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What 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) filings has Turning Point USA submitted and in which years?
Executive Summary
Turning Point USA has consistently filed federal Form 990 returns as a 501(c)[1] public charity for tax years spanning at least 2013 through the fiscal year ending in 2024; publicly available summaries and PDFs list filings for 2013, 2014, 2016–2024, and specifically for calendar years including 2019 and 2022. There is no clear, public evidence in the provided records of Turning Point USA filing federal tax returns as a 501(c)[2]; related entities are mentioned but distinct filings would be required to establish any 501(c)[2] activity [3] [4].
1. What the records unequivocally show about Turning Point USA’s 990 filings
The available filings identify Turning Point USA as a 501(c)[1] tax-exempt organization and include Form 990 returns and Schedule A filings for multiple years. Publicized 990 PDFs and database entries list returns for tax years and fiscal years covering 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and a filing shown for 2024, with financial summaries such as gross receipts, revenue, and assets reported in those documents. The 2019 Form 990 shows gross receipts above $41 million and mission language about educating students on free markets and fiscal responsibility, demonstrating consistent 990 compliance reporting for those years [5] [3].
2. Official snapshots and trends across the filings: assets, revenue, and leadership disclosures
Across the successive Form 990s the filings provide line-item continuity: total assets, revenue, program service revenue, contributions, and executive compensation are reported year-by-year. The 2024 snapshot reports total assets around $26.3 million and total giving of roughly $12.6 million, while the 2022 return shows revenue and expense totals in the $5–6 million range for that reporting year; the 2019 return documented a much larger revenue figure, reflecting year-to-year variation and differing fiscal-year reporting windows. Filings also list governance and key employees, including an EIN reported in the 2022 filing, enabling public tracing of organizational responsibility [3] [6].
3. What the sources say — and do not say — about any 501(c)[2] status
None of the supplied documents or summaries explicitly present a Form 990 or other IRS filing under the 501(c)[2] designation for Turning Point USA itself. The databases and 990 collections referenced emphasize the organization’s 501(c)[1] returns and note that Turning Point USA has related entities, but they do not produce a 501(c)[2] return tied to the main Turning Point USA entity in the provided records. Establishing a 501(c)[2] filing would require identification of a separate legal entity or a distinct EIN and corresponding tax returns; those elements do not appear in the cited filings [5] [7] [8].
4. Related organizations and the gray area around affiliated operations
The filings and secondary summaries mention three related tax-exempt organizations associated with Turning Point USA, which complicates simple attribution of all political or advocacy activity to the 501(c)[1] parent. Related entities can be registered under different subsections of the tax code—like 501(c)[2] or 527—necessitating separate filings. The documents provided do not detail the names or 990s of those affiliates in the excerpts, leaving an information gap: donors, watchdogs, or reporters seeking evidence of 501(c)[2]-style activity must search for separately named entities and their EINs and returns to determine whether any related organizations filed as 501(c)[2] in given years [7] [4].
5. Disputed interpretations and what further documentation would resolve them
Some summaries infer Turning Point USA “has 990s from 2013–2024,” which is accurate for the 501(c)[1] returns presented; however, claims that Turning Point USA has 501(c)[2] filings lack corroborating return documents in the provided materials. To resolve this definitively, one must obtain the IRS Form 990s or public charity registries for any separately named affiliated entities for the relevant years and confirm each entity’s section classification and EIN. The current evidence supports a firm conclusion about 501(c)[1] filings across the listed years while leaving the question of any 501(c)[2] filings unanswered absent additional entity-level records [3].
6. Bottom line and recommended next steps for verification
The record provided demonstrates that Turning Point USA filed Form 990 returns as a 501(c)[1] for numerous years through 2024 and includes specific filings such as 2019 and 2022; no direct 501(c)[2] filings for the same named organization are present in these records. For a complete, authoritative ledger of all filings and any 501(c)[2]-designated affiliates, obtain the full Form 990 PDFs and EINs for the named related organizations referenced in the filings, check IRS exempt organization public files, and review nonprofit databases that list entity classifications and return histories to confirm whether any affiliate filed under 501(c)[2] in the years in question [3] [4].