Form 5578

(Rev. November 2019) 

Department of the Treasury 

Internal Revenue Service 

Annual Certification of Racial Nondiscrimination 

for a Private School Exempt From Federal Income Tax

(for use by organizations that do not file Form 990 or Form 990-EZ) 

▶ Go to www.irs.gov/Form5578 for the latest information.

OMB No. 1545-0047 

Open to Public 

Inspection 

For IRS Use Only

For the period beginning , 20 and ending , 20

1a Name of organization that operates, supervises, and/or controls school(s). 

Address (number and street or P.O. box no., if mail is not delivered to street address) Room/suite 

City or town, state, and ZIP + 4 (If foreign address, list city or town, state or province, and country. Include postal code.) 

1b Employer identification number 

2a Name of central organization holding group exemption letter covering the school(s). (If same as 1a above, write 

“Same” and complete 2c.) If the organization in 1a holds an individual exemption letter, write “Not Applicable.” 

Address (number and street or P.O. box no., if mail is not delivered to street address) Room/suite 

City or town, state, and ZIP + 4 (If foreign address, list city or town, state or province, and country. Include postal code.) 

2b Employer identification number 

2c Group exemption number (see 

instructions under Definitions) 

3a Name of school. (If more than one school, write “See Attached” and attach a list of the names, complete addresses, 

including postal codes, and employer identification numbers of the schools.) If same as 1a, write “Same.” 

Address (number and street or P.O. box no., if mail is not delivered to street address) Room/suite 

City or town, state, and ZIP + 4 (If foreign address, list city or town, state or province, and country. Include postal code.) 

3b Employer identification number, 

if any 

Under penalties of perjury, I hereby certify that I am authorized to take official action on behalf of the above school(s) and that to the best of my knowledge and belief the 

school(s) has (have) satisfied the applicable requirements of sections 4.01 through 4.05 of Rev. Proc. 75-50, 1975-2 C.B. 587, for the period covered by this certification. 

(Signature) (Type or print name and title.) (Date) 

For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see instructions. Cat. No. 42658A Form 5578 (Rev. 11-2019) 
Form 5578 (Rev. 11-2019) Page 2

General Instructions 

Section references are to the Internal 

Revenue Code unless otherwise noted. 

Note: This form is open to public 

inspection. 

Future Developments 

For the latest information about 

developments related to Form 5578 and its 

instructions, such as legislation enacted 

after they were published, go to 

www.irs.gov/Form5578.

What’s New 

Rev. Proc. 2019-22; 2019-22 C.B. 1260, 

available at www.irs.gov/irb/2019-22_IRB, 

modified Rev. Proc. 75-50; 1975-2 C.B. 

587, available at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/

rp1975-50.pdf, to provide a third method 

for a private school to satisfy the publicity 

requirement in section 4.03. In general, an 

organization will meet the requirement if 

the organization has publicized its racially 

nondiscriminatory policy on its primary 

publicly accessible Internet homepage at 

all times during its taxable year in a manner 

reasonably expected to be noticed by 

visitors on the homepage. See paragraph 

1(c) under “Section 4.03, Publicity” below 

for more details.

Purpose of Form 

Form 5578 may be used by organizations 

that operate tax-exempt private schools to 

provide the Internal Revenue Service with 

the annual certification of racial 

nondiscrimination required by Rev. Proc. 

75-50 (the relevant part of which is 

reproduced in these instructions). Rev. 

Proc. 2019-22 modified Rev. Proc. 75-50 to 

provide a third method for a private school 

to satisfy the requirement in Section 4.03.

Who Must File 

Every organization that claims exemption 

from federal income tax under section 

501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and 

that operates, supervises, or controls a 

private school(s) must file a certification of 

racial nondiscrimination. If an organization 

is required to file Form 990, Return of 

Organization Exempt From Income Tax, or 

Form 990-EZ, Short Form Return of 

Organization Exempt From Income Tax, 

either as a separate return or as part of a 

group return, the certification must be 

made on Schedule E (Form 990 or 990-EZ), 

Schools, rather than on this form. 

An authorized official of a central 

organization may file one form to certify for 

the school activities of subordinate 

organizations that would otherwise be 

required to file on an individual basis, but 

only if the central organization has enough 

control over the schools listed on the form 

to ensure that the schools maintain a racially 

nondiscriminatory policy as to students. 

Definitions 

A racially nondiscriminatory policy as to 

students means that the school admits the 

students of any race to all the rights, 

privileges, programs, and activities 

generally accorded or made available to 

students at that school and that the school 

does not discriminate on the basis of race 

in the administration of its educational 

policies, admissions policies, scholarship 

and loan programs, and athletic and other 

school-administered programs. 

The IRS considers discrimination on the 

basis of race to include discrimination on 

the basis of color or national or ethnic origin. 

A school is an educational organization 

that normally maintains a regular faculty 

and curriculum and normally has a 

regularly enrolled body of pupils or 

students in attendance at the place where 

its educational activities are regularly 

carried on. The term includes primary, 

secondary, preparatory, or high schools 

and colleges and universities, whether 

operated as a separate legal entity or as 

an activity of a church or other 

organization described in section 501(c)(3). 

The term also includes preschools and any 

other organization that is a school as 

defined in section 170(b)(1)(A)(ii). 

A central organization is an organization 

that has one or more subordinates under its 

general supervision or control. A subordinate 

is a chapter, local, post, or other unit of a 

central organization. A central organization 

may also be a subordinate, as in the case of 

a state organization that has subordinate 

units and is itself affiliated with a national 

organization. 

The group exemption number (GEN) is a 

four-digit number issued to a central 

organization by the IRS. It identifies a 

central organization that has received a 

ruling from the IRS recognizing on a group 

basis the exemption from federal income 

tax of the central organization and its 

covered subordinates. 

When To File 

Under Rev. Proc. 75-50, a certification of 

racial nondiscrimination must be filed 

annually by the 15th day of the 5th month 

after the organization’s accounting period 

ends (May 15th for a calendar-year filer). If 

the due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, 

or legal holiday, file on the next business 

day. A business day is any day that isn’t a 

Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.

Where To File 

Mail Form 5578 to: 

Department of the Treasury 

Internal Revenue Service Center 

Ogden, UT 84201-0027 

Certification Requirement 

Section 4.06 of Rev. Proc. 75-50 requires 

an individual authorized to take official 

action on behalf of a school that claims to 

be racially nondiscriminatory as to 

students to certify annually, under 

penalties of perjury, that to the best of his 

or her knowledge and belief the school has 

satisfied the applicable requirements of 

sections 4.01 through 4.05 of the Revenue 

Procedure, reproduced below: 

Rev. Proc. 75-50 

Section 4.01, Organizational 

Requirements. A school must include a 

statement in its charter, bylaws, or other 

governing instrument, or in a resolution of 

its governing body, that it has a racially 

nondiscriminatory policy as to students 

and therefore does not discriminate against 

applicants and students on the basis of 

race, color, and national or ethnic origin.

Section 4.02, Statement of Policy. 

Every school must include a statement of 

its racially nondiscriminatory policy as to 

students in all its brochures and catalogues 

dealing with student admissions, 

programs, and scholarships. A statement 

substantially similar to the Notice 

described in paragraph (a) of subsection 1 

of section 4.03, infra, will be acceptable for 

this purpose. Further, every school must 

include a reference to its racially 

nondiscriminatory policy in other written 

advertising that it uses as a means of 

informing prospective students of its 

programs. The following references will be 

acceptable:

The (name) school admits students of 

any race, color, and national or ethnic origin. 

Section 4.03, Publicity. The school must 

make its racially nondiscriminatory policy 

known to all segments of the general 

community served by the school. 

1. The school must use one of the 

following three methods to satisfy this 

requirement: 

(a) The school may publish a notice of 

its racially nondiscriminatory policy in a 

newspaper of general circulation that 

serves all racial segments of the community. 

This publication must be repeated at least 

once annually during the period of the 

school’s solicitation for students or, in the 

absence of a solicitation program, during 

the school’s registration period. Where 

more than one community is served by a 

school, the school may publish its notice in 

those newspapers that are reasonably likely 

to be read by all racial segments of the 

communities that it serves. The notice must 

appear in a section of the newspaper likely 

to be read by prospective students and 

their families and it must occupy at least 

three column inches. It must be captioned 

in at least 12 point boldface type as a notice 

of nondiscriminatory policy as to students, 

and its text must be printed in at least 8 

point type. The following notice will be 

acceptable: 

Notice Of Nondiscriminatory 

Policy As To Students 

The (name) school admits students of any 

race, color, national, and ethnic origin to all 

the rights, privileges, programs, and 

activities generally accorded or made 

available to students at the school. It does 

not discriminate on the basis of race, color, 

national and ethnic origin in administration 

of its educational policies, admissions 

policies, scholarship and loan programs, 

and athletic and other school-administered 

programs.
Form 5578 (Rev. 11-2019) Page 3

(b) The school may use the broadcast 

media to publicize its racially 

nondiscriminatory policy if this use makes 

such nondiscriminatory policy known to all 

segments of the general community the 

school serves. If this method is chosen, the 

school must provide documentation that 

the means by which this policy was 

communicated to all segments of the 

general community was reasonably 

expected to be effective. In this case, 

appropriate documentation would include 

copies of the tapes or script used and 

records showing that there was an 

adequate number of announcements, that 

they were made during hours when the 

announcements were likely to be 

communicated to all segments of the 

general community, that they were of 

sufficient duration to convey the message 

clearly, and that they were broadcast on 

radio or television stations likely to be 

listened to by substantial numbers of 

members of all racial segments of the 

general community. Announcements must 

be made during the period of the school’s 

solicitation for students or, in the absence 

of a solicitation program, during the 

school’s registration period. 

(c) The school may display a notice of its 

racially nondiscriminatory policy on its 

primary publicly accessible Internet 

homepage at all times during its taxable 

year (excluding temporary outages due to 

website maintenance or technical 

problems) in a manner reasonably 

expected to be noticed by visitors to the 

homepage. The notice used to satisfy the 

publicity requirement under 1(a), above, is 

acceptable. A publicly accessible 

homepage is one that does not require a 

visitor to input information, such as an 

email address or a user name and 

password, to access the homepage. 

Factors to be considered in determining 

whether the notice is reasonably expected 

to be noticed by visitors to the homepage 

include the size, color, and graphic 

treatment of the notice in relation to other 

parts of the homepage, whether the notice 

is unavoidable, whether other parts of the 

homepage distract attention from the 

notice, and whether the notice is visible 

without a visitor having to do anything 

other than simple scrolling on the 

homepage. A link on the homepage to 

another page where the notice appears, or 

a notice that appears in a carousel or only 

by selecting a drop down or by hovering 

(mouse over) is not acceptable. If a school 

does not have its own website, but it has 

web pages contained in a website, the 

school must display a notice of its racially 

nondiscriminatory policy on its primary 

landing page within the website in a 

manner that satisfies all other requirements 

of this subsection 1(c) to use this 

publication method.

Communication of a racially 

nondiscriminatory policy as to students by 

a school to leaders of racial groups as the 

sole means of publicity generally will not 

be considered effective to make the policy 

known to all segments of the community.

2. The requirements of subsection 1 of 

this section will not apply when one of the 

following paragraphs applies: 

(a) If for the preceding 3 years the 

enrollment of a parochial or other churchrelated school consists of students at least 

75% of whom are members of the 

sponsoring religious denomination or unit, 

the school may make known its racially 

nondiscriminatory policy in whatever 

newspapers or circulars the religious 

denomination or unit utilizes in the 

communities from which the students are 

drawn. These newspapers and circulars 

may be those distributed by a particular 

religious denomination or unit or by an 

association that represents a number of 

religious organizations of the same 

denomination. If, however, the school 

advertises in newspapers of general 

circulation in the community or 

communities from which its students are 

drawn and paragraphs (b) and (c) of this 

subsection are not applicable to it, then it 

must comply with paragraph (a) of 

subsection 1 of this section. 

(b) If a school customarily draws a 

substantial percentage of its students 

nationwide or world-wide or from a large 

geographic section or sections of the 

United States and follows a racially 

nondiscriminatory policy as to students, the 

publicity requirement may be satisfied by 

complying with section 4.02, supra. Such a 

school may demonstrate that it follows a 

racially nondiscriminatory policy within the 

meaning of the preceding sentence either 

by showing that it currently enrolls students 

of racial minority groups in meaningful 

numbers or, when minority students are not 

enrolled in meaningful numbers, that its 

promotional activities and recruiting efforts 

in each geographic area were reasonably 

designed to inform students of all racial 

segments in the general communities within 

the area of the availability of the school. The 

question whether a school satisfies the 

preceding sentence will be determined on 

the basis of the facts and circumstances of 

each case. 

(c) If a school customarily draws its 

students from local communities and follows 

a racially nondiscriminatory policy as to 

students, the publicity requirement may be 

satisfied by complying with section 4.02, 

supra. Such a school may demonstrate that it 

follows a racially nondiscriminatory policy 

within the meaning of the preceding sentence 

by showing that it currently enrolls students 

of racial minority groups in meaningful 

numbers. The question whether a school 

satisfies the preceding sentence will be 

determined on the basis of the facts and 

circumstances of each case. One of the facts 

and circumstances that the Service will 

consider is whether the school’s promotional 

activities and recruiting efforts in each area 

were reasonably designed to inform students 

of all racial segments in the general 

communities within the area of the availability 

of the school. 

The Service recognizes that the failure by 

a school drawing its students from local 

communities to enroll racial minority group 

students may not necessarily indicate the 

absence of a racially nondiscriminatory 

policy as to students when there are 

relatively few or no such students in these 

communities. Actual enrollment is, 

however, a meaningful indication of a 

racially nondiscriminatory policy in a 

community in which a public school or 

schools became subject to a desegregation 

order of a federal court or otherwise 

expressly became obligated to implement a 

desegregation plan under the terms of any 

written contract or other commitment to 

which any federal agency was a party.

The Service encourages schools to 

satisfy the publicity requirement by the 

methods described in subsection 1 of this 

section, regardless of whether a school 

considers itself within subsection 2, 

because it believes these methods to be 

the most effective to make known a 

school’s racially nondiscriminatory policy. 

In this regard it is each school’s 

responsibility to determine whether 

paragraph (a), (b), or (c) of subsection 2 

applies to it. On audit, a school must be 

prepared to demonstrate that the failure to 

publish its racially nondiscriminatory policy 

in accordance with subsection 1 of this 

section was justified by the application to it 

of paragraph (a), (b), or (c) of subsection 2. 

Further, a school must be prepared to 

demonstrate that it has publicly disavowed 

or repudiated any statements purported to 

have been made on its behalf (after 

November 6, 1975) that are contrary to its 

publicity of a racially nondiscriminatory 

policy as to students, to the extent that the 

school or its principal official were aware of 

such statements. 

Section 4.04, Facilities and Programs. A 

school must be able to show that all of its 

programs and facilities are operated in a 

racially nondiscriminatory manner. 

Section 4.05, Scholarship and Loan 

Programs. As a general rule, all 

scholarship or other comparable benefits 

procurable for use at any given school 

must be offered on a racially 

nondiscriminatory basis. Their availability 

on this basis must be known throughout 

the general community being served by the 

school and should be referred to in the 

publicity required by this section in order 

for that school to be considered racially 

nondiscriminatory as to students, 

scholarships and loans that are made 

pursuant to financial assistance programs 

favoring members of one or more racial 

minority groups that are designed to 

promote a school’s racially 

nondiscriminatory policy will not adversely 

affect the school’s exempt status. Financial 

assistance programs favoring members of 

one or more racial groups that do not 

significantly derogate from the school’s 

racially nondiscriminatory policy similarly 

will not adversely affect the school’s 

exempt status. 
Form 5578 (Rev. 11-2019) Page 4

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