I also would think as VP you should not be responsible for the financials. However, I am the president of a prek-5 PTO for the second year and this year we ran into some issues with the EIN "situation". For the past 20+ years the PTO has operated under the school's tax id #. We have never filed taxes, and they have used 3 differnt banks. Staff that has been involved in the PTO for years assured everyone "this is how it's done".

This year a local bank partnered with our school and it was decided to move our banking with them as a courtesy. Our treasurer went to open the account and to make a long story short was told we can not use the school's tax #. It then got put in my lap as to figure out what was proper procedure.

Thankfully my principal helped me sort through the situation. I strongly recommend you ask as many people as possible what the proper procedure is for PTO banking/ financials. We contacted other local PTO's, the superintendant, city hall and most importantly check with your state. The end result being the bank teller was right!!

From what I have seen on this website, many PTO's do operate under their school's EIN # so of course I assumed this was ok. To save the possibility of future aggrevation I would look further into it to be on the safe side and not just take anyones word for it.

As VP, I wouldn't think you'd need to worry about financial things -- let the treasurer worry about that. Or the school; the district accountant/auditor ought to object to you using the school's number.

... unless you are really a committee of the school, and all your funds are really the school's funds.

What tax ID number did you give to the bank to open those accounts? Is your PTO incorporated?

I was asked to step in as treasurer mid-year and wondered if the tax filings had been done in the fall ... turns out, we weren't 501c3 and had never filed a return (never mind just that fall). But, as treasurer, I was in the position to say: this is what needs to be done, and this is how we will proceed. The bank actually had me sign things, so I was more "on the hook" than our VP was. Is your treasurer interested in clearing up the issue?

Hi there. I am presently a very involved volunteer with the PTO. For the next school year, the board would like to nominate me as vice president, a job I'm more than happy to tackle EXCEPT (isn't there always an except) I am so confused about this tax identification number issue.

Currently, the pto uses the school's tax identification number. We have two accounts opened by the PTO, not the school - one for the big 50/50 raffle (which I was told was the law) and the other for everything else. Right now we are having our annual tricky tray and while we are not putting the schools tax identification number on it, we will give it out should someone request it.

At the end of every year, we barely have a few hundred dollars in the account. Our PTO is like alot of hard working people out there surviving from one event to the other. This year we even started in the red.

I am what you would call a worry wart or a nervous nelly. I know I would make an excellent vice president but I don't want to put my name to anything executive that could get me in trouble at some point. I'm not really concerned about how the school could manage us (as they do that a bit already) or anything along those lines. I just want to make sure that we are legal. Any thoughts?

Me