Nonprofit public disclosure requirements under Internal Revenue Code Section 6104 obligate every tax-exempt organization to hand over three things on request: its annual information returns, its original application for exempt status, and the IRS determination letter recognizing that status. The rules apply to organizations exempt under § 501(c), § 501(d), and § 527, and the deadlines for responding are short. Ignoring a request costs $25 per day in 2026, and for exemption applications the penalty has no ceiling.1Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2024-40
What Has to Be Available
Three categories of documents are open to public inspection and copying.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6104 – Publicity of Information Required From Certain Exempt Organizations and Certain Trusts
The annual information return filed under § 6033. For most organizations that is Form 990 or Form 990-EZ; private foundations file Form 990-PF. Charities with unrelated business income must also produce Form 990-T, including the related schedules and attachments, for any 990-T filed after August 17, 2006.3Internal Revenue Service. Public Inspection and Disclosure of Form 990-T
The application for exempt status, together with every supporting document submitted with it and any letter the IRS issued in response. Section 501(c)(3) organizations file Form 1023 or the streamlined 1023-EZ; most other 501(c) organizations file Form 1024 or 1024-A.4Internal Revenue Service. Public Disclosure and Availability of Exempt Organizations Returns and Applications – Documents Subject to Public Disclosure
The IRS determination letter confirming exempt status. Donors use this to verify that an organization is genuinely exempt and whether their contributions are deductible.5Internal Revenue Service. Public Disclosure of Determination Letters
How Long Documents Stay Subject to Disclosure
Annual returns must remain available for three years. The window runs from the return’s due date (including extensions) or the date it was actually filed, whichever is later.6eCFR. 26 CFR 301.6104(d)-1 – Public Inspection and Distribution of Applications for Tax Exemption and Annual Information Returns of Tax-Exempt Organizations A return filed late has to stay available longer than one filed on time, so the working set of disclosable returns is not simply the last three years of filings.
The exemption application and determination letter never expire. They remain subject to disclosure for as long as the organization exists.4Internal Revenue Service. Public Disclosure and Availability of Exempt Organizations Returns and Applications – Documents Subject to Public Disclosure
Responding to a Request
The clock depends on how the request arrives. An in-person request at the organization’s principal office during regular business hours must be honored the same day. Regional or district offices with three or more employees also have to make the documents available for walk-in inspection.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6104 – Publicity of Information Required From Certain Exempt Organizations and Certain Trusts
A written request, whether by mail, fax, email, or private courier, triggers a 30-day response window.7Internal Revenue Service. Questions About Requirements for Exempt Organizations to Disclose IRS Filings to the General Public
You can charge a reasonable copying fee. The current cap is $0.20 per page, matching the IRS FOIA fee schedule, and unlike FOIA there is no free page allowance for non-commercial requesters. For mailed copies you can also charge actual postage and require payment in advance.8Internal Revenue Service. Public Disclosure and Availability of Exempt Organizations Returns and Applications – Costs for Providing Copies of Documents
Posting Online to Skip Individual Requests
The most practical way to reduce the administrative work is to make the documents “widely available” online. An organization that posts its returns and exemption application on a readily accessible website is excused from providing individual copies.9Internal Revenue Service. Public Disclosure and Availability of Exempt Organizations Returns and Applications – Exemption Where Organization Makes Documents Widely Available
The files can sit on the organization’s own site or on a third-party database of exempt organization filings. They have to reproduce the image of the original document exactly, and any visitor must be able to access, download, view, and print them without paying a fee. PDF satisfies the format requirement. You still have to tell requesters where to find the documents online; you cannot simply ignore the request.
What You Do Not Have to Disclose
Donor Names and Addresses
Organizations that are neither private foundations nor § 527 political organizations do not have to reveal contributor names or addresses. Schedule B (Form 990 or 990-EZ) is redacted before public inspection to strip out contributor identities.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6104 – Publicity of Information Required From Certain Exempt Organizations and Certain Trusts – Section: Exceptions From Disclosure Requirement Contribution amounts and descriptions of noncash gifts stay visible unless they clearly identify the donor.11Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule B (Form 990)
Private foundations and political organizations get no such protection. A Form 990-PF Schedule B is fully open to inspection, donor names and addresses included.11Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule B (Form 990) If a private foundation’s donors expect confidentiality, they need to be told before they give.
Social Security Numbers
The IRS advises never putting a Social Security number on any publicly disclosed form, including the exemption application, any 990 series return, or any attachment. Because these documents are subject to public inspection, any SSN in the filing becomes visible to anyone who asks for a copy. Reminders appear in the instructions for Forms 990, 990-EZ, 990-PF, 990-T, 1023, and 1024.12Internal Revenue Service. Do Not Include Your SSN on Publicly Disclosed Forms
Harassment Campaigns
If an organization reasonably believes a wave of requests is a coordinated harassment campaign meant to disrupt operations rather than gather information, it can suspend compliance and apply to the IRS for relief. The application has to be filed within 10 business days of the first suspension.13eCFR. 26 CFR 301.6104(d)-3 – Tax-Exempt Organization Subject to Harassment Campaign
The IRS weighs a sudden spike in requests, form-letter or similarly worded correspondence, hostile language, direct evidence of bad faith by the organizers, and whether the organization already provided the documents to the same group. News media requests generally do not qualify as harassment, and a surge of requests after a news story is not automatically harassment even if the requesters are hostile.
While the application is pending, the organization can keep withholding documents it reasonably believes are part of the campaign. If the IRS denies the application, penalties are avoided as long as copies go out within 30 days of the denial and the organization had a good-faith basis for applying.
What Noncompliance Costs
The statutory base penalty is $20 per day for failing to make an annual return available, capped at $10,000 per return. For exemption applications, the same $20 daily rate applies with no cap at all.14Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6652 – Failure to File Certain Information Returns, Registration Statements, Etc.
Inflation adjustments push those numbers up for returns required to be filed in 2026: $25 per day, with a $13,000 cap on annual returns and no cap on exemption applications.1Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2024-40 An organization that simply refuses to produce its exemption application faces an open-ended penalty, which is where compliance failures turn genuinely expensive.
There is also a personal penalty. Any person responsible for complying with § 6104(d) who willfully fails to do so is personally liable for $5,000 per return or application involved.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6685 – Assessable Penalty With Respect to Public Inspection Requirements Willfulness is what distinguishes an administrative delay from a refusal, but board members and executive directors should understand that this one hits them, not the organization’s account.
A Bigger Risk Behind the Disclosure Rules
The disclosure rules assume the organization actually filed the returns in the first place. Any tax-exempt organization that fails to file its required annual return for three consecutive years automatically loses its exempt status, with the revocation effective on the due date of the third missed return.16Internal Revenue Service. Automatic Revocation of Exemption Reinstatement requires a new application, and there is no guarantee the IRS will grant it retroactively. An organization that cannot produce returns because it never filed them has a much larger problem than the daily disclosure penalty.