You’re Moving? Don’t Forget to Tell the IRS

Like all businesses, nonprofit corporations have regular communications with the Internal Revenue Service.  Nonprofits with employees must file quarterly wage reports on Form 941. Employers must also submit W-2s at the end of the year for each employee, as well as Form 1099s for any independent contractors they employ.  Nonprofits must also file an annual Form 990 and nonprofits with taxable income must file Form 990-T.

All in all, your organization has a lot of interaction with the IRS, in addition to any special notices the IRS may need to send the nonprofit – such as an audit notice!  Therefore, it is important that the IRS knows how to reach your organization, and who in your organization is responsible for receiving the correspondence.

Be sure to notify the IRS if there is a change in your address.  There are two ways to do so.  First, you can file Form 8822-­B, Change of Address or Responsible Party-Business.  You should fill out this form and file with the IRS if your address changes or your principal officer – meaning your executive director or CEO – has changed.  (If your organization is an all-volunteer organization, you should notify the IRS if the president or chair of your board has changed.)

The address provided must be a complete mailing address to enable the IRS to communicate with the organization's current principal officer, if necessary. The principal officer may indicate that he or she prefers to be contacted at the organization's address.

 A second option is to wait until your organization files its next Form 990 to update its information.  The form allows you to indicate the organization’s address has changed and that there is a new principal officer.    However, there is a risk that, unless you update the information before the Form 990 is filed – which could be as much as 18 months later – you will miss important notices from the IRS. Filing the Form 8822-B eliminates that risk.