year deadline from May 15, 2026, to November 16, 2026.
- File it today. Form 8868 must be filed by the original 990 deadline. May 16 is too late.
- E-file it. Same providers that e-file your 990. Fifteen (15) minutes.
- It does not extend time to pay. If you owe tax (rare for nonprofits, but possible on Form 990-T), pay today.
- Not for 990-N filers. e-Postcard filers cannot extend. The good news: the 990-N takes ten (10) minutes. Just file it.
- One (1) form per return. Need to extend a 990 and a 990-T? File two (2) separate 8868s.
File. Or Extend.
File your 990, or file your 8868. Both are fine. Doing nothing is not.
Three (3) consecutive missed years means automatic revocation of your tax-exempt status. Getting it back is a real project. Do not put your organization there over a fifteen (15) minute form.
Stuck? Email Me.
If you missed today’s deadline, are unsure which 990 to file, are worried about year three (3), want help writing a Schedule O narrative that actually says something, or want a second set of eyes on the draft return: I offer a genuine free one-hour consultation to any Iowa nonprofit. No catch, no pitch.
📧 Email: gordon@gordonfischerlawfirm.com.
We will work on it together.
######
