Oh boy, what a mess I became PTO President at the middle school last year. The school was in the mist of changing locations and names. Now that they have a new name the bank wants us to have a new tax ID number. My question how do we get one ? Do we have to join a group like PTA. It turns out that the school calls itself a PTO but, doesn't belong to any organization. The tax number we have been using turns out to be the districts.

Yikes,
Any and all infot would be greatly appreciated, we have checks made out to the new name school that the bank won't take. We really need to resolve this.

Just happened to me. Just opened our new bank account and found out the same issue. We are not registered with the IRS. I found out it cost 350.00 per year and that does not seem worth it to us. Our PTO only brings in 12-15k.
Our exempt number is the cities and they have no problem with us using it. I hear the money can be controlled if they wanted by the city. They can't be bothered. Why reinvent the wheel. I met with other PTO prez and they all agree to keep it the way it is. Our bank was ok with the number I gave them. Why open a can of worms?
Good luck.

$350 per year for what, Lisa? Don't think that's accurate.

Tim

I responded in detail to lisa's posting under another thread. The IRS would like a group of your size to formalize as a 501c3 since you're bringing in more than $5,000 a year. That's the IRS threshold for applying.

Don't assume your city can't be bothered. Economic times are tight in most areas. If there are bank accounts in town under their tax id number (the PTO accounts), that money must be reported on the city's tax returns. It's definately their money even if it feels like yours.

barefootnana - first, don't panic. Getting a tax id number for your new group is easy, free, and can be done in about an hour. Go to www.irs.gov and download Form SS-4. Fill it out and call the IRS as the instructions advise. They'll ask for info from the form and give you the tax id # over the phone. It's that easy. The tax id # is just the identification number for your new PTO. It doesn't mean you're tax exempt or incorporated, just that your PTO exists as an organization. With your own tax id #, you can open a bank account for the PTO.

Critter, thanks for that info. Do you also know how to get an excempt number ? We are non profit . Some busineses will only donate if you are 501c I think it is.

Thanks