New nonprofit organizations filing IRS Form 1023 – Application for Recognition of Exemption must include a Form 1023 User Fee payment as part of their application for either $275 or $600, made payable by online payment to the United States Treasury.

The Form 1023 filing fee amount is determined by which version of the IRS Form 1023 you are required to file, either IRS Form 1023-EZ or the traditional IRS Form 1023.  The Form 1023-EZ filing fee is $275 and available to organizations projecting less than $50,000 in annual revenue, but is not available to churches, schools, or hospitals/medical research organizations.  The traditional Form 1023 filing fee is $600 regardless of the size of the organization or scope of activities.

Whether you are filing the IRS Form 1023-EZ or the traditional IRS Form 1023, every organization will submit it’s non-refundable Form 1023 User Fee payment as part of their ONLINE APPLICATION made payable to the United States Treasury through the IRS pay.gov website.

If your new organization is not a church, a school, or a medical organization, and if you are absolutely certain that your organization’s projected annual revenue will not exceed $50,000 per year, then it is likely in your best interest as a startup nonprofit organization to file the shorter IRS Form 1023-EZ application and pay the $275 user fee.

On the other hand, if you are quite certain that your organization will exceed the $50,000 annual revenue benchmark then you should submit the required IRS Form 1023 along with the corresponding user fee of $600.

Sometimes attorneys and professional services will steer new organizations unnecessarily to the longer, traditional IRS Form 1023 explaining that funding organizations prefer the long form to the shorter 1023-EZ.  While this could be true in a few instances, our experience at Nonprofit Elite over the past 15 years has shown that’s not usually the case.  If you qualify to file the Form 1023-EZ then you should feel very comfortable and confident doing so.

If you have additional questions about the IRS Form 1023 User Fee, or how to determine what your 501c3 filing fee will be, please contact Nonprofit Elite.  We are able to provide you with the information and advice you need, and we are always glad to help.  Call 800-268-4388 today!