Tax Administration

Availability and Completeness of Returns for Tax-Exempt Organizations Gao ID: GGD-88-128 September 30, 1988

In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed Internal Revenue Service (IRS) procedures to determine whether: (1) IRS could locate and provide requested Form 990 annual information returns, which tax-exempt organizations filed; and (2) the Form 990 returns were complete.

GAO analyzed 450 sample Form 990 returns and estimated that: (1) IRS could locate about 99 percent of requested returns if the requester provided the name that the organization used to obtain its tax-exempt status; (2) IRS would provide about 95 percent of the requested returns, with the remaining returns in use internally; (3) 48 percent of Form 990 returns were missing one or more of the required supporting schedules, and 95 percent were incomplete, according to IRS criteria; and (4) although supporting schedules provided detailed information concerning such activities as fund-raising and payments to affiliates, IRS did not include them in its Incomplete Returns Program criteria.

Recommendations

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