Changes for small 501(c)(3)s

Not sure if this has been on anyone's radar in the 501(c)(3) community, but it popped up for me recently in my role as a director for the Tranquil Space Foundation. It's a very new public charity that will not likely have more than $25,000 in gross receipts for this tax year. Previously, that meant the charity did not have to file a Form 990 return with the IRS. However, the Pension Protection Act of 2006 made some changes starting in 2008. The IRS says:

Beginning in 2008, exempt organizations with gross receipts under $25,000 must file an annual notice.*

*Information on how to comply with these provisions will be available on this site soon.

First, define "soon" and second, what kind of annual notice will that be? A 990? Some kind of a "990-EZ"?

This is a pretty big deal since small charities previously avoided the paperwork hassles (and they can only be described that way) of filling out a Form 990. Now, we at the Tranquil Space Foundation fully expected to be pulling in gross receipts larger than $25,000 by then, so this doesn't really change our plans. However, for small community groups and other 501(c)(3)s that benefitted from this exception... sharpen your pencils... you'll be filling out a 990 of some kind for FY2008.