Note: The information on this page has been superceded by IRS Revenue Procedure 2014-11. Click this link for a summary of Revenue Procedure 2014-11.

Below is a link to IRS Notice 2011-44 regarding obtaining retroactive reinstatement of tax-exempt status by showing that there was reasonable cause for late filing. My penalty relief manual e-book explains in detail how to make a reasonable cause argument and shows how to actually implement the IRS guidelines for the best chance of success.

NOTICE: The IRS, so far, is denying almost all requests for retroactive reinstatement. Your best chance of receiving retroactive reinstatement of tax-exempt status is under the following circumstances:

(1)If you have something in writing from the IRS that specifically states that your organization was not required to file a Form 990, or

(2)If you have written documentation that the organization hired and paid a CPA or attorney to determine the organization's filing requirements and the professional notified the organization in writing that it was not required to file, or

(3)The IRS made a mistake. For instance, if your organization is a church, it is and always was exempt from any filing requirement.

If the above circumstances do not apply to you, your chances are slim, but if you are willing to be persistent, and if you are willing to have your exempt status in limbo for the time period the IRS may require to consider your case more carefully (possibly up to 2 years), then the methods in this book will help you.

Get my Penalty Relief Manual to learn how to craft a reasonable cause argument to have your organization's tax-exempt status retroactively reinstated.

You can download Notice 2011-44 as a pdf file directly from the IRS web site.

Note: The information on this page has been superceded by IRS Revenue Procedure 2014-11. Click this link for a summary of Revenue Procedure 2014-11.