(Summary of correspondence between Jon Durnford (NCCS) and James Willis, Statistics of Income Div., Internal Revenue Service, 11/2004)
SOI tries to update the BMF extract listing every month. Occasionally, there may be problems and a month may be skipped, but the schedule is monthly. There is no public notice sent (email or otherwise), but the BMF Exempt Organization extract URL, http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/article/0,,id=97186,00.html, indicates "The following files were last updated on:" date as soon as the files go live. The data is sent from Martinsburg to SOI around the 20/25 of every month and it takes about 3/4 days to convert the data and upload the files to the SOI Tax Stats section of the web site.
Follow-up Question:
How long does it take from when an organization has it's tax exempt status recognized to when that determination is reflected in the IRS's live/private BMF system?
Answer:
It depends... From what I understand, it can be as long as three weeks from when a Determination Specialist closes the entry process before it actually shows up in the BMF. But, if it goes into the BMF around the same time as the EO extract is stripped out, it might not show up on our listing until the following month. So, it can be 7 weeks between the time a specialist closes the file until it shows up on the extract. I do not know how long it takes a specialist from the time he/she gets the request for EO status and he/she finishes the entry phase into the system, I would think it can't take more then week. So, most likely, you are talking about 2 months total.
Jim Willis - Badge # 50-07931
Statistics of Income Div.
Internal Revenue Service
James.n.willis@irs.gov