It is not a hard process and having the control of the group finances can be good. Donations to your group will be tax deductible...extra incentive for donations. Make sure you have safety precautions written into your by-laws for extra security.... who can sign checks, requiring more than one signiture, how $$ must be approved to spend, review of accounts monthly, yearly audit etc. Seems like the school might not be as invloved or actually be able to keep track of what checks are written to who and why. (?)
Taxes are not difficult and you might even have a parent who is in accounting and could help.
Sorry, you mentioned the $5000 a year but I don't know if or when it is required. Good luck!
So I've been reading the posts about this topic with great interest. i am the newly elected PTO President and have been told that there are pros and cons, but no one has taken the effort to actually do this.
I read with interest and concern that it was mentioned if a PTO grosses more than $5,000 they should become a 501c3. yikes! We certainly do that. Our school is just 3 years old, starting the first year with just 5th and 6th grades, then we grew to PreK - 7th and then built out the high school portion of campus and had Prek - 9th last year and will continue adding a year until it is full thru 12th.
up to now, we have gone thru the school accounting system
we deposit all money with them, and request checks for our expenses. So far it has worked great. no need to get extra insurance either.
BUT is that wrong?
we are weighing the pros and cons
increased independence, spend more money and filing forms plus a tax return.
