Can’t Find Your IRS Form 1023?

Those who have read NPCC’s guide on disaster preparedness have seen the section where we suggest that you identify important documents and make copies and store them offsite, including your recent IRS Form 990 and Form 1023.

Most organizations will have little trouble finding their last Form 990, but what about your approved application for tax exemption—IRS Form 1023?

Unless your agency applied for tax exemption within the last few years you may have trouble locating your 1023 and all of the supporting materials. 

An organization that filed its Form 1023 before July 15, 1987, and did not have a copy of the form on July 1987, is exempt from the IRS requirement of supplying or showing its Form 1023 to anyone requesting this document.  This is because, prior to July 15, 1987, there was no requirement to show a copy of the Form 1023 to anyone, and many groups did not retain their copy. 

For a group that filed its Form 1023 after July 15, 1987, and cannot find its copy, contact the IRS Customer Service at 877/829-5500 to get a replacement copy.  Or, mail your request to IRS, TE/GE Customer Account Services at PO Box 2508, Cincinnati, OH 45201.  The IRS website is at www.irs.gov/charities/index.html. 

To download a copy of NPCC’s disaster preparedness manual, go to www.npccny.org/info/disaster_plan.htm.

This article originally appeared in the October 2004 issue of NPCC’s newsletter, New York Nonprofits.  www.npccny.org