Form 1023-EZ: eligibility, attestations, pros and cons

Form 1023-EZ, the Streamlined Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Section 501(c)(3), lets smaller organizations apply for federal tax exemption without writing a full activity narrative or submitting financial statements. Instead, you answer a few identifying questions and check boxes attesting, meaning formally declaring, that you meet each requirement.

It is filed only online through Pay.gov. The IRS user fee page, last reviewed October 9, 2026, lists the fee as $275, compared with $600 for the full Form 1023.

Who can use Form 1023-EZ

Eligibility is decided entirely by the Form 1023-EZ Eligibility Worksheet in the Instructions for Form 1023-EZ (Rev. January 2025). The rule is simple: if you answer yes to any question, you cannot use Form 1023-EZ and must file Form 1023. If you answer no to all of them, you may use it. You do not submit the worksheet, but the IRS says to keep it with your records.

The checker below walks through the worksheet with you.

The full eligibility worksheet

Here is every question, in order. A yes to any of them disqualifies you.

Size limits

1. Do you project annual gross receipts over $50,000 in any of the next 3 years?
2. Have your annual gross receipts exceeded $50,000 in any of the past 3 years?
3. Do your total assets have a fair market value over $250,000?

Gross receipts are everything the organization takes in from all sources during its accounting year, without subtracting costs. Total assets include cash, receivables, investments, land, buildings, equipment, and anything else you own.

Where and how you were formed

4. Were you formed under the laws of a foreign country? (U.S. territories are not foreign.)
5. Is your mailing address in a foreign country?
6. Are you a successor to, or controlled by, an entity suspended under section 501(p) (terrorist organizations)?
7. Are you organized as something other than a corporation, unincorporated association, or trust? (An LLC answers yes.)
8. Are you formed as a for-profit entity?
9. Are you a successor to a for-profit entity, meaning you took over substantially all its assets or activities, converted or merged from it, or installed the same leaders as a for-profit that no longer exists?

Past IRS history

10. Were you, or a predecessor, previously revoked, other than an automatic revocation for not filing annual returns for 3 years?
11. Are you now, or were you previously, exempt under another section of 501(a)?

Organization types that must use Form 1023

12. Are you a church or a convention or association of churches?
13. Are you a school, college, or university?
14. Are you a hospital or medical research organization, or a hospital organization that operates a state-licensed hospital facility?
15. Are you an agricultural research organization?
16. Are you applying as a cooperative hospital service organization under section 501(e)?
17. Are you applying as a cooperative service organization of operating educational organizations under section 501(f)?
18. Are you applying as a qualified charitable risk pool under section 501(n)?
19. Are you requesting classification as a supporting organization under section 509(a)(3)?

Activities and investments

20. Is a substantial purpose of your activities credit counseling, such as budgeting, personal finance, financial literacy, or mortgage foreclosure assistance?
21. Do you or will you invest 5% or more of your total assets in securities or funds that are not publicly traded?
22. Do you participate, or intend to, in partnerships where you share losses with partners other than 501(c)(3) organizations?
23. Do you sell, or intend to sell, carbon credits or carbon offsets?
24. Are you a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)?
25. Are you an Accountable Care Organization, or do you engage in ACO activities?
26. Do you maintain, or intend to maintain, one or more donor advised funds?
27. Are you organized and operated exclusively for testing for public safety and requesting classification under section 509(a)(4)?
28. Are you requesting classification as a private operating foundation?

Reinstatement and prior applications

29. Are you a private foundation applying for reinstatement after automatic revocation and asking to become a public charity?
30. Are you seeking retroactive reinstatement under section 5 or 6 of Rev. Proc. 2014-11?
31. Have you previously received a letter denying recognition of exemption?
32. Have you previously been determined ineligible to file Form 1023-EZ?
33. Are you conducting activities involving Schedule I or II controlled substances that are prohibited by federal law, even if legal in your state?
34. Are you engaged in exchanging, creating, or distributing digital assets?

The January 2025 instructions note that question 29 was modified and questions 31 through 34 were added, so a worksheet you completed from an older revision may be out of date.

What you attest to

Filing the form, you check boxes declaring that:

• You completed the worksheet, are eligible, and have read and understand the requirements for 501(c)(3) exemption.
• You have the necessary organizing document for your entity type.
• Your organizing document limits your purposes to 501(c)(3) purposes, does not expressly empower you to engage, beyond an insubstantial part, in non-exempt activities, and dedicates your assets to exempt purposes on dissolution (or you rely on state law for that).
• You are organized and operated exclusively for the purposes you check, and you have not conducted and will not conduct prohibited activities: campaign intervention, inurement to insiders, more-than-insubstantial private purposes, a primarily unrelated business, excessive lobbying, or substantial commercial-type insurance.
• Your foundation classification is correct. You attest to the support test you meet as a public charity, or, as a private foundation, that your documents contain the required provisions.

You also answer yes-or-no questions about lobbying, compensation of insiders, payments to individuals, foreign activities, insider transactions, unrelated business income, gaming, and disaster relief. Your mission description is limited to 250 characters. An officer, director, or trustee listed on the form signs under penalties of perjury. The IRS notes that misrepresenting or failing to disclose a material fact may affect your ability to rely on a favorable determination letter.

Pros and cons

The IRS also reviews a statistically valid random sample of EZ applications before deciding them, and may ask for more information even when an application is complete.

Why some states and funders look harder at EZ approvals

An EZ determination letter is the same legal recognition as one issued on Form 1023. The difference is the paper trail. Your approved application is a public document, and for an EZ filer it consists mainly of checked boxes and a 250-character mission statement, with no description of programs, budgets, or governance.

That matters when someone else has to evaluate you. A state revenue department deciding on state tax exemption, a charity regulator reviewing a registration, a foundation doing due diligence on a grant, or a bank opening an account may ask for a copy of your exemption application. With an EZ approval, expect follow-up requests for your articles, bylaws, budget, and a program description. Requirements vary by state and by funder, so check with each one before you choose the short form. Having those documents ready, and making sure they are accurate, is the practical answer.

501Nonprofit.com is a private company, not the IRS. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice for your organization. Example organizations and figures are hypothetical.