Instructions for S Instructions for Schedule F (Form 990), Statement of Act

2020

Instructions for Schedule F
(Form 990)

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service

Statement of Activities Outside the United States

Schedule F (Form 990) is used by an
organization that files Form 990, Return
of Organization Exempt From Income
Tax, to provide information on its
activities conducted outside the United
States by the organization at any time
during the tax year.

research grants, and similar payments
and distributions made by the
organization during the tax year to
foreign organizations, foreign
governments, and foreign
individuals. It also includes grants
and other assistance to domestic
individuals or domestic
organizations for the purpose of
providing grants to designated foreign
beneficiaries. It doesn't include salaries
or other compensation to employees
or payments to independent
contractors; the payment of any benefit
by a section 501(c)(9) voluntary
employees' beneficiary association
(VEBA) to employees of a sponsoring
organization or contributing employer, if
such payment is made under the terms
of the VEBA trust and in compliance
with section 505; or payments or other
assistance to affiliates or branch offices
that aren't organized as legal entities
separate from the filing organization.

Activities conducted outside the
United States include grants and
other assistance; program-related
investments; fundraising activities;
unrelated trade or business; program
services; investments; or maintaining
offices, employees, or agents for the
purpose of conducting any such
activities in regions outside the United
States.

“Program services” are activities
conducted by the organization outside
the United States that form the basis of
the organization's exemption from
federal income tax. Examples of
program services include, but aren’t
limited to, operating an orphanage,
school, hospital, church, temple,
mosque, or synagogue; disaster relief
efforts; and providing indigent relief.

Section references are to the Internal Revenue
Code unless otherwise noted.

Future developments. For the latest
information about developments related
to Schedule F (Form 990) and its
instructions, such as legislation enacted
after they were published, go to
IRS.gov/Form990.

General Instructions
Note. Terms in bold are defined in the
Glossary of the Instructions for Form
990.

Purpose of Schedule

United States is defined as the 50
states and the District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and
the United States Virgin Islands. A
“foreign country” is any sovereignty that
isn’t the United States.
Information is to be reported based
on the geographic regions described
under Regions, later. Report activities
conducted by the organization directly
or indirectly through a disregarded
entity, or through a joint venture
treated as a partnership.
For purposes of Schedule F (Form
990), grants and other assistance
includes awards, prizes, contributions,
noncash assistance, cash allocations,
stipends, scholarships, fellowships,
Dec 10, 2020

Who Must File

An organization that answered “Yes” on
Form 990, Part IV, Checklist of Required
Schedules, line 14b, 15, or 16, must
complete the appropriate parts of
Schedule F (Form 990) and attach
Schedule F (Form 990) to Form 990.
If an organization isn’t required to file
Form 990 but chooses to do so, it must
file a complete return and provide all of
the information requested, including the
required schedules.

Regions

Reporting on Schedule F (Form 990) is
based on the following geographic
regions.

Antarctica
Cat. No. 51530J

Central America and the
Caribbean

Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas,
Barbados, Belize, Cayman Islands,
Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican
Republic, El Salvador, Grenada,
Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Haiti,
Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique,
Nicaragua, Panama, St. Kitts & Nevis,
St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines,
Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos
Islands, and British Virgin Islands.

East Asia and the Pacific

Australia, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia,
China (including Hong Kong), East
Timor, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati,
Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Marshall
Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Nauru,
New Zealand, North Korea, Palau,
Papua New Guinea, Philippines,
Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands,
South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand,
Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu,
and Vietnam.

Europe (Including Iceland and
Greenland)

Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium,
Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark,
Estonia, Finland, France, FYR
Macedonia, Germany, Greece,
Greenland, Holy See, Hungary, Iceland,
Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia,
Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands,
Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey,
and the United Kingdom (England,
Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales).

Middle East and North Africa

Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran,
Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon,
Libya, Malta, Morocco, Oman, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United
Arab Emirates, West Bank and Gaza,
and Yemen.

North America

Canada and Mexico, but not the United
States.

Russia and Neighboring States

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova,
Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

South America

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile,
Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana,
Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname,
Uruguay, and Venezuela.

South Asia

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri
Lanka.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina
Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde,
Central African Republic, Chad,
Comoros, Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cote
D'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea,
Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana,
Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya,
Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi,
Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius,
Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria,
Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe,
Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone,
Somalia, South Africa, Sudan,
Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda,
Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
If an organization's activities involve
a country not listed earlier, designate
the appropriate region for the country.

Specific Instructions
Part I. General Information
on Activities Outside the
United States

Complete Part I if the organization
answered “Yes” to Form 990, Part IV,
line 14b. This means the organization
had aggregate revenues or expenses of
more than $10,000 from or attributable
to grantmaking, fundraising, business,
investment, and program services
outside the United States, or held
investments outside the United States in
foreign partnerships, foreign
corporations, and other foreign entities
with an aggregate book value of
$100,000 or more at any time during the
tax year.
Expenses incurred for services
provided in the United States (for
example, telemedicine and services
provided over the Internet) that include
recipients both inside and outside the
United States shouldn't be reported in
Part I.

If an organization that

TIP completes Part I made grants or

provided other assistance
during the tax year to foreign
organizations or foreign individuals,
it may also need to complete, as
applicable, Part II or III. If the
organization didn't make any such
grants, it doesn't need to complete Part
II or III.

Lines 1 and 2. Complete these lines
only if the organization made grants or
provided other assistance directly or
indirectly to foreign organizations,
foreign governments, or foreign
individuals. Indicate “Yes” or “No”
regarding whether the organization
maintains records to substantiate
amounts, eligibility, and selection
criteria used for making grants and
providing other assistance. Describe
how the organization monitors its grants
and other assistance (and re-grants) to
ensure that such grants and other
assistance are used for proper
purposes or aren’t otherwise diverted
from the intended use. For example, the
organization can describe required
periodic reports and accountings, field
investigations by the organization's
personnel, and third-party audits. Use
Part V of this schedule for the narrative
response to Part I, line 2.
Line 3. Enter the details for each type
of activity conducted at any time during
the tax year for each region on a
separate line of Part I. If multiple
activities are conducted per region, list
each type of activity on a separate line
and repeat regions in column (a) as
necessary. Use the regions listed
earlier.
Report investments separately.
Report investments on a
region-by-region basis on line 3
separately from other activities in the
region. All investments for a particular
region can be aggregated for this
purpose. For example, all investments
in South America can be reported
together on one line. In reporting
investments in a region, only columns
(a), (d), and (f) must be completed;
columns (b), (c), and (e) need not be
completed with respect to investments
for the tax year.
Column (a) should reflect the region
of the investment. The region of a
foreign investment entity is determined
by its legal domicile (country whose law
governs the entity's internal affairs). In
the case of a foreign pass-through entity
such as a foreign partnership, an
organization isn’t required to report the
-2-

region of the underlying investments
held by the pass-through entity, but can
report the region based on the legal
domicile of the foreign pass-through
entity.
An organization need not report
foreign investments indirectly held
through a domestic (United States)
pass-through entity, as the domicile of
the pass-through entity isn’t a foreign
location. Nor does the organization
need to report its investments in entities
domiciled overseas but traded on a U.S.
stock exchange.
The term “investments” can be used
to describe the foreign activity in column
(d). In column (f), report the total book
value of the organization's investments
for that region as of the end of the tax
year. This value may be rounded off to
the nearest $1,000. For instance, if the
value of investments in a particular
region is $35,439, the value may be
reported as $35,000.
Note. Funds transferred into
non-interest bearing accounts outside
the United States to be used in the
organization's program services aren't
reportable as investments on Part I,
line 3. However, once such funds are
used for program services, they are
reportable as expenditures in Part I,
line 3, column (f).
Column (a). Identify each region in
which the organization conducts
grantmaking, investment activity,
fundraising activities, business,
program services, and other activities.
Column (b). If the organization
answered “Yes” to Form 990, Part IV,
line 14a, and the organization
maintained offices outside the United
States, list in this column the number of
offices maintained by the organization in
each region listed during the tax year.
However, in column (b), lines 3a–3c,
report the total number of offices
maintained by the organization in
regions outside the United States during
the tax year, but don't count any one
office more than once in these totals.
See Glossary in the Instructions for
Form 990 for a definition of maintaining
offices, employees, or agents.
Column (c). If the organization
answered “Yes” to Form 990, Part IV,
line 14a, and the organization
maintained employees, agents, or
independent contractors outside the
United States, show in this column the
total number of employees, agents, and
independent contractors working in
each region listed during the tax year.

2020 Instructions for Schedule F (Form 990)

Don't include in this number any
persons who serve the organization
solely as volunteers. Include an
employee, agent, or independent
contractor in the total for each region in
which that person worked during the tax
year. However, in column (c), lines 3a–
3c, report the total number of
employees, agents, and independent
contractors working outside the United
States during the tax year, but don't
count any one employee, agent, or
independent contractor more than once
in these totals. See Glossary in the
Instructions for Form 990 for a definition
of maintaining offices, employees, or
agents.

region. Report expenditures based on
the method used to account for them on
the organization's financial statements,
and describe this method in Part V.
For 2020, allocations of indirect
expenditures to foreign activities aren't
necessary if the organization doesn't
separately track them. For example, if
under a university's current accounting
procedures, certain expenses
associated with a study abroad program
aren't separately tracked (for example,
listing a study abroad program on a
school website or in a paper catalog),
then such expenses aren't required to
be included in Part I, column (f).

Column (d). Specify in this column
the type(s) of activity(ies), as listed here,
that are conducted in or for each region.
Types of activities are any of the
following: grantmaking, fundraising
activities, unrelated trade or
business, program services,
investments, program-related
investments, conducting board
meetings, or sending agents of the
organization to attend and speak at
seminars and conferences. If multiple
activities are conducted per region, list
each type of activity on a separate line
and repeat regions in column (a) as
necessary.

TIP foreign expenditures reportable

Column (e). If “program services” is
the listed activity in column (d), provide
a description of the specific program
service.
Column (f). Enter the total amount
of expenditures for activities conducted
for each listed region, or the total book
value of investments or
program-related investments for that
region, as of the end of the tax year.
These amounts may be rounded off to
the nearest $1,000. For instance, if the
value of investments in a region is
$55,341, the value may be reported as
$55,000. If the organization made both
expenditures and investments in a
region, list the amount(s) of
expenditures and the value of
investments on separate lines for each
type of activity in that region.
Expenditures include salaries,
wages, and other employment-related
costs paid to or for the benefit of
employees located in the region; travel
expenses to, from, and within the
region; rent and other costs relating to
offices located in the region; grants to or
for recipients located in the region; bank
fees and other financial account
maintenance fees and costs; and
payments to agents located in the

An organization may have no

in Part I, column (f), even
though it is required to report an activity
in Part I. For example, an organization
that derives more than $10,000 of
revenue from a foreign activity must
report the activity in Part I, even if it
incurred no expenditures for that
activity.

Part II. Grants and Other
Assistance to
Organizations or Entities
Outside the United States

Complete Part II if the organization
answered “Yes” on Form 990, Part IV,
line 15. This means the organization
reported on Form 990, Part IX,
Statement of Functional Expenses,
column (A), line 3, more than $5,000 of
grants and other assistance to any
particular foreign organization or
entity (including a foreign
government) or to a domestic
organization or domestic individual
for the purpose of providing grants or
other assistance to a designated foreign
organization or organizations.
Line 1. Enter information only for each
recipient organization or entity that
received more than $5,000 total of
grants or assistance from the
organization for the tax year.
Enter the details of each organization
or entity on a separate line.
Report cash grants and noncash
assistance in Part II based on the
accounting method used to account for
them on the organization's financial
statements, and describe this method in
Part V.

2020 Instructions for Schedule F (Form 990)

Don’t complete Part II, line 1,
column (a) or (b). However,
CAUTION complete columns (c) through
(i) as if columns (a) and (b) were
completed.

!

Report grants in Part II regardless of
the source of the grant funds (whether
restricted or unrestricted), and
regardless of whether the organization
selected the grantee.
Example. EO receives a grant from
a government agency, under the terms
of which EO is required to submit the
funds to Y, a foreign university, for
research on the causes of a particular
disease. EO must report the payments
to Y as grant payments, regardless of
whether EO selected Y as the grantee.
Column (c). Specify the region
where the principal foreign office of the
recipient organization or entity is located
or, if the recipient has no foreign office,
the region where the grant funds were
or will be used. See Regions, earlier.
Column (d). Describe the purpose
or ultimate use of the grant funds. Don't
use general terms, such as charitable,
educational, religious, or scientific. Use
more specific descriptions, such as
general support, school or hospital
construction, purchase of medical
supplies or equipment, purchase of
school books or school supplies,
provision of clothing, food, etc. In the
case of specific disaster assistance,
include a description of the disaster,
such as tsunami or earthquake.
Column (e). Enter the total dollar
amount of cash grants, in U.S. dollars,
to each recipient organization or entity
for the tax year. Cash grants include
grants or allocations paid by cash,
check, money order, wire transfer, and
other charges against funds on deposit
at a financial institution.
If the organization checks

TIP “Accrual” on Form 990, Part XII,

line 1; follows Financial
Accounting Standards Board
Accounting Standards Codification
(FASB ASC 958) (formerly SFAS 116)
(see instructions for Form 990, Part IX);
and makes a grant during the tax year
to be paid in future years to an
organization or government outside the
United States, it should report the
grant's present value in Part II, line 1,
column (e) or (g), and report any
accruals of present value increments in
future years.

Column (f). Describe the manner of
cash disbursement (or, for organizations
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using the accrual method of accounting,
the intended manner of cash
disbursement), such as by cash
payment, money order, electronic fund
or wire transfer, check, other charges
against funds on deposit at a financial
institution, or other. List all that apply for
each recipient.
Column (g). Enter the fair market
value (FMV) of any noncash property in
U.S. dollars.
Column (h). For noncash property
or assistance, enter a description of the
property or assistance. List all that
apply. Examples of noncash assistance
include medical supplies or equipment,
pharmaceuticals, blankets, books, or
other educational supplies.
Column (i). Describe the method of
valuation. Report property with a readily
determinable market value at its FMV.
When FMV can't be readily determined,
use an appraised or estimated value.
Line 2. Add the number of recipient
organizations listed on Part II, line 1, of
Schedule F (Form 990):
• That are recognized by the IRS as
exempt from federal income tax as
described in section 501(c)(3);
• That are recognized as a charity by a
foreign country; or
• For which the grantmaker has made a
good faith determination, based on an
affidavit from the grantee or the opinion
of counsel, that the grantee is the
equivalent of a public charity.
Then, enter the total.
Line 3. Add the number of recipient
organizations listed on Part II, line 1, of
Schedule F (Form 990) that aren't
described on line 2. Enter the total.

Part III. Grants and Other
Assistance to Individuals
Outside the United States

Complete Part III if the organization
answered “Yes” on Form 990, Part IV,
line 16. This means that the
organization reported on Form 990, Part
IX, column (A), line 3, more than $5,000,
in the aggregate, of grants and other
assistance to foreign individuals and
to domestic organizations or
domestic individuals for the purpose
of providing grants or other assistance
to a designated foreign individual or
individuals.
Enter information for grants and
other assistance made directly to
foreign individuals, or directly to
foreign organizations for the benefit of
specified foreign individuals. Don't
complete Part III for grants and other

assistance to foreign individuals through
a foreign organization unless the grant
or assistance is earmarked for the
benefit of one or more specific
individuals. Instead, complete Part II for
such grants and other assistance. For
example, report in Part III a payment to
a foreign hospital designated to cover
the medical expenses of a foreign
individual. Report in Part II a
contribution to a foreign hospital to
provide a service to the general public
or to serve unspecified charity patients.
Enter the details of each type of grant
or assistance to individuals on a
separate line.
Report cash grants and noncash
assistance in Part III based on the
accounting method used to account for
them on the organization's financial
statements, and describe this method in
Part V.
Report grants in Part III regardless of
the source of the grant funds (whether
restricted or unrestricted), and
regardless of whether the organization
selected the grantee.
Column (a). Specify type(s) of
assistance provided, or describe the
purpose or use of grant funds. List all
that apply for each region. Don't use
general terms, such as charitable,
educational, religious, or scientific. Use
more specific descriptions, such as
scholarships, food, clothing, shelter for
indigents or disaster victims, direct cash
assistance to indigents, medical
supplies or equipment, books or other
educational supplies, etc. In the case of
specific disaster assistance, include a
description of the disaster, such as
tsunami or earthquake.
Column (b). List each region in
which grants and other assistance
were provided to or for foreign
individuals. See Regions, earlier.
Column (c). For each type of
assistance provided in each region
listed, enter the number of recipients
that received the type of assistance in
that region. If the filing organization
doesn't have a way to determine a
specific number, estimate the number.
Explain in Part V how the organization
arrived at the estimate.
Column (d). Enter the total amount
of cash grants, in U.S. dollars, provided
to or for recipients in each region for
each type of assistance. Cash grants
include only grants or allocations paid
by cash, checks, money orders,
electronic funds or wire transfers, and
-4-

other charges against funds on deposit
at a financial institution.
If the organization checks

TIP “Accrual” on Form 990, Part XII,

line 1; follows Financial
Accounting Standards Board
Accounting Standards Codification
(FASB ASC 958) (formerly SFAS 116)
(see instructions for Form 990, Part IX);
and makes a grant during the tax year
to be paid in future years to an individual
outside the United States, it should
report the grant's present value in Part
III, column (d) or (f), and report any
accruals of present value increments in
future years.
Column (e). Describe the manner of
cash disbursement (or, for organizations
using the accrual method of accounting,
the intended manner of cash
disbursement), such as by cash
payment, money order, electronic fund
or wire transfer, check, other charges
against funds on deposit at a financial
institution, or other. List all that apply for
each region.
Column (f). Enter the FMV of
noncash property in U.S. dollars for
each type of assistance. If multiple
properties were transferred for the type
of assistance, enter information for
each.
Column (g). For noncash property,
enter a description of the property. If
multiple properties were transferred,
enter a description of each.
Column (h). Describe the method of
valuation. Report property with a readily
determinable market value at its FMV.
When FMV can't be readily determined,
use an appraised or estimated value.

Part IV. Foreign Forms

All Schedule F (Form 990) filers must
complete Part IV, lines 1–6. If the
organization answers “Yes” to any of
lines 1–6 because it engaged in the
activities described on that line during
the tax year, it may need to file the form
referenced on that line. To determine
whether an organization is required to
file any of the IRS forms referenced on
lines 1–6 (Form 926, 3520, 3520-A,
5471, 5713, 8621, or 8865), see the
instructions for those forms. Don't attach
Form 3520, 3520-A, or 5713 to Form
990.

2020 Instructions for Schedule F (Form 990)

Part V. Supplemental
Information

Use Part V to provide narrative
information required to supplement
responses in:
• Part I, line 2, regarding the
organization's procedures for monitoring
the use of its grants and other
assistance outside the United States;

• Part I, line 3, column (f), regarding the
method used to account for
expenditures on the organization's
financial statements;
• Part II, line 1, regarding the method
used to account for cash grants and
noncash assistance on the
organization's financial statements;
• Part III, regarding the method used to
account for cash grants and noncash

2020 Instructions for Schedule F (Form 990)

-5-

assistance on the organization's
financial statements; and
• Part III, column (c), regarding the
estimated number of recipients.
Provide other narrative explanations
and descriptions, as needed.
Identify the specific part and line(s)
that the response supports.