By law, tax-exempt status is automatically be revoked if an organization does not file the required Form 990-series returns or notices yearly for 3 consecutive years. The automatic revocation date is historical. It is the organization’s effective date of automatic revocation (the date for the filing of the third annual Return or notice), but doesn’t necessarily reflect its current tax-exempt status.
An organization may have applied for reinstatement of its tax-exempt status after the automatic revocation date had posted. IRS will recognize the reinstatement of the organization's tax-exempt status if the application is approved. You can find out if the exemption status has been reinstated by reviewing the Pub. 78 Data (for 501(c)(3) organizations) or reviewing its determination letter, which would show an effective date on or after the automatic revocation date, with the online tool or the bulk data download files. You may also review the EO BMF Extract to check the organization’s current exempt status.
Revocation date of certain organizations
Organizations that do not file a required annual information return or notice for three consecutive years automatically lose their tax-exempt status by operation of law. An automatic revocation is effective on the original filing due date of the third annual return or notice (the “Revocation Date”). Due to the COVID-19 emergency, this year the IRS extended the filing dates for these returns and notices due from April 1 through July 14 to July 15, 2020. Organizations eligible for this relief that failed to file for the two previous years and did not file by July 15 have automatically lost their tax-exempt status. Due to systemic limitations, these organizations appear on the auto-revocation list showing a Revocation Date between April 1 and July 14, 2020. However, the Revocation Date for these organizations is July 15, 2020. For more information on automatic revocation, including how to request reinstatement, see Automatic Revocation - How to Have Your Tax-Exempt Status Reinstated.
Latest data posting: September 12, 2022
