IRS Releases Searchable Form 990 Data

The IRS has released over one million Form 990 series returns spanning a six year time period in machine-readable format, using Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the host site for this data.  From the AWS website:

Machine-readable data from certain electronic 990 forms filed with the IRS from 2011 to present are available for anyone to use via Amazon S3.

Form 990 is the form used by the United States Internal Revenue Service to gather financial information about nonprofit organizations. Data for each 990 filing is provided in an XML file that contains structured information that represents the main 990 form, any filed forms and schedules, and other control information describing how the document was filed. Some non-disclosable information is not included in the files.

This data set includes Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF which have been electronically filed with the IRS and is updated monthly in an XML format. The data can be used to perform research and analysis of organizations that have electronically filed Forms 990, 990-EZ and 990-PF. Forms 990-N (e-Postcard) are not available withing this data set. Forms 990-N can be viewed and downloaded from the IRS website.

The related IRS News Release provides:

“The publicly available information on the Form 990 series is vital to those interested in the tax-exempt community,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “The IRS appreciates the feedback we’ve received from a variety of outside partners as we’ve worked together to explore improvements to make this data more easily accessible.” 

The data includes Form 990, Form 990-EZ and Form 990-PF and related schedules with the exception of certain donor information. The IRS also redacts certain personally identifiable tax-identification numbers to prevent the data’s misuse. Data from Form 990-N (e-postcard) used by certain smaller exempt organizations is not available with this data, but it can be accessed through IRS.gov.

Over 60 percent of all Form 990 returns are electronically filed with the IRS. Both paper and electronically filed 990 returns will continue to have image files made and these files will continue to be available by DVD.

. . .

Form 990 is the IRS’ primary tool for gathering information about tax-exempt organizations, educating organizations about tax law requirements and promoting compliance. Organizations also use the Form 990 to share information with the public about their programs. Additionally, most states rely on the Form 990 to perform charitable and other regulatory oversight and to satisfy state income tax filing requirements for organizations claiming exemption from state income tax.

With filed Forms 990 now available in machine-readable format, it will be easier for interested persons, including charity watchdog groups and state regulators, to search for information regarding an organization’s revenues and expenditures, compensation practices, lobbying activities, related party transactions, officers and directors, and other activities required to be disclosed on Form 990.  Previously, the IRS released filed Forms 990 only in image format as PDF documents, even when the organization filed its Form 990 electronically. 

TLH