- IRS Form 1023 and 1023-EZ preparation and filing
- IRS determination letter follow-up support
- Exempt status compliance review for newly formed organizations
Not-for-Profit (Public Charity & Private Foundation)
Staying exempt requires more than filing Form 990. WhippleWood guides public charities and private foundations through complex compliance requirements, protecting the exemption your organization depends on.
The Reality of Nonprofit Tax Compliance
Protecting your exempt status requires more than filing a return, it demands year-round vigilance and specialized knowledge
Exempt Status Is Never Guaranteed
Tax-exempt status must be earned and maintained. Failing to meet IRS reporting standards, governance requirements, or operational rules can jeopardize the exemption an organization depends on to operate.
Prohibited Activities & Self-Dealing
Prohibited transactions, self-dealing, and excess benefit rules are complex and easy to violate unintentionally. For private foundations especially, the financial consequences of non-compliance can be severe.
Complex Annual Compliance
The Form 990 series is far more than a tax return. It is a public document that signals governance quality to donors, watchdog groups, and regulators, and errors or omissions carry real reputational risk.
Unrelated Business Income
Not all nonprofit revenue is tax-exempt. Income from activities unrelated to the organization’s exempt mission may be subject to tax, and failing to report it correctly creates real compliance exposure.
How WhippleWood Makes the Difference
We combine technical depth in nonprofit tax law with proactive advisory, so your organization stays compliant, protected, and focused on its mission.
990 Series Expertise
We bring professional-level knowledge of Forms 990, 990-EZ, 990-N, 990-PF, and 990-T, ensuring every filing is accurate, complete, and defensible under IRS scrutiny.
Risk Before It Happens
We proactively identify governance gaps, self-dealing risks, excess compensation issues, and operational red flags before they become penalties or threats to your exempt status.
Foundation Rules
Private foundations face a uniquely strict regulatory environment. We manage excise tax calculations, minimum distribution compliance, and prohibited transaction reviews so nothing falls through the cracks.
Support Monitoring
We calculate and monitor your public support test results year over year, alerting you early when trends require a change in strategy to protect your public charity classification.
Awards & Recognition
Comprehensive Not-for-Profit Tax Services
From Compliance Review to Year-Round Protection
Our not-for-profit tax process moves in deliberate phases, from assessing your current compliance posture to filing with precision, so your exempt status is protected and your organization can stay focused on its mission.
Assessment
We review your organization’s structure, prior filings, funding sources, and activities. We identify any existing compliance gaps, assess exposure to prohibited transaction or UBIT risk, and establish a clear picture of your current regulatory standing.
Filing & Compliance
We prepare and file your Form 990 series returns, 990, 990-EZ, 990-N, 990-PF, or 990-T as applicable, with full supporting documentation. For new organizations, we manage the Form 1023 process from preparation through IRS determination. Every filing is technically accurate and prepared to withstand scrutiny.
Ongoing Partnership
We remain engaged beyond the filing deadline, monitoring public support test results, flagging governance and operational risks, advising on distribution compliance for private foundations, and alerting you to legislative or regulatory changes before they affect your organization.
Common Questions About Not-for-Profit Tax Services
To receive federal tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3), most organizations must file IRS Form 1023 (or Form 1023-EZ for qualifying smaller organizations) and receive an IRS determination letter.
The application requires a clear statement of purpose, organizational documents, and financial information. We prepare and file the application, respond to any IRS requests for additional information, and guide you through the process from formation to approved exemption.
Yes, significantly. Public charities receive broad public support and file Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N.
Private foundations are typically funded by a single source and face stricter rules, including a mandatory 5% minimum distribution requirement, a 1.39% excise tax on net investment income, and prohibitions on self-dealing.
Private foundations file Form 990-PF. We handle both, and proactively manage the compliance differences between them.
It depends on the nature and scale of the activity. Revenue from activities regularly carried on that are not substantially related to your exempt purpose is generally subject to unrelated business income tax (UBIT) and must be reported on Form 990-T.
We identify which revenue streams may trigger UBIT, advise on structuring options, and prepare all required filings to keep you compliant and minimize your exposure.
Missing the deadline can result in automatic penalties of $20 to $100 per day depending on the organization’s size.
More critically, an organization that fails to file for three consecutive years automatically loses its tax-exempt status, a revocation that is public and can be difficult to reverse.
We manage your filing calendar, prepare returns well in advance of deadlines, and handle any extension requests to ensure you never miss a required filing.
Self-dealing rules prohibit certain financial transactions between a private foundation and its disqualified persons, typically founders, officers, directors, substantial contributors, and their family members.
Violations trigger excise taxes on both the foundation and the individual involved, and repeated violations can result in termination of the foundation’s exempt status.
We review your transactions and governance structure to identify and prevent self-dealing exposure before it becomes a problem.
Public charity classification depends on passing the public support test, a calculation showing that a sufficient portion of your revenue comes from broad public sources rather than a small number of donors.
We calculate and monitor your public support percentage each year, alert you when trends indicate risk, and advise on fundraising or revenue strategies that can protect your classification well before the threshold becomes a concern.
Ready for Proactive Tax Planning?
Let’s discuss how WhippleWood can navigate your most complicated tax planning and compliance needs.
Questions? info@whipplewoodcpas.com | 303-989-7600
