Thank You! I appreciate your reply.. especially after this week! I was called at home to come into the principals office to address comments made on this board. Someone from our PTO Board brought it to her attention. I am not sure if it stemmed from the comments under this post or comments from "Operating without a PTO President" Needless to say it was unnerving to be called in to the school to account for my post on a PTOToday message board...
I want to make a comment here..this board has been a wonderful source of information for me. I use it to research ideas, information and learn. I enjoy being able to ask a question and get answers from PTO President's all over the US.
Everything I do as a PTO volunteer is solely to support our school and children. I do have a moral obligation to "do the right thing"
Re: How much did the PTO gross last year? Over $20,000. They have left about $4000 for the new Board.
Why is it the principal's decision anyway? An independent PTO is independent of the school. You'd have your own ein, your own bylaws, your own bank account, etc. I'd also recommend one additional step to incorporate in your state before you apply for your 501c3.
Yes, it's pricy to apply for 501c3 status, and it's a time consuming (but not impossible) application. One loophole might be that a new group has a grace period (what is it these days, maybe 2 years???) to file their 501c3, even if they exceed the $5000 test. But that doesn't really solve your moral dilemma.
If the school doesn't want the PTO to operate as a club/commitee of the school and won't let the PTO use the school's banking, then you're an independent organization.
Most people get nervous when they think they'll have to deal with the IRS. And for good reason (see Buckeye's post above!). But a PTO is a business is the eyes of the IRS. You can take your chances and try to hide under the radar, but that's essentiallly a moral decision for you at this point.
Just curious, what is your PTO's annual GROSS income?
I have mixed feelings...there are so many that don't formalize but that doesn't make it right. I would probably worry about being an officer in general, I mean as an officer if something happened you could be put down as responsible...that is one advanatge of incorporating. I guess you know your school and group but the whole getting a ein, doing over $5000.00 and the way people are these days would worry me. But then I worry about everything!!
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
They voted today. The Principle does not want us to file for the non profit status - All I can do as the new PTO President is to present the information. The principle had the final say so - the other board members followed along. Now I am torn with having my name as a co-signer on this banking account. Do I have to be concerned as a cosigner of this PTO Account?
one of our PTO's got a letter last year from the IRS. To the tune of them owing over $45,000 in back taxes and penalties for not filing tax returns. They were using their EIN they got 10+ years ago, had been for years, but never bothered to get 501c3 status, and never filed their tax returns.
Working with an accountant, they have gotten the fine lowered, are a 501c3 and do file 990 returns now.
This happening to them is how I FINALLY got our PTO to cross over from "We don't need to do that...No one else is....it costs TOO much money", etc etc etc, to us hopefully mailing our application this week.
I would not recommend that you reactivate your old EIN, especially since it was back from when you part of the PTA--definitely not worth the potential hassle, especially when it's so easy to get a new EIN.
