IRS Form 990 Schedule M Instructions
This article further explores the following points:
Form 990 Schedule M - Overview
- Updated December 06, 2024 - 8.00 AM - Admin, ExpressTaxExemptForm 990 Schedule M is used to report certain information about the types of noncash contributions that an organization received during the year.
Also, the information regarding the quantity and the financial statements of the noncash contributions received must be reported.
Form 990 Schedule M requires reporting of noncash donated items even if it was sold immediately after receiving.
Table of Contents
1. Who must file Form 990 Schedule M?
The organization which answered "Yes" on Form 990, Part IV, line 29 or 30 must complete Schedule M and attach it to Form 990.
Line 29 - Did the organization receive more than $25,000 in non-cash contributions?
Line 30 - Did the organization receive contributions of art, historical treasures, or other similar assets, or qualified conservation contributions?
Also, the organization that answered to line 1g of Form 990 Part VIII, Statement of Revenue must also complete this schedule.
The organization that is voluntarily filing Form 990, must also complete all the required information about the schedule.
2. Step by Step Instruction on Form 990 Schedule M
Form 990 Schedule M contains two Parts.
- Part I - Types of Property
- Part II - Supplemental Information
Part I - Types of Property
Part I consists of 33 lines and line 1 to 28 is associated with 4 columns each.
Column (a) -Check this box under the applicable lines, if the organization has received any of the noncash contributions.
Column (b) -Enter the number of contributions for each type of the property or the number of items contributed.
This column requires an additional explanation in Part II whether the organization reported the number of contributions or the number of items received or a combination of both the methods.
Publicly-traded stocks are considered as a contribution of securities and the organization must treat each separate gift (rather than each share received) as an item for this purpose.
However, organizations that received contributions in the form of books, clothes and household goods aren't required to complete this column for those items reported on Line 4 and 5.
Column (c) -requires the noncash contribution amounts reported on Form 990, Part VIII, line 1g for the appropriate property type. Enter "0" if none was reported.
Column (d) -requires the method used to determine the amount reported on Form 990, Part VIII, line 1g.
Line 1 to 3 - Art
- Line 1 to 3 of the schedule requires reporting of work of arts, historical treasure, and fractional interest.
The work of arts includes painting, prints, drawings, ceramics, sculptures, carpets, silver, photography, film, video, installation, and multimedia arts, rare books and manuscripts, historical memorabilia, and other similar objects.
historical treasure is any building, structure, area, or property with a cultural, aesthetic or a historical value significant to the culture of a country, state or a city.
contribution of fractional interest is an undivided portion of the donor's entire interest in a work of art. For each work of art or item report in column (b), the fractional interest for each year for an interest in the property is received.
Line 4 to 8
- Line 4 - requires information on the contribution of books and publications.
- Line 5 - requires information about the clothing items and household goods.
- Line 6 - requires information about the contribution of motor vehicles to be used on public roads and highways
- Line 7 - requires information about the contribution of boats and airplanes.
- Line 8 - requires information on intellectual property, which is considered as a patent, copyright, trademark, trade name, or similar property.
Line 9 to 12 - Securities
- Line 9 - Requires information on interest in publicly traded partnerships, limited liability companies or trusts, and publicly traded corporations.
- Line 10 - Requires information on the shares of stocks issued by the corporation that isn't publicly traded.
- Line 11 - Requires information on the contributions of interests in a partnership, limited liability company, or trust, that isn’t publicly traded.
- Line 12 - Requires information about contributions of securities that aren’t reported on lines 9 through 11.
On line 9 to line 12, For each security, treat each separate gift as a contribution for the purpose.
Line 13 and 14
- Line 13 - requires information about the contribution of a qualified real property interest that is a restriction for the exterior of a certified historic structure.
- Line 14 - requires information about the qualified conservation contribution other than those entered on line 13.
Qualified conservation contribution is a contribution made by a qualified real property interest to a qualified organization. The contribution made is primarily for conservation purposes.
A qualified real property interest means any of the following:
- The entire interest of the donor
- Remainder interest or
- A restriction, granted in perpetuity on the use which may be made of the real property.
A qualified organization means an organization which is
- A Governmental Unit
- A Publicly Supported Charitable Organizations
- A Supporting Organization that is controlled by a governmental or a publicly supported charitable organization.
Also, a qualified organization must have a commitment to protect the conservation purpose of qualified conservation contributions and have the resource to enforce those restrictions.
A conservation purpose generally means
- The preservation of land areas, open space (including farmland and forest land), historically important or a certified land structure.
- Protection of the natural habitat of fish, wildlife, plants, or similar ecosystems.
- Preservation of land areas for outdoor recreation used by, or for education to the general public.
Line 15 to 17 - Real Estates
- Line 15 - Requires information about the contribution of residential real estate.
- Line 16 - Requires information about the contribution of commercial real estate(commercial office building).
- Line 17 - Requires information about real estate interest contributions that aren't reported on Line 15 and 16.
Line 18 to 24
- Line 18 - Requires information on collectibles such as autographs, sports memorabilia, dolls, stamps, coins, publications, gems, jewelry (other than costume jewelry reported on line 5) and books(other books that aren't reported in Line 4).
- Line 19 - Requires information about the contribution of food items. This includes food inventory contributed by corporations and other businesses.
- Line 20 - Requires information about the contribution of drugs, medical supplies, and similar items manufactured or distributed by corporations and other businesses.
- Line 21 - Report information on taxidermy property. It is defined as a work of art in which reproduction or preservation of animal is done.
- Line 22 - Requires information about historical artifacts such as furniture, textiles, fixtures, and household items of historic nature.
- Line 23 - Requires information about the scientific specimen that include living plant and animal specimen, natural and physical specimens
- Line 24 - Requires information about the ethnographical and archaeological artifacts other than those arts reported on lines 1 to 3 and 22.
Line 25 to 28 - Reports the type of property that is not reported on lines 1 to 24.
Line 30 to 33
- Line 30 - Answer “Yes” on line 30a to report the noncash contribution received and reported on lines 1 to 28. Also, explain the arrangements in Part II, Supplemental information.
- Line 31 - Answer “Yes” if the organization has a gift acceptance policy that requires the review of any nonstandard contributions.
- Line 32 - Answer “Yes” to line 32a if the organization has hired or used any third parties to process or sell the noncash contribution and also explain about these arrangements in Part II.
- In case if the third party used to solicit, process, or sell noncash contributions is a broker who sells publicly traded securities received by the organization as a gift, then answer "No" to this line.
- Line 33 - Requires an explanation on Part II about why the organization didn’t report the revenue in column (c) for a type of property for which column (a) is checked.
Part II - Supplemental Information
Organization reporting Form 990 schedule M can use this Part to provide a brief description of the information which was reported on Part I column (b) and line 30b, 32b, and 33.
The part can be used by the organization to provide narrative explanations and descriptions. In need of additional space to provide information, the part can also be duplicated.
3. Choose ExpressTaxExempt to file your Form 990 with Schedule M
When you file Form 990, the application will automatically generate Schedule M based on the information you provide on the form.
Our Software will validate the information you provide before transmitting to the IRS and allows you to correct the errors if any. This will avoid rejections.
ExpressTaxExempt is an IRS authorized e-file service provider with a track record of providing safe and secure e-filing experience to users.
