The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announces online filing for Form 990. The IRS is set to accept online submissions of Form 990, the annual report filed by nonprofits, beginning in March. The IRS has made online filing of nonprofit financial reports a top priority because of the increased scrutiny by Congress, the media and others. The eventual goal is to have most 990s filed electronically, and the information made available to the public in a searchable database. Benefits of filing Form 990 electronically for nonprofits include:

• reduction of the paperwork burden,
• the re-allocation of scarce government resources to real problem
• organizations, instead of intruding on tax abiding groups,
• data quality will increase because incorrect forms will not be able to be
• submitted,
• real-time verification that your organization's return has been filed, and
• greater efforts of collaboration between federal and state regulators to
• make registration and filing in multi-states easier.

Free software for preparing Form 990 for e filing is available through the National Center for Charitable Statistics. Other software providers with e filing compatible packages are listed on the IRS website. For more information, see the web site of EDIN, the Electronic Data Initiative for Nonprofits, a partnership between the Council on Foundations, GuideStar, Indpendent Sector, the National Council of Nonprofit Associations and OMB Watch.