We made the switch to PTO beginning this school year in Sept/2001. All of the schools in our city switched from PTA to PTO and registered with as a tax exempt organization under one number. Each PTO operates seperately but they're saying because we only have one tax # and all our schools combined income exceeds $25,000 that we will have to file a 990 tax form. We had one # under PTA and as long as each seperate school remained under $25,000 we didn't have to file, therefore not have the expense of paying an accountant. Does anyone know how this works?

I suspect that you reported revenue/expenses to the statewide PTA and THEY filed the 990/990EZ. I'm not an accountant, but it seems pretty clear that the IRS would expect accountability by ID#. However, as far as the 990 form, it's not that bad to fill out. You may not need outside assistance. We needed to fill out the 990EZ this year. The treasurer and I sat down and looked at our records. I'm guessing it took us about 2 hours to complete the task. However, note - a lot will depend on how you are already keeping data and how much refiguring you need to do.

To be totally candid - I did make a mistake on ours, but it was a silly, clerical error. Nothing that we didn't know - just simply skipped a question. It's a bit of a hassel working it out with the IRS, so I wish I'd reviewed it better. But, we didn't feel we needed an accountant.

As always, you should consult whatever appropriate professionals YOUR situation warrants. I'm just sharing what we did.

I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM CLBURNS ABOUT THEIR ORGANIZATION. OUR PTO'S HAVE BEEN TOLD BY OUR SCHOOL DISTRICT THAT WE NEED TO REORGANIZE. WE ARE LOOKING INTO GOING PTA (OF WHICH I DON'T SUPPORT THE NATIONAL OR MY STATE AGENDAS & THE OUTRAGEOUS DUES) OR REORGANIZING AS A 501 3C FOR IRS REPORTING. WE WILL ALSO NEED TO BUY INSURANCE. WE'VE BEEN TOLD THAT WE CANNOT PROVIDE BENEFITS TO OUR SCHOOLS IN THE FUTURE WITHOUT MAKING THESE CHANGES. CLBURNS--DID YOU CREATE AN UMBRELLA ORGANIZATION TO DO THE IRS FILINGS AND IF SO, HOW IS THAT WORKING?

Regarding the Form 990EZ - I, too filled out one this past year. With good records, it was no big deal. I am not an accountant, but between the instructions I received from the IRS, and our records for the year (monthly treasurer reports, our checkbook, and our budget), it took me about 2 hours, like JHB. Even if I felt I wanted an accountant involved,I would search for a volunteer from our parent community - no expense involved. If you want to get a look at the Form 990 for yourself, call the IRS at 1-800-829-8815 and ask for the form and the instructions which they will send to you ASAP. You can also download them from www.irs.gov. There is no annual fee for filing this form, just the one-time fee to apply for 501c3.

hEY nEEDHELP--yOU MAY NOT NEED TO BUY ADDITIONAL INSURANCE AFTER BECOMING A PTA--In my state we are provided insurance that is a result of the dues we pay to state..Our school district has a copy of this policy on file and they accept it for all pof our programs. Our insurance is for liability, fidelity and bonding of officers. the only thing that is not covered is property damage insurance. We would have to purchase that separatley if we wanted it.