It can be challenging for exempt organizations to keep track of all the requirements needed in order to maintain their tax exempt status. There are a vast number of topics that exempt organizations should be aware of such as annual filing requirements, unrelated business income, car donation reporting etc. Over my 9 years of experience in nonprofit tax practice, I have been posed with some of the same recurring questions from tax exempt organizations. The questions include: What are the required disclosures that should be made available to the public? Does the board need to receive a complete version of the Form 990 prior to filing? If we receive a car donation what do we need to file?
The IRS has several online tools that help address many of the questions that exempt organizations may encounter. The IRS website has tools such as publications, recorded webinars, and podcasts (to help you get through the L.A traffic) specifically for exempt organizations. There are several topics and many recordings come with easy to follow examples. The main website that exempt organizations can access is:
https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits
You can view the Educational Resources and Guidance section
Virtual training has two options; one for recorded events and another for mini courses to stay exempt.
The “Stay Exempt” webpage has the following topics:
- Starting Out
- Existing Organizations
- In-Depth Topics
Each topic has several webinars.
Learn about reporting compensation correctly; compensation practices (individuals and entities compensated and the amounts paid); fulfilling the requirement of Internal Revenue Code section 6033 (which requires that every organization exempt from taxation under section 501(a) file an annual return).
Charities and donors can learn the rules for reporting, recordkeeping and calculating the deduction for car donations.
There are numerous useful topics on the IRS website and the IRS search function is also very helpful. I would encourage exempt organizations to explore the website and do a quick search on any topic of interest.
