Organizations are required by law to make copies of their returns and their determination applications (if they filed for their exemption after July 15, 1987, or had a copy of their application on July 15, 1987) available to the public per IRC section 6104(d). Encourage requesters to contact the organization directly to obtain a copy. There are various other sources available to obtain copies. See IRM 21.3.8.4.1, "Disclosure - General," and the subsequent subsections for additional information. Also refer to the section titled, "Public Inspection of Exemption Applications, Annual Returns, and Political Organization Reporting Forms," in Publication 557, Tax-Exempt Status for Your Organization.

A request for a photocopy or transcript of a tax form disclosable under IRC section 6103 and 26 C.F.R section 601.702(d)(1) must be written and must describe the material desired in reasonably sufficient detail to enable the Service to locate the material.

Form 4506, Request for Copy of Tax Return, is used to request a copy of a previously filed tax form.

Form 4506-T, Request for Transcript of Tax Return, is used to request a tax return transcript. Transfer callers requesting a transcript per the Telephone Transfer Guide (TTG) on SERP.

Refer to Form 4506 for the fee information. Refer to the instructions for Form 4506 and for Form 4506-T for the appropriate mailing addresses.

Exempt Organizations requesting an unredacted copy (unsanitized copy) of their original information return must submit Form 4506 and pay the applicable fee (all EO requests on Form 4506 must be mailed to the Ogden Campus).

The standard time frame for receipt of requested copies is 60 days. If the caller indicates it has been more than 60 days since the request was submitted, confirm that the request was sent to the correct address.

See IRM 21.3.8.3.4.1.2, "Public Inspection of Exemption Applications and/or EO Information Returns Disclosable under IRC Section 6104," for requests involving publicly-available (redacted) information.

If a caller requests a photocopy of an original Form SS-4 filed, probe to determine when the form was processed. Only Forms SS-4 processed between 1938 and 1998 are available. If the Form SS-4 was filed during this period, advise the caller to send a written request to the following address:

See IRM 21.7.13.3.2.12, "Form SS-4 Retention (Past and Present) and Requests for Copies of Form SS-4," for additional details.

If the customer is requesting a copy of his/her audit report:

When a tax module reflects a pending refund (PN TC 846) that the customer indicates should not go out, assistors are required to stop it.

For information on stopping the refund, see IRM 21.4.1.4.10, "Refund Intercept CC NOREF."

An Erroneous Refund is defined as "any receipt of money from the Service to which the recipient is not entitled." This definition includes all erroneous payments to taxpayers, even if the error could not have been known at the time of the refund.

When a customer indicates he/she received an erroneous refund:

See IRM 21.4.5, Erroneous Refunds, for complete erroneous refund procedures.

If the customer is asking how to obtain a refund of backup withholding:

Most tax and information returns undergo yearly revision; many publications are also regularly updated.

If a caller asks the date of the latest revision for a particular form or publication, you can research that on the Electronic Publishing Web site.

If a caller asks whether an older revision of a form can be used, you should encourage the caller to use the most current revision. While prior revisions of tax and information returns will generally be accepted for those who file on paper, the filer of an outdated return is going to experience delays in processing and may also receive a request for additional information if new line items, sections, or schedules have been added to the current revision.

Prior revisions of some special-use forms and applications, e.g., applications for tax exempt status and for determinations on the qualifications of an employee plan, may not be accepted for processing. See IRM 21.3.8.11.5, "Applications with No/Insufficient Fee and/or on Obsoleted Forms."

Per the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA), if an organization fails to submit the annual electronic notice (Form 990-N) or fails to file Form 990, Form 990-EZ, or Form 990-PF for three consecutive years, its tax-exempt status is revoked as of the submission/filing due date of the third year. The system will put the organization in status 97 if there has been no TC 150 (or other satisfying transaction) posting for three years and six months.

If you are researching an organization with EO filing requirements other than 990-06, 990-13, or 990-14 AND you are speaking to an authorized caller, research BMFOLI to ensure that the organization has been filing returns as required by the PPA of 2006. If the organization has not been compliant, advise the caller accordingly.

IRC section 6103 governs the disclosure of all TEGE account, determination, or plan-related information that is not disclosable to the general public under IRC sections 6104 or 6110.

Under IRC section 6103, information not disclosable under IRC section 6104 or IRC section 6110 may be disclosed only to a person who has a material interest in the information pursuant to IRC section 6103(e) and/or is legally authorized to act on behalf of the organization/plan. This includes:

For telephone requests, employees must ask sufficient questions to establish the identity and position of the caller before disclosing information which is not disclosable under IRC section 6104 or IRC section 6110.

Some examples of information disclosable only to authorized persons under IRC section 6103 are:

See IRM 21.3.8.4.1.5, "Taxpayer Authentication Procedures," for taxpayer authentication procedures and IRM 21.1.3.3.2, "Oral Disclosure Consent/Oral TIA (Paperless F8821)," for oral disclosure consent procedures.

IRC section 6104(a) and IRC section 6104(b) require the Service to make available for public inspection:

Other determination letters issued prior to November 1, 1976 may include return information, the disclosure of which is not authorized by IRC section 6104. Disclosure of such letters is governed by IRC section 6103.

The disclosure of certain information relating to trade secrets, patents, processes, style of work or apparatus of an organization or national defense information may be restricted.

Assistors may verbally disclose to unauthorized third parties any exempt organization data available from a source that is disclosable to the general public under IRC section 6104, examples of which are listed in (1) above.

Requests from unauthorized third parties for employee plan information disclosable under IRC section 6104 must be in writing and should be sent to the address under "Disclosure" under the Who/Where tab on SERP.

If an unauthorized third party asks about an information return which, according to our records, we cannot verify was filed, tell the caller that the return for that period is not available. Do not tell an unauthorized third party that a particular return was not filed. See IRM 21.3.8.4.2.3, "EO Public Inspection of Determination Applications and Return Information," for additional details on EO returns. See IRM 21.3.8.13.2, "Form 5500/Form 5500-SF/5500-EZ," for information about a change in tax law that may explain why a Form 5500-EZ did not need to be filed.

IRC section 6110 requires that, subject to certain deletions, determination letters and rulings (with associated correspondence) not covered by IRC section 6104 must be made available for public inspection.

Forms 2848/8821 can be accepted via fax, if they contain the necessary information. If a Power of Attorney (POA)[Form 2848] or appointee [Form 8821] is going to fax in a Form 2848/Form 8821 (other than a "special use" power being faxed directly to the attention of the assistor responding to the call), advise the POA/appointee to include a short note of explanation on the cover sheet or in a cover letter.

If a customer wants to submit a Form 2848/Form 8821 for a pending determination application:

If a customer wants to submit a Form 2848/Form 8821 for account issues:

If the customer indicates he/she faxed or mailed the Form 2848/8821 previously and it is not reflected on the appropriate system, explain to the caller that incomplete or incorrectly completed forms are rejected, but the sender is not notified (unless the form was submitted to the CAF unit). Instruct the customer that before sending the form again, he/she should review the instructions and be sure to have the form signed correctly. See IRM 21.3.7.5.1, "Essential Elements for Form 2848 and Form 8821," for additional details.

Assistors should handle Forms 2848/Forms 8821 per the guidance below once they have completed the call:

Unless the information being requested is open to the general public under IRC section 6104, or is available through IRS publications, employees must verify the customer is an authorized party. This holds true for all verbal and written disclosures.

When performing disclosure verification, all necessary steps must be taken to satisfy the assistor that the customer is an authorized party and entitled to the information requested.

NEVER offer sensitive information (such as Organization/Plan name, c/o person name, current address, or other account-specific information) to a customer when attempting to confirm authorization. Instead, ask the customer to provide the information and compare the information provided with the available information on record. Offering information that is present on the Master File or EDS/TEDS record could compromise the ability to verify that the party is authorized and could result in an unauthorized disclosure. See IRM 11.3.1.7, "Reporting Unauthorized Access or Disclosures," for additional information.

Before disclosing information protected under IRC section 6103, solicit the name, address, and EIN of the organization/plan. (See (12) below if the caller fails to provide the correct address of record.) Unless the caller has a valid POA, the basic question that must be asked in all disclosure verifications is: "Are you a current officer legally authorized to act on behalf of the organization /plan?"

If a party is an officer, employee or other designated person within the organization/plan, and is not an outside third party, once his/her position within the organization/plan is established (and she/he has provided the EIN, name, and address of the organization/plan or additional information as required in (12) below), verbal confirmation that he/she is authorized to act on behalf of the organization/plan is sufficient verification for Exempt Organization and Employee Plan disclosure. A trustee may be an outside third party, not authorized without specific authority. (If caller is a plan participant seeking information relating to a plan, see (9) below).

Before an outside third party can be considered authorized to receive information protected under section 6103, disclosure rules require:

For third-party verification ask: "Do you have a valid authorization on file?" and use the following table.

If a party is a plan participant requesting information relating to a plan, he/she does not have to be legally authorized to act on behalf of the plan but must be able to demonstrate he/she is a participant in the plan and thus entitled to the information being requested.

This demonstration can be satisfied verbally if:

When a participant cannot verbally satisfy entitlement to the information requested, advise him/her to submit the request in writing with proof he/she is a participant (e.g., W-2, participant statement).

Participants are not entitled to account information (penalties, Form 5330 filing, etc.) relating to a plan/sponsor.

If the caller cannot provide the correct address of record or the caller's position with the organization/plan does not clearly identify him/her as an officer (but the caller correctly responds to the other disclosure prompts), additional probing is necessary to help establish that the party is authorized. This includes any information found on the Master File record (such as specific return information or EO information), or information found on EDS/TEDS, for example:

Before disclosing information open to public inspection under IRC section 6104, solicit the EIN, name, and address of the organization to ensure that any information disclosed pertains to the correct entity. If the caller is unable to provide all of the identifying information (such as the city and/or state when the full address is not known), attempt to secure as many details as possible, and, if you are able to locate information open to public disclosure under IRC section 6104, advise the caller that the information being provided is based on our available records.

When leaving taxpayers' or their representatives' confidential information on an answering machine/voice mail, you must adhere to guidelines developed by Governmental Liaison and Disclosure. Guidelines which allow you to leave confidential information are described in IRM 11.3.2.6.1, Leaving Information on Answering Machines/Voice Mail.

If a caller identifies him/herself as a member of the media, refer to IRM 21.3.5.4.4.2, "Media Contacts."

This section provides information relating to the disclosure requirements for Exempt Organizations.

The intent of Congress in allowing for the public inspection of information governed by IRC section 6104(a), (b), and (d) was to enable the public to scrutinize the activities of tax exempt organizations and trusts. Congress intended that these organizations and trusts be subject to a certain degree of public accountability in view of their privileged tax status and because the public has a right to know for what purposes their contributions are being or will be used.

In view of the Congressional intent that the activities of exempt organizations and trusts be known to the public, Service employees must, to the extent it is administratively feasible, attempt to comply with requests for inspection of disclosable information, even though the information is contained in a document which is not specifically available for public inspection under IRC section 6104. See IRM 11.3.9.3, Commonly Requested Documents, for additional information.

Only approved determination applications and related documents are open to public inspection under 6104.

With regard to requests for copies of approved EO determination applications, the following information is disclosable:

With regard to requests for copies of determination applications, the following information is not disclosable:

If an application is pending, withdrawn, denied, or if no application has been submitted, neither the application nor related supporting documents, nor the fact that an organization has or has not submitted an application for exemption, can be disclosed under IRC section 6104. When responding to such requests, you may state, "We have no record that the organization is a tax-exempt organization by virtue of an approved application."

If the IRS terminates or revokes the organization's exemption, the approved application and attachments are still open to public disclosure. However, the specific reason why an organization is no longer tax exempt may not be disclosed to the public. Advise the requester that the organization is no longer tax exempt.

The majority of requests for return disclosure involve Form 990, Form 990-EZ, and Form 990-PF. However, the Pension Protection Act (PPA) of 2006 opened additional EO returns to public inspection (Forms 990-T filed by 501(c)(3) organizations to report UBIT after August 17, 2006, and Forms 5227 (except the Schedule A) filed for tax years beginning after December 31, 2006). The PPA of 2006 also brought about the requirement to submit the e-postcard Form 990-N for tax years beginning after December 31, 2006 (the information from which is available on the Internet) for small organizations whose gross receipts are not large enough to require the filing of a Form 990 or Form 990-EZ. Refer to the following chart for special circumstances when addressing incoming telephone inquiries regarding the filing of these forms, especially when neither IDRS nor OL-SEIN research indicates that a return has been filed (also refer to the information in (7) and (8) below):

You may respond to questions from unauthorized third parties on issues such as:

If the caller asks for information that is not open to the general public under IRC section 6104, see (8) below.

No compliance information is disclosable to unauthorized third parties under IRC section 6104. These include:

Exempt Organization Employer Identification Number (EIN) information can be disclosed to an unauthorized third party only when it has appeared on an (approved) application/return that is disclosable to the public under IRC section 6104. If an organization has not filed a disclosable Form 990 series return, does not have an approved application, or is automatically recognized exempt from federal income taxes without having to file an application (such as churches and governmental instrumentalities), its EIN is not disclosable to an unauthorized party.

For purposes of determining whether a plan has fewer than 26 participants, the term participant means any employee or former employee of an employer, or any member or former member of an employee organization, who is or may become eligible to receive a benefit of any type from an employee benefit plan which covers employees of such employer or members of such organization, or whose beneficiaries may be eligible to receive any such benefit.

For purposes of determining who is a plan participant permitted to inspect material relating to a plan having fewer than 26 participants, the term plan participant includes, but is not limited to:

The term authorized representative means the representative of a plan participant designated by the plan participant in a written authorization to inspect the material described in §§ 301.6104(a)-2 and 301.6104(a)-3.

The term application for a determination letter includes the documents which the applicant files with respect to the qualification of a pension, profit-sharing, or stock bonus plan under IRC section 401(a), an annuity plan under IRC section 403(a), a bond purchase plan under section 405(a) and individual retirement accounts and annuities under an annuity plan under IRC sections 408(a), (b), and (c). This includes only applications for determination letters filed with the Service after September 2, 1974.

A supporting document is any statement or document submitted in support of an application for a determination letter that is not specifically required by the application form or the Service.

A plan administrator is not entitled to receive information protected under IRC section 6103 solely on the basis of holding that title. In order for the plan administrator to receive information not open to the general public under IRC section 6104, at least one of the following must be true:

IRC section 6104(a)(1)(B) requires that any copies of an employee plan determination letter, application for a determination letter (Form 5300 series), and any supporting papers filed with respect to the qualification of a pension, profit-sharing, or stock bonus plan under IRC section 401(a) or 403(a), and an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) under 408(a) or (b) must be open to public inspection at such times and in such places as the Secretary of Treasury may prescribe if maintained by the Service, but only with respect to plans having more than 25 participants. This applies both to open and closed applications unless the application was returned incomplete (status 03/05).

Instruct callers requesting a copy of an approved employee plan application to send their request to:
TEGE Correspondence Unit
P.O. Box 2508, Room 4024
Cincinnati, OH 45201

Fax 513-263-4330

The request should include:

See IRM 21.3.8.13.6, "Requests for Copies of EP Determination Letters," for information on requesting copies of previously-issued determination letters.

Requests from unauthorized third parties for employee plan information disclosable under IRC section 6104 (except for copies of approved applications and letters as noted in (2) above) must be in writing and should be sent to the address found under "Disclosure" under the Who/Where tab on SERP.

IRC section 6104(a)(1)(C) provides that information from which the compensation (including deferred compensation) of any individual may be ascertained is NOT open to public inspection.

Tax Exempt Bond (TEB) returns are not disclosable to the public. In order to obtain a copy of a TEB return, the requester must be an official of the municipality. In general, an official of a municipality is defined as someone who is authorized to make representations and commitments on behalf of a municipality, or to conduct official business on behalf of a municipality, such as entering into contracts.

Municipal officials may be elected, appointed, or employees of a municipality. For example, in some towns and cities, the mayor, an elected official, can enter into contracts. In others, the town manager or business manager, an employee, may conduct all official business on behalf of the municipality.

A key fact to determine is the position of the individual requesting the information. An employee of the city working in the finance office, business office, or legal office of the municipality that has specific knowledge of the return and contents is probably authorized to get a copy of a TEB return. The key element is that the municipality or an elected or appointed official of the municipality employs them.

All other requesters must submit a Form 2848 or have a POA on file.

Document 10011, Disclosure Guide for Tax Exempt Bond Examinations, provides an analysis of the applicability of IRC section 6103 to bond returns and return information.

No account or entity information for an instrumentality/governmental unit is disclosable under IRC section 6104 because an instrumentality/governmental unit does not file:

Mail Letter 4076C (Information Letter - Federal Tax Status of Governmental Entity) only to the address of record.

A person legally entitled to receive Letter 4076C (Information Letter - Federal Tax Status of Governmental Entity), or to receive verbal confirmation that our records reflect the organization may be a governmental unit, must be able to:

Potential Governmental Entity Contacts: