SECTION 14. WHAT

ARE THE USER FEE REQUIREMENTS FOR DETERMINATION LETTERS?

Legislation authorizing user fees

Requests to which user fees apply

Requests and other actions to which user fees do not apply

Exemption from the user fee requirements

Requests involving multiple fee categories, issues, or entities

.07 The Service may disclose to state officials the name, address, and identification number of any organization that has applied for recognition of exemption under § 501(c)(3). The Service does not consider an organization the application of which is not accepted under section 4.10 of this revenue procedure to have applied for recognition of exemption.

.01 Section 7528 directs the Secretary of the Treasury or delegate (Secretary) to establish a program requiring the payment of user fees for requests to the Service for determination letters and similar requests.

The fees charged under the program: (1) are to vary according to categories or subcategories established by the Secretary; (2) are to be determined after taking into account the average time for, and difficulty of, complying with requests in each category and subcategory; and (3) are payable in advance.

Section 7528(b)(2) directs the Secretary to provide for exemptions and reduced fees under the program as the Secretary determines to be appropriate, but the average fee applicable to each category must not be less than the amount specified in § 7528(b)(3).

.02 In general, user fees apply to all requests for determination letters described in this revenue procedure.

Requests to which a user fee applies must be accompanied by the appropriate fee as determined from the fee schedule provided in Appendix A of this revenue procedure. The fee may be refunded in limited circumstances as set forth in section 14.09 of this revenue procedure.

.03 Actions that do not require the payment of a user fee include—

(1) Elections pertaining to automatic extensions of time under Treas. Reg. § 301.9100-1; and

(2) Confirmation of tax-exempt status (affirmation letter) (to replace lost tax-exempt status letter and to reflect name and address changes).

.04 Departments, agencies, or instrumentalities of the United States that certify that they are seeking a determination letter on behalf of a program or activity funded by Federal appropriations are exempt from the user fee requirements. The fact that a user fee is not charged under § 7528 has no bearing on whether an applicant is treated as an agency or instrumentality of the United States for purposes of any other provision of the Code.

In addition, Canadian registered charities do not pay a user fee. See Appendix A.

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(1) Requests involving several fee categories . Requests submitted as part of an initial application ( e.g., foundation classification; exemption from Form 990 filing requirements) are considered part of the initial application and aren’t subject to an additional user fee.

(2) Multiple requests on a single Form 8940 . A separate Form 8940 and user fee are generally required for each type of request for which an organization has checked a box on Form 8940. However, the following scenarios are considered a single request—

(a) A request for reclassification as a public charity under § 509(a)(3) that checks boxes f and g of Form 8940; or

(b) A request for advance approval of grant making procedures for a program described in both § 4945(g)(1) and (3).

(3) Requests for separate determination letters for several entities . Each entity involved in a request that desires a separate determination letter in its own name (for example, subordinate organizations seeking change of filing requirements) must pay a separate fee. Payment of a separate fee is required regardless of whether the requests may be viewed as related.

Method of payment .06

(1) Payment of user fees for applications of recognition of exemption on Form 1023, Form 1023-EZ, Form 1024, or Form 1024-A. User fees for applications for recognition of exemption on Form 1023, Form 1023-EZ, Form 1024, or Form 1024-A must be paid through www.pay.gov.

(2) Payment of user fees for other requests . For requests other than those in section 14.06(1) of this revenue procedure, each request to the Service for a determination letter must be accompanied by a check, payable to the United States Treasury, in the appropriate amount. Taxpayers should not send cash.

The check may be converted to an electronic fund transfer. “Electronic fund transfer” is the term used to refer to the process in which the Service electronically instructs the financial institution holding the funds to transfer funds from the account named on the check to the United States Treasury account, rather than processing the check. By sending a completed, signed check to the Service, the Service is authorized to copy the check and to use the account information from the check to make an electronic fund transfer from the account for the same amount as the check. If the electronic fund transfer cannot be processed for technical reasons, the Service is authorized to process the copy of the check.

The electronic fund transfer from an account will usually occur within 24 hours, which is faster than a check is normally processed. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure there are sufficient funds available in the checking account when the check is sent to the Service. The check will not be returned from the financial institution.

Transmittal forms

Effect of nonpayment or payment of incorrect amount

.07 Form 8718 should be attached to applications other than Form 1023, Form 1023-EZ, Form 1024, or Form 1024-A, to transmit a check in the amount of the required user fee.

.08 It will be the general practice of the Service that—

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(1) An application for a determination letter containing the correct user fee will generally be accepted for processing even if Form 8718 was not attached.

(2) If a check is for more than the correct amount, the submission will be accepted for processing and the amount of the excess payment will be returned to the requester.

(3) If a check is for less than the correct amount or no check is received, the submission will not be accepted for processing and any user fee that was paid with the request will be refunded. See section 4.10 of this revenue procedure.

Refunds of user fees .09 In general, the user fee will not be refunded unless the Service does not accept the request for processing or declines to make a determination on all issues for which a determination letter is requested.

(1) Examples in which the user fee will not be refunded:

(a) The request for a determination letter is withdrawn at any time subsequent to its receipt by the Service. For example, no fee will be refunded where the taxpayer has been advised that an adverse ruling is contemplated and the taxpayer subsequently withdraws its submission.

(b) A determination letter is revoked in whole or in part. The fee paid at the time the original determination letter was requested will not be refunded.

(c) The request contains several issues and the Service rules on some, but not all, of the issues. The highest fee applicable to the issues on which the Service rules will not be refunded.

(2) The following situations are examples in which the user fee will be refunded:

(a) The request is not accepted for processing under section 4.10 of this revenue procedure.

(b) The Service declines to rule on the request in accordance with section 3.02 of this revenue procedure.

Request for reconsideration of user fee

SECTION 15. MAILING ADDRESS FOR REQUESTING DETERMINATION LETTERS

.10 A taxpayer that believes the user fee charged by the Service for its request for a determination letter is either not applicable or incorrect and wishes to receive a refund of all or part of the amount paid ( see section 14.09 of this revenue procedure) may request reconsideration and, if desired, the opportunity for an oral discussion by sending a letter to the Internal Revenue Service at the applicable Post Office Box or other address given in section 15 of this revenue procedure. Both the incoming envelope and the letter requesting such reconsideration should be prominently marked “USER FEE RECONSIDERATION REQUEST.” No user fee is required for these requests. The request should be marked for the attention of “Manager, EO Determinations Quality Assurance.”

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(1) The following types of requests and applications handled by the EO Determinations Office should be sent to the Internal Revenue Service Center, at the address in section 15.01(2) of this revenue procedure:

(a) applications for recognition of exemption on Form 1028;

(b) requests for determination letters submitted on Form 8940; and

(c) requests submitted by letter.

(2) The address is:

Internal Revenue Service P.O. Box 12192 TE/GE Stop 31A Team 105 Covington, KY 41012-0192

.02 Applications for recognition of exemption on Form 1023, Form 1023-EZ, Form 1024, and Form 1024-A are handled by the EO Determinations Office but must be submitted electronically online at www.pay.gov. Paper submissions of Form 1023, Form 1023-EZ, Form 1024, and Form 1024-A will not be accepted for processing.

.03 Determinations and requests not subject to a user fee (including a Form 1023 that a Canadian registered charity as referenced in Appendix A submits in order to be listed in the Tax Exempt Organization Search database for organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions (Pub. 78 data) or to determine public charity status) should be sent to the Internal Revenue Service at the address shown below:

Internal Revenue Service P.O. Box 2508 Cincinnati, OH 45201

.04 Requests shipped by Express Mail or a private delivery service for all of the above should be sent to:

Internal Revenue Service 7940 Kentucky Drive TE/GE Mail Stop 31A Team 105 Florence, KY 41042