What automatic revocation of tax-exempt status means, and reinstatement

Federal law ends the tax exemption of an organization that does not file its required annual return for three years in a row. The loss happens by operation of law: the IRS does not send a hearing notice, and the organization does not have to be examined. Section 6033(j) of the Internal Revenue Code sets the rule, and the first revocations under it took effect in 2011. Since then the IRS has listed hundreds of thousands of organizations, most of them small.

When revocation happens

An organization that is required to file Form 990, 990-EZ, 990-N or 990-PF and does not file for three consecutive years loses its exempt status. The revocation date is tied to the filing due date of the third missed return. For a calendar-year organization that date falls on May 15 after the third missing year. Organizations that were required to file for the first time and did not, and organizations that filed a return with an erroneous or incomplete form, can also be on the list.

The rule is one reason the number of exempt organizations in the IRS files dropped after 2011. Many of the revoked organizations were no longer operating, and some were unaware that a filing was required.

Where the IRS lists revoked organizations

The IRS publishes the Automatic Revocation of Exemption List as a monthly data file. Each entry carries the EIN, the organization name, its location, the exemption type, the revocation date, the date the IRS posted the revocation and, if applicable, the reinstatement date. The Tax Exempt Organization Search shows the same status on an organization's record. This site downloads the list monthly, most recently on 2026-09-17, and uses only the EIN, the revocation date and the reinstatement date, matched to the name and location in the Business Master File.

On an organization page, a revocation is shown in the IRS status block with its date. If the IRS lists a reinstatement date, that appears next to it. The current status in the page header comes from the most recent Business Master File and is the better indicator of today's situation. The revocation list keeps historical entries, so an organization can appear on it long after regaining its status.

What a revocation does

• The organization becomes taxable as a corporation or other entity and must file the corresponding income tax return.
• It drops out of Publication 78, the list of organizations that can receive deductible contributions.
• Contributions made after the revocation date are generally not deductible for the donor, unless the exemption is later reinstated retroactively.
• The organization may lose state-level benefits that depend on federal exemption, such as property tax or sales tax exemptions, depending on state law.

A revocation is separate from a state-level administrative dissolution, and neither implies the other. A revoked organization can continue to operate, and a good number of them do.

How reinstatement works

The IRS provides several routes back to exempt status, described in Revenue Procedure 2014-11 and later guidance:

1. Streamlined retroactive reinstatement – for some small organizations that were eligible to file the e-Postcard, that failed to file for three years, and that apply within 15 months of the revocation date, and that show reasonable cause.
2. Retroactive reinstatement with reasonable cause – for organizations that apply within 15 months and show the failure was not intentional, or that apply later with a fuller explanation.
3. A new application – filing Form 1023 or 1024 with the user fee, with the exemption effective from the date of the new application, or in some cases from the earlier date if retroactivity is granted.

In each route the organization must file its missing returns or explain why they are not needed. When the IRS reinstates retroactively, the exemption is treated as if it never lapsed, and the entry in the list gets a reinstatement date. When the IRS grants a new determination, the ruling year in the Business Master File is updated.

What to check before a gift or grant

1. Confirm current status in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search on the day you give.
2. Look at the revocation and reinstatement dates on the organization page here. Several entries with reinstatements mean the organization has filed late in the past.
3. Check the filing history in the revenue table: gaps in years or a very late last filing signal a lapse.
4. Ask the organization for its determination letter, and for the reinstatement letter if there was a revocation.

A revocation in the past does not say anything about the organization's programs. It says that a filing did not arrive in three consecutive years, which small volunteer-run organizations sometimes miss. See how to check if an organization is a 501(c)(3) for the verification steps and the methodology page for how the revocation data are handled here.

This guide is general information and is not tax or legal advice. A revocation date shown on a page reflects the IRS list on the download date; the IRS record is authoritative.