If an organization adopted a policy or practice after the close of its tax year but before it filed the Form 990 for such year, may it report that it had such policy or practice in place for purposes of answering Part VI? In most instances, the instructions to the Part VI questions state the specific time or period to be used to answer a particular question. For example, Question 12a asks whether as of the end of the organization’s tax year it had a written conflict of interest policy. An organization that did not have a written conflict of interest policy in place on such date must answer no. If that same organization adopted a written policy after the close of the tax year but before it filed its return, it may describe doing so in Schedule O. If the instructions to a particular question do not provide a specific time or period to be used to answer the question, the organization may take into account practices undertaken after the close of the tax year in its response to that question. Question 11 regarding whether the organization provided a copy of the Form 990 to its governing body before filing the form, and the process (if any) used by the organization to review the form, necessarily involves activity conducted after the close of the tax year.
