What Is Form 8940 and How Do I File It?

Form 8940, Request for Miscellaneous Determination, is an application submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by tax-exempt organizations. Its function is to allow these entities to obtain a formal ruling on operational or structural matters not addressed by other standard application forms. Organizations use this form to seek clarity and official approval for proposed activities, ensuring these actions will not negatively impact their tax-exempt status. Filing Form 8940 provides certainty before committing resources to a new program, helping organizations maintain compliance with tax regulations and securing a determination letter that formally documents the IRS’s official position.

Determining if You Need to File Form 8940

Deciding whether to file Form 8940 depends on the specific circumstances and planned activities of your tax-exempt organization. The form is required for a distinct set of requests where the IRS requires advance notice or approval to ensure compliance. These situations involve the operational and classification status of private foundations or specific activities that could have tax implications.

Common reasons for filing include:

• Seeking advance approval for a private foundation’s grant-making procedures. If a foundation provides scholarships, fellowships, or other grants to individuals, its selection process must be approved by the IRS beforehand to ensure grants are made on an objective and nondiscriminatory basis.
• Requesting advance approval for a set-aside of funds. This applies when a foundation wants to treat funds set aside for a specific, long-term charitable project as a qualifying distribution in the year of the set-aside, rather than when the money is spent.
• Gaining approval for voter registration drives. The IRS must approve these activities to ensure they are nonpartisan and meet specific requirements, which helps the foundation avoid significant excise taxes.
• Requesting termination of private foundation status. This is for organizations that intend to operate as a public charity for a continuous 60-month period, and filing the form notifies the IRS of this intent before the period begins.
• Asking that a large, unexpected contribution be treated as an “unusual grant,” which would exclude it from calculations that could otherwise jeopardize the organization’s public charity status.

Information and Documents Needed for Submission

Successfully filing Form 8940 requires the assembly of specific information and supporting documents. Part I of the form requires the organization’s full legal name as it appears in its organizing documents, its Employer Identification Number (EIN), and current mailing address. A designated contact person, who can be an officer, director, or an authorized representative with a completed Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representative, must also be listed.

The core of the submission is a detailed statement and supporting documentation for the specific request being made. For every type of request, a narrative statement must be attached that fully explains the facts, circumstances, and reasoning. For instance, a request for advance approval of scholarship procedures must include the proposed selection criteria, how the program will be publicized, the names of selection committee members, and a copy of the scholarship application.

If requesting approval for a fund set-aside, the statement must describe the project, explain why accumulating funds is necessary, and provide a budget and timeline. For a request to terminate private foundation status, the organization must provide information demonstrating it can meet the public support requirements of a public charity over the 60-month termination period. Each request has unique documentation requirements outlined in the Form 8940 instructions.

A mandatory user fee must be paid for the IRS to process the request. The specific fee amount is updated periodically and published in an official Revenue Procedure. Organizations should search the IRS website for the most current user fee information before filing.

The Filing Process and What to Expect

The submission process for Form 8940 is entirely electronic. The entire application package must be submitted through the Pay.gov portal, which requires the filer to create an account. The completed Form 8940, the detailed narrative statement, and all other required supporting documents must be combined into a single PDF file.

This PDF file cannot exceed a 15MB size limit. If the file with all attachments is larger than 15MB, you must remove some documents to get the file size under the limit before submitting. You should then contact IRS Customer Account Services for instructions on how to send the documents that were removed.

After logging into Pay.gov, you will search for “8940” to locate the form, complete the required fields, and upload the single PDF containing all attachments. This electronic filing and payment system is the mandatory method for submitting these requests.

After submission, an agent from the Exempt Organizations division will be assigned to the case. It is common for the agent to contact the organization’s designated representative if additional information or clarification is needed. The final outcome is a formal determination letter issued by the IRS, which will state whether the request has been approved or denied.

The timeframe for receiving this letter can vary significantly depending on the complexity of the request and the IRS’s current workload. While there is no guaranteed processing time, organizations should be prepared for the review to take several months. The determination letter is a valuable document that should be retained permanently in the organization’s records.