WASHINGTON (AP) - The IRS says that 275,000 organizations have automatically lost their tax-exempt status because they failed to file required annual reports over the past three years.
The tax agency believes that most of those being stripped of tax-exempt status are now defunct. It also announced procedures for still-functioning organizations that seek to be reinstated.
A 2006 law requires most tax-exempt organizations to file an annual information return with the IRS. It automatically revokes the status for organizations that fail to file the required papers for three consecutive years.
The IRS says that in 2010 there were nearly 2 million tax-exempt organizations, of which about 1.3 million are religious and charitable groups. The list also includes social welfare groups, labor and agriculture organizations, business leagues and war veterans organizations.
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