The Taxpayer Advocate Service utilizes Form 12412, Operation Assistance Request (OAR), to refer cases when TAS lacks either the statutory or delegated authority to resolve a taxpayer's problem.

In cases requiring an OAR, TAS will complete Form 12412 and forward the case to the Operating Division Liaison via Form 3210, Document Transmittal. The Operating Division Liaison will review the case, assign it to the appropriate area, and monitor the case through its conclusion.

The Operating Divisions and Functions will acknowledge receipt and provide the name and phone number of the IRS employee assigned to work the case within one (1) workday of receipt of the OAR involving economic hardship cases, Criteria 1-4. The Operating Divisions and Functions will provide a relief/no relief decision within three (3) workdays of acknowledging receipt of an OAR. The decision will be in writing, via facsimile, or hand delivery to the TAS case advocate.

The Operating Divisions and Functions will acknowledge receipt and provide the name and phone number of the IRS employee assigned to work the case within three (3) workdays of receipt of the OAR involving a systemic or procedural hardship Criteria 5-7. The TAS employee will then negotiate a reasonable time frame with the IRS employee to resolve the case.

Every effort must be made to expedite completion of OAR cases. Time frames for the assigned area to complete the case will be indicated on Form 12412.

For more detailed information, please refer to IRM 13, Taxpayer Advocate Service, and http://tasnew.web.irs.gov.

When an organization is granted an exemption, EO Rulings and Agreements will input the information on Master File to create the EO account or add the exemption data to an already existing account. When status codes 01 or 02 are present on the EO account, they indicate that an exemption has been granted to the organization. Most IRC 501(c)(3), and all IRC 501(c)(9), and IRC 501(c)(17) organizations are required to notify the Service that they are seeking tax exempt status; therefore, they must file a Form 1023 or Form 1024 application.

IRC 501(c) organizations other than IRC 501(c)(3),IRC 501(c)(9), or IRC 501(c)(17) organizations are not required to file an application for exemption, though they may do so. They may be considered exempt even though they do not apply for a formal exemption as long as they satisfy the requirements of the particular paragraph of IRC 501(c) they claim exemption under. Also, if they do not establish exempt status by application to Cincinnati, they are at risk of retroactive revocation and taxation if they are found not to be engaged in activities described by the subsection under which they filed.

The EO status (EO-STAT) on ENMOD (see Document 6209 or Document 6379 for a complete list of EO Status Codes) identifies the account as:

Refer to the table below for a list of EO statuses and their definitions:

If necessary, the EO Entity unit at the Ogden Campus should be contacted to update the status prior to any adjustment action taken on the account.

A review of ENMOD, INOLES, or BMFOLO must be made prior to inputting a return or extension to an EO account to insure the account is not in one of the following statuses:

There are other fields in the EO section, such as the Foundation, Affiliation, and Organization codes, which are useful when researching and resolving EO account related issues. See tables below for specific codes and explanations.

The most commonly requested documents which are made available for public inspection in accordance with IRC 6104(a)(1)(A) and IRC 6104(b) are:

Certain information in returns otherwise open to public inspection must be withheld by IRS from public inspection (and need not be disclosed by the exempt organization):

Private Foundations must provide copies of the approved applications for exemption and their three (3) most recent Form 990-PF returns to anyone who requests them:

Organizations may apply to be excused from fulfilling the requirements if they can prove that requests for their materials are part of a harassment campaign.

If an organization fails to comply with the public inspection requirement by the date and in the manner prescribed under IRC 6104(d), a penalty of $20 a day may be imposed on any person with a duty to comply for each day the failure continues.

The maximum penalty on all persons for any one return is $10,000.

To request a copy of an exempt or political organization return, report, notice or approved exemption application from the IRS, the requestor may submit a complete Form 4506-A, Request for Public Inspection or Copy of Exempt or Political Organization IRS Form.

Use the following chart to determine where to submit the written request or Form 4506-A.

The request should indicate the type of return and the year(s) involved, if applicable.

If an exempt organization requests an " unredacted " copy of its own return under IRC 6103, then a Form 4506, Request for Copy of Tax Return, must be completed and submitted to the address shown below. The fee shown on Form 4506 must be pre-paid.

Route all Form 4506-A requests received in EO Accounts to OSPC, EO Photocopy Unit, MS: 6716.

Requests for copies of exemption applications only are sent to the address shown below or faxed to 513-263-3434.

Electronic copies (images) of certain exempt organization returns filed with the Internal Revenue Service are available. Depending on the type of return, the type of filer, and the year the return was filed, these images may be available in both CD and DVD formats.

Currently, Form 5227 is not available on DVD.

CD/DVDs are available at no cost to members of the media and other government agencies.

The following table indicates what returns are available, formats, and the related charge for other customers.

Requests for any of the above CDs or DVDs must be submitted on a Form 4506-A, Request for Public Inspection or Copy of Exempt Organization IRS Form, and pre-paid. The form can be faxed to the EO Photocopy unit at 801-620-7896 or mailed to the address shown below.

Additional information regarding CD/DVDs can be found at www.irs.gov/charities.

When additional information is received (i.e., missing information, amended returns, etc.) the tax examiner must determine what information needs to be scanned. Refer to the following procedures when additional items need to be scanned.

The photocopied information is treated as classified waste and destroyed after the Imaging unit has scanned the photocopied item(s).

The following is a list of items that may require scanning:

Changes to the EIN, name or tax period do not require re-imaging.

When additional or amended schedule(s) or information is received for an electronically filed return, a paper copy of the return must be secured. This is accomplished by accessing either the Employee User Portal (EUP) or the On Line Statistics of Income Exempt Organizations Return Image Net (OL-SEIN) and printing a copy of the e-filed return.

OL-SEIN is a system that allows viewing of an unredacted image of an EO return. If a return is not available on the EUP, a copy of the return can be retrieved by accessing OL-SEIN.

Refer to the procedures below when attaching additional information to an electronically filed return.

Legislation adopted in 2002 altered filing requirements for certain political organizations that seek tax-exempt status under IRC 527. The new law reduced or modified the tax filing requirements for certain state and local political organizations that already disclose information to state agencies. In addition, the law relieves some political organizations from filing an annual income tax return or an annual information return. Except where noted, the revised filing requirements are retroactive to July 1, 2000. The current filing requirements, as revised by the new legislation, are shown below. The new law:

The political organization must have its own employer identification number (EIN), even if it does not have any employees. To get an EIN, an organization must file Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification Number. See Form SS-4 instructions for more information.

Additionally, many political organizations must electronically file their periodic reports. In order to electronically file these reports, an organization needs the user name and password issued to it after filing its initial notice. If the user name and password are forgotten or misplaced, the political organization can fax or send a letter requesting a new user name and password to:

The filing requirements in the table below apply to those political organizations that wish to be a tax-exempt political organization and that receive or expect to receive $25,000 or more in gross receipts in any taxable year.

* An organization may be both a QSLPO and a caucus or association of state or local officials. If so, it is not required to file Form 8872 and Form 990.

If the organization is:

The new law changed the electronic filing requirements for political organizations that file Form 8871 and/or Form 8872. To be tax-exempt, certain political organizations must file Form 8871 within 24 hours of establishment and within 30 days of any material change. Form 8871 must now be filed only electronically, which is a change from the previous provision that required an organization to file both in paper form and electronically. Under the new law, an organization must file Form 8872 electronically if it has, or expects to have, contributions or expenditures of more than $50,000 during the calendar year.

Form 990 and Form 990-EZ were redesigned for Tax Year (TY) 2008. The revised Form 990 core form consists of 11 pages and includes numerous schedules. The schedule that are open for public inspection are clearly identified in the upper right hand corner by the following statement, " Open to Public Inspection " . The redesigned Form 990-EZ includes a new Part VI and is now four pages long.

In order to allow both Form 990 and Form 990-EZ filers to use the same schedules for 2008 and later years, the Form 990-EZ was modified to allow the use of new Schedules A, C, E, G, L and N of the 2008 Form 990. These schedules are used to report information currently required by the Form 990-EZ.

In addition, certain information no longer required to be reported on the 2008 Form 990 as a result of its redesign has also been eliminated from the Form 990-EZ. Refer to IRM 21.7.7.4.1.1 for additional information on the redesigned Form 990 and Form 990-EZ.

Notice 2005-88 establishes criteria under which exempt organizations can request a waiver from the electronic filing requirement:

Waiver requests are processed by the Ogden Campus. Organizations that request a waiver of the requirement to file their returns electronically will receive Letter 4069C from the e-Help Desk informing them whether their request was granted or not. If the request is denied, the letter will explain why. If the request is granted, the approval applies only to the tax period requested in the waiver. TC 971 AC 322 indicates the waiver request was approved and TC 971 AC 323 indicates it was denied. These codes are displayed on ENMOD and BMFOLE.

If an organization attempts to file a return electronically and is unable to do so, the electronic return originator (ERO) will receive notification from the Service that the return was not accepted for processing. The ERO is required to inform the filer of the reject within 24 hours, provide the filer with an explanation of why the return was not accepted through the electronic system, and inform him/her a paper return must be filed.

A paper return received after the return due date will be considered timely filed if the filer indicates on the return or an attachment that an unsuccessful attempt was made to file timely electronically.

Form 990 was redesigned for TY 2008. Since some organizations may continue to use the old Form 990 and Form 990-EZ, new Doc Codes have been established for the redesigned versions. The Doc Code for Form 990 (2008) is "93" and Form 990-EZ (2008) Doc Code is "92" .

The Form 990-EZ was modified to allow the use of new Schedules A, C, E, G, L and N of the 2008 Form 990. These schedules are used to report information currently required by the Form 990-EZ. In addition, certain information no longer required to be reported on the 2008 Form 990 as a result of its redesign has also been eliminated from the Form 990-EZ.

The new schedules include the following:

New Incomplete Return Item (IRI) Codes have also been added. For additional information, refer to IRM 21.7.7.4.23.1.3.1.

Generally, Form 990 is filed by organizations exempt from income taxes. It must be filed if the organization's annual gross receipts are normally more than $25,000.

Some organizations that file Form 990 receive a group ruling. This type of ruling is identified by a Group Exemption Number (GEN). The central organization of the group ruling is identified by an Affiliation Code (AC) "6" or "8" on CC ENMOD.

A group return entity has its own EIN, which is a dummy entity used to file the group return. The group return entity is identified by a Form 990 filing requirement of "3" and words "Group Return" added to the organization's name.

The central organization of the group receives the ruling and members or subordinates of the group are added as the central organization determines their eligibility. Normally subordinate entities and the central organization have the same name, identified by the presence of a chapter name or local number. The subordinate is identified by an Affiliation Code of "7" or "9" on CC ENMOD.

An organization that has one or more subordinates under its general supervision or control is referred to as a central organization.

The central organization has a separate EIN and is identified by an Affiliation Code "6" (central organization of a group ruling - not a church) or "8" (central organization of a church).

A central organization files one Form 990 for itself based on the income and expenses of only the central organization. It may also file a group return that includes all of the income and expenses for its affiliates who elect to be included on a group return.

A chapter, local, post, or unit of a central organization is referred to as a subordinate organization.

A subordinate is identified by an Affiliation Code "7" (intermediate parent - subordinate by state) or "9" (subordinate of a group ruling or group return).

A subordinate may choose to file as part of a group return or may file a separate return.

Every year, each subordinate must authorize the central organization in writing to include it in the group return. The group return is filed under the group return's EIN. Any subordinate not filing as part of the group must file a separate return using its own EIN. A group code 8 (entered on the edit sheet) means that only some of the affiliates are included in the group return. A group code 7 means that all of the affiliates are included.

A TC 590 CC14 is input on each of the affiliate's EIN that is included on the group return to prevent a delinquency notice from being issued.

The organization's gross receipts are the total amounts it received from all sources during its annual accounting period, without subtracting any costs or expenses.

For TY 2007 and prior, gross receipts are figure as outlined below.

For TY 2008 and subsequent, gross receipts are figure as outlined below.