Important Treasurer Information District 15 Important Treasurer Information 2019 Area Workshops d15treasurer@zonta15.org

Content Are U.S.A. clubs up to date on 990 Filings? Why is the Group Subordination filing important? Are Canadian Clubs filing annual returns for not-for-profit corporations? Treasurer Resources – January, 2019 Newsletter Headquarters Emails March 20, 2019 Club Officer Report to Headquarters – copy to District District treasurers are your clubs up to date on 990 filings? Do clubs understand why the group subordination is important and finally what can we do to offer support and training?

Have you file your Form 990 Who needs to file? Any entity that has a federal identification number. Therefore each U.S.A. Clubs must file an annual return for the Club and its Foundation if it has one. Returns are due 4 ½ months (10/15) after year end (5/31). Extensions of time to file are available.

Filing requirements Average gross receipts $50,000 or less file Form 990-N electronically. No financial information needed. Average gross receipts more than $50,000 but not over $200,000 file Form 990-EZ a shorter form but financial information required. Average gross receipts greater than $200,000 file Form 990 – very complex.

Club 990 Compliance Several clubs non compliant Loss of exempt status Required to file tax return and pay income tax Loss of Foundation exemption Donations no longer tax deductible Working as treasurer the last 4 years I became aware that many clubs already have or are in danger of losing their exempt status. Clubs that do not file their 990 for 3 years in a row automatically lose their exempt status. So what does that mean? Those clubs are no longer exempt and are required to file income tax returns on the revenue they receive. The type of tax return is dependent on the type of entity that the club registered as at the state level. Of course 501c3’s that lose exempt status, donations are no longer tax deductible.

Is your Club (Foundation) current with its filing requirements Is your Club (Foundation) current with its filing requirements? How to verify IRS compliance To check go to: IRS.gov EO Select Check https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos So how do you know for sure the status of your clubs? Go to IRS website. Access the site and access several examples:

Tax Exempt Organization Search Example MI

Tax Exempt Organization Search Select Organization name Zonta Enter state - MI This makes the search the most broad If a club doesn’t come up you can enter the EIN number and sometimes it finds it that way. If the club doesn’t have their EIN you can check with ZI Membership to see if they have it on file.

4 Ways to be Reinstated 1. Streamlined Retroactive Within15 months of date of Revocation letter 990EZ and 990N filers File Form 1024A with Form 8718 Fee $600 For clubs that have lost their status it is possible for clubs to be reinstated and there are 4 was to become reinstated. The first is the Streamlined Retroactive reinstatement. This is for clubs that would be eligible for filing 990EZ or 990n postcards. This is pretty much all of our clubs. And apply within 15 months of the date of the Revocation letter. They must file form 1024A and pay the $600 fee. If approved the club could be retroactively restated back to the date of revocation. This means they would not have to file tax returns.

4 Ways to Reinstate 2. Retroactive Reinstatement Process Within 15 months of date of Revocation letter 990 Filer Form 1024A and Form 8718 $600 Fee Method 2 is available for clubs that are within the 15 month window and would be required to file form 990. Not many clubs fall into this category.

4 Ways to Reinstate Retroactive Reinstatement After 15 months Satisfy all of the requirements described under the “Retroactive reinstatement (within 15 months)” procedure EXCEPT that the reasonable cause statement the organization includes with its application must establish reasonable cause for its failure to file a required annual return for all three consecutive years in which it failed to file. If you are outside of the 15 month window it is possible for the club to be restated back to the date of the revocation letter. However, the club has to establish reasonable cause for failing to file 3 consecutive years. It will not be easy for clubs to say they were exercising ordinary business care when they were not able to file a simple 990 postcard.

4 Ways to Reinstate Postmark Date Reinstatement Exempt Status starting with Postmark Date Unable to show reasonable cause A reasonable cause statement establishes that an organization exercised ordinary business care and prudence in determining and attempting to comply with its annual reporting requirement. The statement should have a detailed description of all the facts and circumstances about why the organization failed to file, how it discovered the failure, and the steps it has taken or will take to avoid or mitigate future failures. If the club is outside the 15 month window and is not able to establish reasonable cause it can be exempt as of the postmark date of the reinstatement. Listed here is how to establish reasonable cause. Option 3 and 4 also require the $600 fee. This would require the club to file income tax returns based on the type of entity.

Group Subordination Why? When? All clubs are subordinates of Zonta International ZI is required to file list of U.S.A. subordinates with IRS When? September 22nd to District Treasurer December 15th to HQ by District Treasurer Filing a 990 does not mean we don’t need your information for this listing!!! All clubs are subordinates of ZI. ZI is required to file a listing of their subordinate clubs. If ZI doesn’t file correctly it risks losing its status and since ZI has the exempt status for all clubs then if ZI loses its status so do all of the clubs. Normally the group subordination form has been sent to clubs but the District is not getting information back from clubs by September 22. The forms will be sent by the District Treasurer to HQ by December 15th. We need club treasurers to sign these forms. This allows us to have an authorization on file.

We need your help IRS Data State Data EIN Date of last filing Date of Revocation Letter Type of Exemption 501c 3 or 4 State Data Why is state information important? # It is important for clubs and HQ to have this information. If Districts can hold this information and then pass it on to HQ we can avoid clubs losing status in the future, help clubs on the verge keep their status and make this a much easier process overall. It is a simple postcard but rarely is the information passed on. ZI also has liability for clubs that register as a 501c3. HQ needs to know about the 501c3 to make sure they are covered by our insurance. So why is state information important? It isn’t required by the IRS for clubs to incorporate. So many of the long established clubs aren’t registered as anything with the state. These clubs are considered an association, a collection of people working together for a common good. Each state varies, some states don’t see these as legal entities and the liability falls to the members. Some states do recognize these as legal entities that can absorb the legal liability. It is important to check the requirements of your state. As clubs are now chartering many banks will not open accounts without state filing information.

Resources – How to Sessions https://membership.zonta.org/Tools/Leadership-Development-Tools Form 990 Filings Information as to which form to file and when Tax Status for US Clubs Understanding the difference between a 501c3 vs 501c4 501c3 Organizations Learn how to set up and properly manage this type of organization. There are sessions on the ZI website to help guide district and club treasurers. These are 3 “How To” sessions that you can go into and learn about those specific topics.

Resources – E Learning https://membership.zonta.org/Dashboard/e-Learning Financial Leadership Learning series to help train club treasurers More sessions to follow There are 4 e learning sessions to help club treasurers perform their duties. The e learning sessions require you to begin at the beginning and do the sessions in order. There will be more sessions to follow, some for the e learning and some for the “how to” sessions.

Support Sessions with club treasurers Break out sessions at seminars/conferences Let District and/or Zonta International know if need help Provide what you can for support with one on one sessions, skype calls, break out sessions. Give us feedback and let us know what we can do to help.

Canadian Clubs – Annual filings Information for annual filing requirements for Canadian Clubs can be found at: Handout Http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/siTe/cddgc.nsf/eng/cs05664.html Handout

Newsletter Information Please review the article from District Treasurer In the January, 2019 District 15 newsletter “The Bridge” Go to http://zonta15.org/newsletter/ Select January 2019 There are important links to resources for Club Treasurers

Headquarters Please review the March 20, 2019 email each Club Treasurer received from Zonta International with Subject: Zonta Membership Dues Renewal & New Website Features If you have not setup your My Zonta login please do so by clickingon the My Zonta tab in upper left corner of zonta.org homepage– in your personal dashboard you will find the electronic information for yourself and can make changes. Make sure you Club officer information is up to date with Headquarters. This must be reported each year Once you are reported as Club Treasurer or President you will be able to access Club data for reporting changes and renewing membership