March 20, 2003 | Read Time: 1 minute
Charities can now take advantage of free software, available online, to help them file federal and state informational tax returns.
The software, offered by the Urban Institute’s National Center for Charitable Statistics, includes the 2002 edition of Forms 990 and 990-EZ, the federal informational returns charities file with the Internal Revenue Service. The software also contains dozens of other forms charities may include with their returns. Charities can fill out the forms by computer, print them out, and then mail them to the IRS and state tax agencies.
Also packaged in the software are 2002 tax forms for Colorado and Pennsylvania, which can be filed online from the center’s Web site. The two states are the first to offer charities an electronic-filing option.
Separately, the Urban Institute noted that there is a growing trend toward making electronic filing available to charities. Beginning next year, the IRS will accept Forms 990 filed online, and an additional 10 states are preparing to offer e-filing: California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Tennessee, and Washington.
The software, called Desktop 990, is available at http://efile.form990.org.
