Does bank account need to be less than $5,000 to be self declared tax exempt?

We are a small group (43 families) starting a non-profit. We have used several of your free and purchased resources. Thank you for your work in this space.

Question…does the opening balance of the bank account need to be less than $5,000 to remain self declared?

We will be receiving about $5,000 from a now defunct homeschool group to help us start off.

Our annual income won’t exceeded $5,000, so we plan to self-declare our 501c3 tax exempt status. Will the account balance of over $5,000 be considered income of over $5,000?

Thank you in advance for any information you may provide.

Thank you for contacting me.  I’m glad my resources have been helpful.

You asked, “..does the opening balance of the bank account need to be less than $5,000 to remain self declared?
No. The IRS only looks at the annual gross revenues, not bank balances.

If the original group wants to gift the new organization $5,000, that would be income (a donation) in the year it is received.  So that large donation could mean the new group has over $5,000 in gross revenues in that year.

But the IRS guidance* for self declaring 501c3 tax exempt status says:
normally not more than $5,000.”

A one time large gift would not be “normal,” so the organization could still self-declare 501c3 tax exempt status if your normal gross revenues are under $5,000/year.

I hope that helps!

* Source: Instructions for Form 1023 page 1 “Form 1023 not necessary.”


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