Group exemption number (GEN)
Reviewed
Many chapters, PTAs, lodges and churches are exempt under their parent’s group exemption instead of their own IRS determination letter. The IRS exempt list then may not show your EIN.
When 990.tax cannot find your EIN on the IRS list of exempt organizations, it asks for a group exemption number: the 4-digit number from the central organization’s IRS group exemption letter. With it, you can file your own 990-N or 990-EZ. The Form 990-EZ has its own field for it in Basic information.
A group exemption number does not help if the IRS has revoked the organization’s exemption; 990.tax stops those returns. See Missed years and automatic revocation.
If you are included in your parent’s group return, the parent files for you and you do not file your own.
Questions
Where do I find our group exemption number?
It is the 4-digit number in the central (parent) organization’s IRS group exemption letter. Your state or national office, for example a PTA congress or a national federation, can give it to you.
Our parent files a group return for us. Do we file too?
No. The IRS says organizations included in a group return do not file their own 990-N. Ask your parent organization whether you are in its group return.