More 990 Resources

The last post listed an IRS webinar for the new 990 and I put up a to-do list a while back. You think I would be done touting new 990 resources but you would be wrong! In the spirit of making sure there are enough resources noted out there to satisfy as many people as possible I give you one more. A big hat tip to Nancy at Non-profit accounting help for pointing out this resource from avenue2possibilities. It includes samples of many of the policies the new form 990 will be asking about and a workbook and checklist to go through to help make sure you are ready. So now all you have to do is put the policies in place!

And if they ever create a New 990 Comic Book you will hear about it here first thing, promise.

New 990 To Do List

Even if your nonprofit is lucky enough to have a November 30 year end there is still plenty of stuff you need to be doing right now to get ready for this new reporting form. Thanks to Brian for this great list, it has been something I have been meaning to do for CAN as well as share with everybody. This is a work in progress, some things will be added as we go through this stuff but here is where it is so far:

THE NEW 990:
WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO RIGHT NOW?

Required Policies

• Conflict of interest policy
• Whistle blower policy
• Document retention and destruction policy
• Joint venture policy
• Expense reimbursement policy
• Non-standard gift acceptance policy
• Written debt collection policy (hospitals)

Practices & Procedures

• Need to prepare a written document which sets forth the procedures by which the Board of Directors will review the Form 990 before it is filed
• Document compensation reasonableness processes
• Professional fundraisers agreement
• Documentation regarding eligibility to receive grants

To Do List

• Estimate the total number of volunteers utilized during the year
• Identify any new program service activities conducted during the year
• Identify revenue and expenses for three largest program service activities
• Ensure that filing all 1099s when required to do (non-employee services in excess of $600)
• Prepare documentation to support classification of independent contractors
• Ensure that organization is preparing Form W-2G when required
• Make sure register with California Attorney General if conducting raffles and make sure undertake backup withholding if necessary
• Identify non-cash contributions in excess of $5,000 for which public charity disposed of within 3 years after receiving
• Document meetings of Board of Directors committees with authority to act
• Write-up re how satisfy public disclosure requirements
• Identify all key employees under the expanded definition
• Break out the revenue and expenses from gaming activities from the general fundraising activities
• Update Chart of Accounts (and audited financial statements) to include the expense categories listed on Part IX of the redesigned Form 990

Even if the phrase, "new 990" wants to make you stick your finger in your ears and say, "lalalalalalalalalalala" you can still go through this list and make sure your organization is more prepped than it is right now for the big event.

And please let me know if you think anything is missing from the list!

Updated Form 990 Instructions

This IRS has announced the release of the updated and presumably final instructions for the redesigned form 990. The link takes you to a page to download the instructions to the various sections in PDF. The IRS has not yet compiled them all into the usual three column format, I think that they are easier to read at the moment. From the press release:

“We were gratified by the amount of help the IRS received from the tax-exempt community through public comments to redesign the Form 990 and revise its instructions,” said Steven T. Miller, Commissioner of the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division. “This input helped us achieve our goal of improving compliance while minimizing burden. We will now begin working with the tax-exempt sector to help organizations complete the form and prepare for the 2009 filing season."

The IRS expects to release instructions to the 2008 Form 990-EZ, Short Form Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, in the next few weeks.

Happy reading! I'm going to start through these this week.

IRS Round Up

News from the Internal Revenue Service's Exempt Organizations Division:

1. 2008 Form 990 Instructions
   Public commenting on the new form's draft instructions closed in June and the IRS is getting ready to release the final version by August 15. You can click here to get a preview of what changes have been made the instructions.


2. Political Activity
   A friendly reminder from the IRS about what is allowed and not allowed during this exciting political season. The top two links are probably the most useful, including the link to the handy StayExempt.org website.
   
   
3. Form 990 Filing Phase-In
   Another reminder about the phase-in of filing the new form 990. The IRS came up with this as a way to mitigate the filing burden on smaller nonprofits. Click here to see what the schedule is. It is conceivable that organizations that filed a form 990 for 2007 may only have to file the (unchanged) form 990-EZ for 2008.
   

And now your reward for reading about the IRS updates. Kitties!

Comments On The 990 Instuctions

Independent Sector released their comments to the redesigned form 990 instructions. The instructions were released on April 7th and the comment period closed June 2nd. Click here for a PDF of what the IS had to say.

New IRS Publications and Resources

Please note: all links in this post download PDF documents.

Publication 4630, The Exempt Organizations Products and Services Navigator lists all the resources available from the IRS to nonprofits. This is a nice, consolidated reference for everything they have for us.

Two other updated pieces are publications 4221pc (for charities) and 4221pf (for private foundations) provide an overview of activities that could jeopardize exempt status as well as information on record keeping, reporting and disclosure compliance requirements.

Both publications seem easy to follow and are further example of how (I think at least) the IRS is trying to make compliance info easier to access and grasp. As nonprofits we have A LOT to keep track of and rules to follow, so I appreciate the efforts the IRS is making to help.

Protecting Your Good Name

This link goes to an article from the Nonprofit Times' enewsletter article about domain names (www.yourcharity.org/com/net) and what happens when they expire. It illustrates the importance of making sure they DON'T expire so some other group doesn't grab the registration and take advantage of your nonprofit's good name.

How does this relate to accounting? Well, two ways, one is that in a smaller organization one person may be doing all the admin stuff, finance, HR and IT so this is important info to them. But another way it affects accounting directly is reminding us to keep track of bills that do not come monthly or even annually. Domain name registration invoices, like other bills you may have, are cheaper if you buy multiple years at a time. "Great," you think, "I'll save us some money and register us for three years." But in three years when the renewal emails come, and they are almost always emails and not paper bills, will they get paid? Do you have somewhere where you track annual or irregular payments, maybe a vendor list that is easily accessible? Some thing to think about.

Operations Manual

Heather has posted a nice piece about creating a manual.

CAN's financial policies manual is available for those who want to email me.

Alan

Intermediate Sanctions

A PDF that talks about them and what constitutes excess benefits and compensation.