Data Report
Revoked Nonprofits
1,203,394 nonprofits lost their tax-exempt status according to IRS revocation records. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 triggered a wave that peaked in 2010 with 377,410 single-year revocations.
Total Revocations
1.2M
1,203,394 records
Peak Year
2010
377,410 revocations
Top State
CA
135,529 revocations
Top City
NYC
16,021 revocations
Why This Matters
Over 1.2 million nonprofits have lost their tax-exempt status, most during the 2010 Pension Protection Act enforcement wave. This data reveals which states and organization types were hit hardest, and whether your state's nonprofit sector has recovered. For donors, grant funders, and nonprofit leaders, understanding revocation patterns is essential for assessing the health of the sector.
Revocations by Year (2010–2025)
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 required automatic revocation for nonprofits that failed to file Form 990 for three consecutive years. The first mass enforcement hit in 2010: 377,410 revocations in a single year.
After the 2010 cliff, revocations stabilized at 35K-65K per year. A secondary spike in 2017 (86,008) suggests another enforcement wave.
Top 20 States by Revocation Count
California leads with 135,529 revocations, 11.3% of the national total. Texas (92,945), New York (71,834), and Florida (70,903) round out the top four.
State Rankings (All 62 Jurisdictions)
Click any column header to sort. Includes all 50 states, DC, territories, and military addresses.
| # | State | Revocations | % of Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California (CA) | 135,529 | 11.3% |
| 2 | Texas (TX) | 92,945 | 7.7% |
| 3 | New York (NY) | 71,834 | 6.0% |
| 4 | Florida (FL) | 70,903 | 5.9% |
| 5 | Illinois (IL) | 50,572 | 4.2% |
| 6 | Ohio (OH) | 44,663 | 3.7% |
| 7 | Pennsylvania (PA) | 44,283 | 3.7% |
| 8 | Georgia (GA) | 42,126 | 3.5% |
| 9 | Michigan (MI) | 37,563 | 3.1% |
| 10 | North Carolina (NC) | 36,387 | 3.0% |
| 11 | New Jersey (NJ) | 34,410 | 2.9% |
| 12 | Virginia (VA) | 30,648 | 2.5% |
| 13 | Massachusetts (MA) | 28,127 | 2.3% |
| 14 | Washington (WA) | 28,022 | 2.3% |
| 15 | Maryland (MD) | 27,454 | 2.3% |
| 16 | Missouri (MO) | 25,756 | 2.1% |
| 17 | Indiana (IN) | 24,770 | 2.1% |
| 18 | Tennessee (TN) | 22,041 | 1.8% |
| 19 | Colorado (CO) | 21,950 | 1.8% |
| 20 | Minnesota (MN) | 20,367 | 1.7% |
| 21 | Wisconsin (WI) | 20,365 | 1.7% |
| 22 | Arizona (AZ) | 19,613 | 1.6% |
| 23 | Louisiana (LA) | 19,311 | 1.6% |
| 24 | Alabama (AL) | 17,017 | 1.4% |
| 25 | South Carolina (SC) | 16,357 | 1.4% |
| 26 | Oregon (OR) | 15,321 | 1.3% |
| 27 | Oklahoma (OK) | 15,139 | 1.3% |
| 28 | Kentucky (KY) | 14,908 | 1.2% |
| 29 | Connecticut (CT) | 13,455 | 1.1% |
| 30 | District of Columbia (DC) | 12,484 | 1.0% |
| 31 | Iowa (IA) | 12,250 | 1.0% |
| 32 | Arkansas (AR) | 11,703 | 1.0% |
| 33 | Kansas (KS) | 10,942 | 0.9% |
| 34 | Mississippi (MS) | 10,928 | 0.9% |
| 35 | Nevada (NV) | 9,198 | 0.8% |
| 36 | West Virginia (WV) | 8,390 | 0.7% |
| 37 | Utah (UT) | 8,310 | 0.7% |
| 38 | New Mexico (NM) | 8,255 | 0.7% |
| 39 | Nebraska (NE) | 6,815 | 0.6% |
| 40 | Idaho (ID) | 6,656 | 0.6% |
| 41 | Hawaii (HI) | 6,317 | 0.5% |
| 42 | Maine (ME) | 5,955 | 0.5% |
| 43 | Montana (MT) | 5,458 | 0.5% |
| 44 | New Hampshire (NH) | 5,031 | 0.4% |
| 45 | Delaware (DE) | 4,479 | 0.4% |
| 46 | Rhode Island (RI) | 4,102 | 0.3% |
| 47 | South Dakota (SD) | 3,843 | 0.3% |
| 48 | Vermont (VT) | 3,711 | 0.3% |
| 49 | Alaska (AK) | 3,704 | 0.3% |
| 50 | North Dakota (ND) | 3,316 | 0.3% |
| 51 | Wyoming (WY) | 3,182 | 0.3% |
| 52 | Puerto Rico (PR) | 2,768 | 0.2% |
| 53 | Virgin Islands (VI) | 634 | 0.1% |
| 54 | Armed Forces Europe (AE) | 314 | 0.0% |
| 55 | Armed Forces Pacific (AP) | 240 | 0.0% |
| 56 | Guam (GU) | 201 | 0.0% |
| 57 | American Samoa (AS) | 114 | 0.0% |
| 58 | Northern Mariana Islands (MP) | 90 | 0.0% |
| 59 | Armed Forces Americas (AA) | 18 | 0.0% |
| 60 | Palau (PW) | 3 | 0.0% |
| 61 | Marshall Islands (MH) | 3 | 0.0% |
| 62 | Federated States of Micronesia (FM) | 2 | 0.0% |
Exemption Type Breakdown
501(c)(3) charitable organizations account for 792,082 revocations, 65.8% of all. 501(c)(4) social welfare orgs are a distant second at 169,799.
501(c)(3)
65.8%
792,082
501(c)(4)
14.1%
169,799
501(c)(7)
4.3%
51,557
501(c)(6)
3.9%
46,985
Top 20 Cities by Revocation Count
New York leads at 16,021 revocations, followed closely by Chicago (15,839).
Full city-level rankings with 100 cities in the report
Revocations by Decade
The 2010s saw 879,080 revocations (73.1% of all time), driven by the Pension Protection Act enforcement. The 2020s have already recorded 324,314.
2010s
879,080
73.1% of total
2020s
324,314
26.9% of total
IRS revocation data begins in 2010. The 2020s decade is ongoing (through March 2025).
Reinstatement is possible but requires IRS Form 1023 or 1024
Nonprofits that lost status automatically under the Pension Protection Act can apply for retroactive reinstatement if they were eligible and failed to file. The full report includes the reinstatement timeline, fee structure, and what qualifies for retroactive status.
The Bottom Line
The 2010 Pension Protection Act created a one-time tsunami that accounts for most revocations in history. Strip out that year and revocation rates are actually quite low. The real story is not mass failure of nonprofits. It is that hundreds of thousands of small organizations were operating informally, never filing Form 990-N, and got swept up in a compliance crackdown.
Most were probably already defunct. The data suggests the IRS was cleaning its rolls, not punishing active organizations. For anyone working in the nonprofit sector, the lesson is straightforward: file your returns on time, even if your organization is small and revenue is minimal. The IRS does not distinguish between negligence and inactivity.
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Source: IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search, Auto-Revocation List (data-download-revocation.zip). 1,203,394 records spanning 2010-2025. Processed by Palavir LLC. This report is informational and does not constitute legal or tax advice.