Between 31% and 61% of a firm's clients carry an amount into the next year.
Across every latest return the figure is 44%. Firm by firm it is not: among the twenty firms that prepare the most 990-PFs, the share runs from 31% to 61%. No firm is named.
An amount carried is owed and dated, not late: the form allows it through the end of the next tax year.
Twenty firms prepare about a quarter of the returns.
Returns with no paid preparer firm: 1,812, of which 48% of those measured carry an amount. Measured means domestic, not operating, with Part XII reported.
The same form, read twenty ways.
| Firm | Client returns | Carrying, all years | Years ended 2024 | Years ended 2025 | Carried in all | Lines differing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firm A | 200 or more | 57% | 48% | 61% | $790 million | 0 |
| Firm B | 200 or more | 61% | 52% | 68% | $4.1 billion | 1 |
| Firm C | 50–99 | 31% | 26% | 43% | $90 million | 1 |
| Firm D | 100–199 | 37% | 33% | 46% | $460 million | 2 |
| Firm E | 100–199 | 34% | 34% | 34% | $140 million | 0 |
| Firm F | 50–99 | 34% | 26% | 47% | $70 million | 0 |
| Firm G | 100–199 | 54% | 56% | 53% | $120 million | 0 |
| Firm H | 50–99 | 32% | 30% | too few | $60 million | 0 |
| Firm I | 100–199 | 46% | 32% | 65% | $100 million | 0 |
| Firm J | 100–199 | 40% | 40% | 40% | $500 million | 0 |
| Firm K | 100–199 | 44% | 35% | 56% | $250 million | 0 |
| Firm L | 200 or more | 33% | 32% | 34% | $490 million | 1 |
| Firm M | 50–99 | 36% | 36% | too few | $360 million | 0 |
| Firm N | 200 or more | 38% | 43% | 30% | $410 million | 2 |
| Firm O | 50–99 | 33% | 37% | too few | $240 million | 3 |
| Firm P | 100–199 | 36% | 37% | 35% | $240 million | 1 |
| Firm Q | 50–99 | 54% | 50% | too few | $280 million | 0 |
| Firm R | 200 or more | 33% | 29% | 39% | $400 million | 0 |
| Firm S | 50–99 | 33% | 29% | 38% | $50 million | 0 |
| Firm T | 200 or more | 31% | 28% | 37% | $190 million | 1 |
Letters are in a fixed shuffled order, not by size. A year’s cell is printed only where at least twenty of the firm’s returns are measured. Totals are to the nearest $10 million. Built 2026-10-04 from the 990-PF study’s returns.
What the spread is, and what it is not.
What it is
What it is not
Why it matters to a firm
Why is no firm named?
A firm is named here only with its own written consent, and none has been asked for publication. The letters follow a fixed shuffle, not the order of size, and a firm's client count is printed as a band.
Can a firm see which row is its own?
Yes. A firm that prepares 990-PFs can ask, and is told its own letter and sent its own figures, client by client. Nobody else is told.
Is a higher share a worse result?
No. A year's distributable amount may be paid through the end of the next tax year, so an amount carried is owed and dated, not late. The share describes how a firm's clients time their distributions, not the quality of anyone's work.
Where does the firm on each return come from?
From the paid preparer section of the e-filed return itself, as the IRS publishes it. A return with no paid preparer firm is counted on its own line.
Your firm's own row, client by client.
Free to the firm: each client foundation's filed return re-done, the amount carried and its date. Sent to the firm and to nobody else.