Reminder: Submit a copy of Form 990 to the AG

Nonprofits accepting donations in Hawaii that are registered with the attorney general are also required to file annual financial reports, which are copies of the organization's IRS Form 990 or 990EZ. 

"With respect to the due date for each registered charities' IRS Form 990, the Form 990 should be submitted to our office at the time it is due with the IRS," said Hugh Jones deputy attorney general.

Since the IRS grants many nonprofits an extension of the April filing deadline for the Form 990, the AG's office will automatically extend the filing deadline, too. "Thus, if a charity received extensions to Nov. 15 to file the Form 990, it should be submitted to the attorney general on Nov. 15," Jones said.

To submit a Form 990 or 990EZ to the attorney general, log onto the registration system at http://efile.form990.org/frmNPParticipatingStateSCOHI.asp and complete the brief Hawaii Annual Financial Report. "The charity then uploads a PDF copy of their IRS Form 990 or 990EZ, which is then e-filed with our office and transferred to the charity registry where the charity's registration and form 990's are linked together."

There is a tutorial for the Hawaii Annual Financial Report at http://efile.form990.org/frmNPParticipatingStateSCOHI.asp. 

So far, approximately two-thirds of charities registered with the state of Hawaii are headquartered out of state. As of Nov. 12, Jones said, "there are 1,148 registered charitable organizations with our office. "Last time I did the analysis, the most popular states of domicile were Washington, D.C., New York, Virginia, Illinois and Hawaii. Hawaii has approxmately 368 registered charitable organizations," he said.