What does a governing body mean? How should an organization report them on Form 990?
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The governing body is a group of one or more individual who is authorized under the state law to make decisions on behalf of the organization and its shareholders.

For example, In a corporation, the board of directors is considered as a governing body; In the case of a Trust, the board of trustees is the governing body.

The organization must report the count of all the members with voting rights while filing their annual information return. The count of the members must be done and reported at the end of the organization's tax year.

Reporting governing body members (with voting rights) with Tax990’s Interview-based Filing Style

1. Log into your Tax990 account.
2. On the dashboard, click on the ‘Start New Return’ button
3. Select the ‘Tax Year’ and ‘Form 990’ options on the list of federal returns
4. Enter your organization details and click ‘Next.’
5. On the ‘Organization Tax Year’ page, select the calendar or fiscal tax year you want to file the information return. Once done, the subsequent steps will be to fill the actual parts of the form.
6. Under the Governance, Management, and Disclosure section, click ‘Start’ in Voting Members & Relationship.
7. Enter the number of voting members of the governing body at the end of the tax year.
8. Click ‘Next’ and follow the subsequent steps as prompted
9. Review the details, Pay, and click the ‘Transmit’ button to transmit your return to the IRS

Reporting Governing body members (with voting rights) with Tax990’s Form-based Filing Style

While filing your Form 990 with Tax990 using the form-based filing style, go to Part VI, Section A - Governing Body and Management. Then, in line 1a, enter the number of voting members of the governing body at the end of your organization’s tax year.

If there are material differences in voting rights among members of the governing body or if the governing body delegated broad authority to an executive committee or similar committee, click on the  icon on line 1a and provide an explanation. 

In line 1b, enter the number of independent voting members of the governing body at the end of the organization's tax year.