Hospitals, nonprofits face tougher IRS forms

Beginning with their 2008 tax filing, hospitals and other nonprofit entities must complete a newly expanded Form 990 that demands more detailed information in areas such as business dealings of its top executives and board members and even some former executives and board members. And the form will grow yet again a year from now, as hospitals will then have to fill out a special Schedule H to document exactly what "community benefit" they contribute to justify their tax-exempt status. "We will have more accurate information, presented uniformly," Steven Miller, the IRS commissioner for tax exempt and government entities. "We, the states, and others will have a rich vein of data that will help us see nonprofit hospitals more clearly and allow us to make better informed decisions about them."