May 2, 2002 | Read Time: 1 minute
Nearly three-quarters of charities probably would file their Form 990 informational tax returns electronically if the Internal Revenue Service gave them the opportunity to do so, according to a survey.
If electronic filing were available, 73 percent of charities would be “very” or “somewhat” likely to use it, according to the survey, commissioned by the Urban Institute’s National Center for Charitable Statistics, a Washington group that collects charity data. The survey was designed to help guide the IRS as it prepares to make electronic filing available to nonprofit groups.
The national survey of 485 randomly selected organizations, conducted by the University of Virginia Center for Survey Research, encompassed groups of a wide variety of sizes, from those with no paid staff members to those with more than 250 employees.
The survey found that 88 percent of charities that responded have access to the Internet, including 74 percent of organizations with no paid employees and 88 percent of groups with up to nine employees.
Seventy-two percent of charities surveyed use certified public accountants or other preparers to complete their returns. The remaining 28 percent rely on someone inside the organization, usually the chief financial officer, to prepare the form. Organizations that use their employees to prepare returns were more likely to express support for electronic filing.
Charities in the survey expressed two concerns about electronic filing: that confidential information they provide might not remain secure, and that including complex attachments and dealing with other unusual situations online might be difficult.
For more information: Go to http://www.form990.org.
