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Do you qualify for the 1023-EZ?
The streamlined form means a $275 IRS fee instead of $600 and a determination in weeks instead of months. This is the complete 30-question IRS eligibility worksheet, translated into plain English. Answer honestly — a “yes” doesn't mean you can't get 501(c)(3) status, just that you'll take the full Form 1023 path.
Financial
Size limits — the EZ form is for smaller organizations.
01.Do you project that your annual gross receipts will exceed $50,000 in any of the next 3 years?
Gross receipts are everything the organization takes in during the year — donations, dues, program fees, grants — before subtracting any costs. Count this year and the next two.
02.Have your annual gross receipts exceeded $50,000 in any of the past 3 years?
03.Is the fair market value of your total assets more than $250,000?
Total assets include cash, receivables, inventory, stocks, investments, equipment, land, and buildings — everything the organization owns.
Organizational
How and where the organization was formed, and its history.
04.Were you formed under the laws of a foreign country?
U.S. states, territories, and possessions, federally recognized Indian tribal and Alaskan native governments, and the District of Columbia all count as domestic.
05.Is your mailing address in a foreign country?
Your mailing address is where all correspondence will be sent. U.S. territories and possessions are not considered foreign countries.
06.Are you a successor to, or controlled by, an entity suspended under section 501(p) (suspension of tax-exempt status of terrorist organizations)?
Section 501(p) suspends the exemption of organizations designated under federal law as supporting or engaging in terrorist activity.
07.Are you organized as anything other than a corporation, unincorporated association, or trust?
Answer yes if you are organized as an LLC — LLCs can't use the EZ form.
08.Are you formed as a for-profit entity?
09.Are you a successor to a for-profit entity?
You're a successor if you took over substantially all the assets or activities of a for-profit, were converted or merged from one, or installed the same officers, directors, or trustees as one that no longer exists.
10.Were you previously revoked, or are you a successor to a previously revoked organization (other than an automatic revocation for not filing Form 990-series returns for 3 consecutive years)?
Automatic revocation for missed Form 990 filings doesn't count here — answer no if that's your situation.
11.Are you currently — or were you previously — recognized as tax exempt under another section of IRC 501(a)?
Activities
What the organization is and what it will do.
12.Are you a church, or a convention or association of churches?
Churches include mosques, temples, synagogues, and other religious organizations — generally a congregation that meets regularly for worship. Churches use the full Form 1023 (though they aren't required to file at all).
13.Are you a school, college, or university?
A school's primary function is formal instruction: a regular curriculum, a regular faculty, an enrolled student body, and a place where classes happen.
14.Are you a hospital or medical research organization?
Principal purpose is medical or hospital care, medical education, or medical research — including rehab institutions, outpatient clinics, and community mental health or drug treatment centers.
15.Are you an agricultural research organization operating in conjunction with a land-grant college or university?
Directly engaged in continuous, active agricultural research with a land-grant (or non-land-grant agriculture) college, described in section 170(b)(1)(A)(ix).
16.Are you applying as a cooperative hospital service organization under section 501(e)?
These provide shared services — billing, purchasing, records, labs, food — to member 501(c)(3) hospitals on a cooperative basis.
17.Are you applying as a cooperative service organization of operating educational organizations under section 501(f)?
These are organized solely to provide investment services to member schools and colleges.
18.Are you applying as a qualified charitable risk pool under section 501(n)?
Risk pools insure the risks of their member 501(c)(3) organizations and require at least $1,000,000 in startup capital.
19.Is a substantial purpose of your activities providing credit counseling — budgeting, personal finance, financial literacy, mortgage foreclosure assistance, or other consumer credit help?
Includes educating consumers on credit topics, consolidating debt, and negotiating with creditors.
20.Do you, or will you, invest 5% or more of your total assets in securities or funds that are not publicly traded?
21.Do you participate — or intend to participate — in partnerships where you share losses with partners that aren't 501(c)(3) organizations?
Includes any entity or arrangement treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes.
22.Do you sell, or intend to sell, carbon credits or carbon offsets?
23.Are you a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)?
24.Are you an Accountable Care Organization (ACO), or do you engage — or intend to engage — in ACO activities?
ACOs are formed by physicians, hospitals, and other providers to coordinate patient care, for example through the Medicare Shared Savings Program.
25.Do you maintain, or intend to maintain, one or more donor advised funds?
A donor advised fund is an account your organization owns but a donor advises on — the donor keeps a say in how their contribution is invested or distributed.
Foundation status
Foundation classification and reinstatement requests.
26.Are you requesting classification as a supporting organization under section 509(a)(3)?
Supporting organizations exist to support one or more specific public charities rather than run their own publicly supported programs.
27.Are you organized and operated exclusively for testing for public safety, requesting classification under section 509(a)(4)?
Generally, organizations that test consumer products to determine whether they're acceptable for public use.
28.Are you requesting classification as a private operating foundation?
Private operating foundations run their own charitable programs directly rather than making grants, but lack broad public support.
29.Are you a private foundation applying for reinstatement after automatic revocation, and requesting to change to a public charity foundation classification?
If you were a private foundation when revoked, you must be reinstated as one. Changing classification takes the full Form 1023 — or Form 8940 if the original classification was an error.
30.Are you applying for retroactive reinstatement of exemption under section 5 or 6 of Rev. Proc. 2014-11, after being automatically revoked?
Only reinstatement under section 4 or 7 of Rev. Proc. 2014-11 can use Form 1023-EZ. Sections 5 and 6 require the full Form 1023 with a reasonable cause statement.
This is a self-help tool based on the IRS Form 1023-EZ Eligibility Worksheet. It's general information, not legal or tax advice.