Des Moines, Iowa ? More than 200,000 small nonprofits across the nation are days away from losing their tax-exempt status because they haven’t filed a new form with the Internal Revenue Service.

Many of these groups already operate on razor-thin budgets, and some worry an unexpected tax bill could force organizations to close.

“The nonprofits in your backyards, some of them are going to be gone,” said Suzanne Coffman, a spokeswoman for GuideStar, which tracks data on nonprofits.

The deadline for the IRS form is Monday, and the National Center for Charitable Statistics estimates 214,000 nonprofits that report $25,000 or less in income haven’t filed that form. Churches are exempted.

If nonprofits file late, officials say it could be months before their tax-exempt status is restored.

People who donate to those charities still could deduct expenses because there was no way to know about the change.

Bobby Zarin of the IRS says the new requirement is intended to better track small nonprofits and make information more available to the public.

Congress required the form, called a 990-N, when it amended the tax code three years ago. Groups with a fiscal year ending Dec. 31 had until Monday to meet the deadline.