Amending Form 990-N: Changing the Fiscal Year

ExpressTaxExempt | September 17, 2015 | 990-EZ, 990-EZ penalties, 990-N, calendar tax year, e- Postcard, Express990, fiscal tax year, Fiscal year, Form 990 rejection, Form 990-N | No Comments

No one likes to hear they’ve made a mistake. But, hey, it happens. Still, when the IRS is the one telling you that you’ve messed up, things can get unnecessarily stressful. You were so sure you did everything right, yet here’s your rejected Form 990-N (“ePostcard”) reporting that the fiscal year on your return doesn’t match the IRS’s records. If you’re like me, your brain’s probably flooding with questions: How could I get a year wrong? Don’t they all start in January? How can I fix this? How much will it cost me to fix this? Is the IRS mad at me? Did I leave the oven on?

First, inhale deeply. Remember that Express990 is here to help. Aaaand exhale.

Recording your fiscal year as the calendar year is a common mistake, and no, the IRS isn’t mad at you for it. Once you verify with your organization the actual start date of your fiscal year, correcting this error is easy and, with Express990, free! Just follow these simple steps to amend the fiscal year for your submitted Form 990-N:

Step 1. Begin by logging into your Express990 account.

Step 2. Once at your Dashboard, click the “Edit” button next to the tax period that’s currently listed. This will take you to the point in your return where you’ll select your actual fiscal year.

Step 3. Select the “Fiscal Tax Year” button. It will turn green to indicate it’s been selected.

Step 4. Click the blue calendar icon next to “Tax Year Begin Date.” Select the beginning month and year by accessing the drop down menus, then click the day your fiscal year began. (In this example, the fiscal year began May 1, 2014.)

Step 5. Once you click the day, the calendar will go away, the program will fill in your “Tax Year Begin Date” and “Tax Year End Date,” and your due date will update. Verify that all of this is correct, and click “Next.”

Step 6. After you click “Next,” your fiscal year will update on Express990, but you still need to resubmit your Form 990-N to the IRS. To do this, continue to click “Next” until you reach the Summary page of your 990-N, shown below. Confirm that it’s correct and click “Review.”

Express990 will then generate an Audit Report to check for any obvious errors; if no errors were found, click “Next” until you come to the option to “Authorize and Transmit to the IRS.” Until you select this, your amended return will not be sent to the IRS.

So there ya go – your mistake has been fixed! The birds are still chirping, the world is still turning, and you can go check that oven if you haven’t already.

And if you have any other questions or need further assistance, our live experts in Rock Hill, South Carolina can be reached Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST by phone (704-839-2321) and live chat (www.expresstaxexempt.com) or through our 24/7 email support service ([email protected]).

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