New Form 990

Last month, the IRS released the final 2011 Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. The IRS also released instructions for Form 990. Significant changes contained in the newly released version of the Form are below:

• If an organization had foreign investments during the tax year that valued $100,000 or more, it must complete Form 990, Part I of Schedule F, ‘Statement of Activities Outside the United States’.
• Organizations must complete Part X, ‘Balance Sheet’, by reporting distributive shares of assets in any joint ventures and other partnerships according to the ending capital account in the partnership report on Schedule K-1.
• Organizations must report contributions of conservation easements and other qualified conservations contributions. The reports must be consistent with how the organization reports revenue from such contributions in books, records, and financial statements.
• Organizations should report its distributive share of investment income, royalties and rental income from joint ventures on specific lines of Part VIII, ‘Statement of Revenue’.

See Sally P. Schreiber, Form 990 Has A Few Significant Changes For 2011, Journal of Accountancy, Jan. 24, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.