Hi Megan,
I ran your question by Christy Forhan, who worked with the IRS on our question-by-question guide to IRS form 1023 in the PTO Startup Toolkit (
www.ptotoday.com/startup-guide). Christy also is very much a detail person, like you. Here's what she had to say. I hope it helps!
Craig
The checklist is a to-do list to ensure you have completed all the steps and gathered all the info that you're supposed to.
Put your materials in the sequence listed in the black bullet points ("Assemble the application and materials in this order:"). Even though this is the first check box on the form, it is probably the LAST check-box you'll check off. Below that, where it says "Completed Parts I through XI...", they're just giving you a place to check off that you have indeed completed that humongeous step. All the supplementary pages that you write up to explain Parts I through XI are included in the last section of attachments in your application packet. Focus on the black bullet point list when you put your packet together.
I don't know how the IRS reviews an application, if it's done by one person or divvied out to several reviewers. But since they want you to mark every page with your EIN, we can assume your application gets broken up and distributed. I wouldn't do anything that binds the application permanently like comb binding. If your packet isn't too thick, just go ahead and staple it. If it's too thick for staples, I would put it in a 3-prong folder. If you need something thicker than a 3-prong, ask yourself if you're included more supplementary material than you really need to back up your application.
