Will getting an EIN put us on the IRS radar?

Usually the first contact a homeschool organization has with the IRS is getting an Employer Identification Number (EIN). Most banks now request an EIN when a group opens a checking account. One group in Virginia is doing things right by getting a checking account for their homeschool co-op instead of using a personal account, but they wonder if this will mean more contact with the IRS.

Hi Carol,

I am new to an existing homeschool co-op in VA. Tomorrow morning we are meeting to discuss our options as it relates to becoming a more formal organization. I want to be able to advise them as to their options on this.

This co-op is more then 12-15 years old, we do not accept donations or need to, so far we have been handling the money through someone’s personal bank account, we receive fees from students and then pay teachers and reimburse them for materials, generally we break even each year (or can if we need to), there are regular Board meetings, I do not know if they have bylaws or take minutes but I do know they have a mission statement. The bottom line is that we want to be able to have a business checking account.

Can we get an EIN in order to open a checking account in our co-op name without incorporating and without having a state or federal annual filing requirement? I seem to remember that once you get an EIN (that I think is required for a business bank account), you are on the radar screen with the IRS and will need to file some sort of return.

Thanks so much

Nancy in VA

Nancy,

Yes, you can get an EIN for banking purposes, but not have any other dealings with your state or the IRS. Many homeschool groups operate for years with no contact from their state or the IRS.
You will deal with the IRS if you become a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization or pay workers.

BTW, I will caution you that if you are paying teachers, then you do have some reporting to the IRS and your state government. You will have to pay payroll tax (Social Security and Medicare) and file a W-2 if they are employees or file a 1099MISC if they are independent contractors. You should read this blog entry: Paying co-op teachers is a sticky issue

Best of success to you!

Carol Topp, CPA

Audits: should your group be doing them?

Hi Carol,

I am looking on your HomeschoolCPA web site for a list of services that you provide.  Our homeschool group is wondering if you offered a service for auditing our books each year to make sure everything is in order?

Debi K

Debi,
Here’s the link to my services: http://homeschoolcpa.com/services/

I can offer to look over your record keeping system and offer recommendations, but I cannot (and will not) do a full audit.

The word audit has  a specific meaning in accounting and it involves an in-depth look at your entire accounting operation. It is very time consuming and expensive ($3,000 and up). I don’t do audits because they require  a staff of people to perform and require a review of my accounting practice by other CPAs, which would cost me at least $1,000.

Instead,  I can offer my consulting services and discuss your records and system of handling your money and make recommendations. That would help your organization quite a bit, but not be a full audit. I’ve done that type of work for homeschool groups before.

Carol Topp, CPA

More nonprofits can file the easy Form 990N

Many homeschool organizations that have tax exempt status are small enough they do not have to file any tax forms with the IRS. And now new IRS guidelines mean even more groups are free from IRS filing requirements!

Small exempt organizations can file the simple Form 990-N, the electronic postcard, instead of the longer Form 990-EZ or  Form 990.

The e-Postcard is an electronic notice filed at http://epostcard.form990.org.

Need help determining your gross receipts? Send me an email and we can arrange a private consultation over the phone. Email me here.

If your tax exempt homeschool organization needs help filing their Form 990EZ or Form 990, I can help. Read more here.

Would your homeschool group benefit from being tax exempt? Find out by reading my articles on the pros and cons of tax exempt status.

What business structure and tax forms are needed for a new homeschool co-op?

Hi,

I am a 15 year homeschooling veteran who started a co-op last fall.  I am now being asked by my church for ‘official’ documents to include:  business status, liability insurance, tax information.  I have a checking account for our co-op.

We offer 30 classes, one day a week, for 5 hours.  Six of the 30 classes are paid classes.  The student gives the co-op ~$2.00 each class.  I write a check to the teacher for $20.00 each time they teach.  The teacher always makes $20.00.  The student pays a varying rate dependant upon how many students are in the class.

What business status do I need?

What tax forms am I required to file?

What type of liability insurance do I need if the parents are always on site and never drop off students?

Thank you greatly for the information.

Sincerely,

Lauren T

Can a small group be an IRS qualified charity?

In the past week, I have received two emails from homeschool leaders in MD and CA with  a surprisingly similar situations.

In both groups, a small number of homeschooling families were  joining together to hire a single teacher to teach their children once or twice a week. Both groups were very small, only seven families total, but they were paying each instructor quite a bit of money-$11,000 annually in one case and $17,000 in the other. This meant that they exceeded the IRS threshold of $5,000 annual gross revenue and needed to consider filing for 501c3 tax exempt status.

They had several concerns such as a contract with the teacher, how should the teacher be paid and could the group qualify for 501c3 tax exempt status as an educational organization?

Here were some of their questions:

I found your website and found it to be most interesting and helpful to homeschool co-ops.  I would like to schedule a personal consultation with you.  I am part of a homeschool group that informally hired a teacher to teach certain classes in past years, but this coming year the teacher wants a contract.
Rosemary in MD

I saw your website and had some general questions for you.  Appreciate your ministry to homeschoolers. We are trying to decide whether our group should be a sole proprietorship owned by person or try to establish a nonprofit. What would be the pros and cons of each? What if we can’t afford to file for tax exemption at this time?  What are our choices if our gross receipts are around $11K/year?
Teri in CA

There are several options for homeschool organizations who are trying to decide how to structure themselves. I advised the leader from CA to read this article:

When to become a 501c3?

I offered a private phone consultation and discussed the concerns and options with the leader from MD. I explained that I doubted the IRS would grant 501c3 “qualified charity” status to a group with only seven families. An IRS qualified charity is supposed to serve a public good, not the needs of only seven families.

Instead of pursuing 501c3 tax exempt status, we discussed that the hired teacher is really running a for-profit business (a sole proprietorship) with seven families as her customers. I shared with her several sample contractor agreements the teacher could use in her business.

There is a sample contractor agreement available in my ebooks Money Management in a Homeschool Organization and Paying Workers in a Homeschool Organization.

Thank you again for the consultation.  It answered a lot of questions for me, and I appreciate your support. Thank you also for the contractor agreements – I have been reading through them.
Rosemary in MD

If you have a unique homeschooling situation and would like to schedule a private consultation with me, please send me an email at Carol@HomeschoolCPA.com. Tell me a little about your group and we can arrange a mutually convenient time to talk.

Carol Topp, CPA

Audits for small nonprofits are rarely needed

Dear Carol:

Our organization was organized last year. It is a non-profit group that was designed to offer homeschool sports to our local homeschool athletes.

In January we received our 501c3 status as a non-profit group. It is time for our annual audit, but I am not sure which way to go now and who to get to do the audit.

I used an excel spreadsheet to do our check register.

Any help or suggestions that you could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Nikki D

Nikki,

Congratulations on obtaining your 501c3 status.  that’s a huge accomplishment!

I’d be happy to help you in any way that I can. You mentioned your “annual audit.”  Does your organization really need an annual audit?  An audit has  a specific meaning in accounting and it involves an in-depth look at your entire accounting operation. It is very time consuming and expensive ($3,000 and up). Since you said that you keep your records on an Excel spreadsheet, I assume that the record keeping is pretty simple. So, that makes me wonder if you mean an “audit” or something else, like just filing your annual information return with the IRS.

Carol Topp, CPA

Follow up: Nikki sent me the bylaws for her organization and I made some recommended changes, gave her some financial practices to follow and suggested she consider doing an internal audit.

Some small nonprofits and churches do an internal audit annually or every other year. An internal audit goes beyond the financial practices I recommended, but it is not as extensive as a full audit. Internal audits are performed by people within the organization. They check accounting records for compliance with the financial practices.

The following website explains internal audits for small churches and nonprofits:
http://www.freechurchaccounting.com/churchaudit.html

It also contains a checklist for conducting an internal audit:
http://www.freechurchaccounting.com/support-files/internalauditchecklistguidelines.pdf

Homeschool Leader, Do You Need Help?

Paying Workers in a Homeschool Group ebook

I’m happy to announce a new ebook to help homeschool leaders

Paying Workers in a Homeschool Organization

• Are you paying  workers in your homeschool organization?
• Can a volunteer be paid?
• Should a worker be treated as an employee or independent contractor?
• Do you know the difference?

This 20 page ebook covers paying workers as employees or independent contractors.  It includes sample forms, tips and advice to help you pay workers in accordance with the IRS laws to help your organization pay their workers correctly. Written specifically for homeschool organizations.

Read a sample here

Price: $7.00 Available for immediate download as a pdf file

Click Here to Purchase

After you fill in the order page, you will receive an e-mail with instructions and a link to download your ebook.

I really hope you find this ebook helpful.

Carol Topp, CPA

New EIN for New Officers?

Does your group need a new Employer Identification Number (EIN) when there are new officers?

Hi Carol,

Thanks to your wonderful services in the past we have gone from a ministry under a church to an informal non profit support group within the community. Thanks so much for what you do for homeschool groups!

I was just reading through the list of FAQ’s and have one that has a little twist to what is already there about EIN’s so I thought I would run it past you.

As the current director (board leader), I had been the person to apply for the EIN for our group. I am nearing my finish on the board and we will have new board leaders. Do we have to have a new EIN issued? I know this current one was opened with my name as the responsible party, so I don’t know if that would “tie” me to the non profit for any thing down the road if I am no longer on the board?

Thanks so much for your help and/or direction.

Blessings,

Shawna B, CA

Shawna,
Thank you for your kind words. It was my pleasure.

You do not have to apply for a new EIN just because of a switch in officers. Nonprofits change leadership frequently.

If you are a 501c3 tax exempt organization with more than $50,000 in gross revenue annually, you should be filing the annual Form 990 with the IRS. On the Form 990, you list the new officers’ names.

If your organization makes less than $50,000 per year then you should be filing the 990N, an electronic postcard, with the IRS. The 990N requests only the name of the “principle officer” not the entire board.

For more information on the 990N, visit the IRS website at:

http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=169250,00.html

Carol Topp, CPA