How to get the IRS list of your chapters
Form 15644 asks only for changes to your chapter list, so you need to know which chapters the IRS has on file. The IRS publishes the chapters it has on record under your GEN in its roster file, for free. It may not list every chapter. Here is how to read it.
Checked against IRS sources on Oct 23, 2026
Why you need it
Since January 2019 the IRS no longer sends central organizations its list of their chapters (IRS Publication 557, Reminders). But Form 15644 asks about changes to the chapter list in your most recent SGRI (Form 15644, Part I, question 4). Start from what the IRS has on file.
Get the list from the IRS roster file
- Open the IRS page Exempt Organizations Business Master File Extract (EO BMF). The IRS updates the files about monthly.
- Download the files. They come by region and by state, and your chapters may sit in several of them, so check every region where you have chapters.
- Open each file in a spreadsheet. Make sure the GROUP column is treated as text, so a number like 0925 keeps its leading zero.
- Filter the GROUP column for your four-digit group exemption number (GEN). The rows that remain are your central organization and the chapters the IRS lists under it.
- Use the AFFILIATION column to tell them apart: the IRS’s file description gives the codes for a central organization and for its subordinates (chapters).
- Many chapters carry the central’s name in the NAME column; their own name is often in SORT_NAME.
The column names and codes are described in the IRS’s EO BMF file description (PDF).
What the file doesn’t show
- Chapters that were automatically revoked drop off the roster file. The IRS lists them separately in its automatic revocation list.
- Chapters you consider members but the IRS doesn’t list under your GEN.
- Every chapter. Most subordinates aren’t listed separately, and the central organization, not the IRS, decides who belongs to the group (IRS Publication 4573).
- Recent changes: the files are updated about monthly. The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search can confirm a single chapter’s revocation or e-Postcard by EIN, but it draws on the same IRS data and can lag too.
The shortcut
Our free lookup shows how many chapters the IRS lists under your GEN and your filing window. The report gives you the full list as a spreadsheet, with the chapters revoked since October 2024, to check against your last annual filing, and a draft Form 15644.
Sources
- IRS, EO BMF extract and its file description.
- IRS, Tax Exempt Organization Search bulk data downloads (automatic revocation list).
- IRS, Form 15644 and its instructions (Rev. 10-2026).
- IRS, Publication 557 (Rev. 1-2025), Reminders, and Publication 4573 (Rev. 10-2019).
General information from public IRS documents, checked Oct 23, 2026. Not tax or legal advice. Not affiliated with the IRS.