NYS PTA TREASURER’S TIMES
New
York State Sales Tax
Once again the issue of collecting and
remitting NYS Sales tax has been brought to our attention. I
will try to clarify the circumstances under which sales tax must
be remitted.
Basically, if the PTA buys a product and
sells it, there is no sales tax issue. This can also apply to
catalog or item orders. If the PTA takes orders for products,
then sends an order to the company, the PTA is buying the item.
The PTA does not need to collect sales tax. This applies even
if the company packages the order by student, by class, or by
grade. That is merely a service provided to the customer, the
PTA.
However, if the PTA acts as an agent for
the company, as in the example of book fairs, and never owns the
merchandise, sales tax must be remitted. The PTA may choose one
of the following options: to collect the tax on each sale; to
adjust the cost of the item to include the tax; or to calculate
the tax on the gross sales and take the tax expense out of their
profit. The PTA should write a separate check to the vendor for
the sales tax. The agreement between the PTA and the vendor
should clearly show that it is the vendor who will be
responsible for paying the tax to New York State.
If the PTA owns the items, but they are
sold on a regular basis, sales tax must be collected and
remitted to New York State. For example, a PTA school store
that is operated on a regular basis (eg. Every Tuesday, the
first Wednesday of the month, etc.), the PTA would be required
to collect and remit sales tax to New York State.
A PTA lost thousands of dollars when they
contracted with a professional fund-raising company to help them
raise money. Pledges had not been paid, and the company had a
minimum fee that the PTA had to pay. So, the PTA actually lost
money. PTA units should be diligent when deciding on fundraising
activities and read the fine print in all contracts. Remember
only the PTA President has the authority to sign a contract.
PTA and Elections and
Lobbying
As an IRS 501c3 organization, the PTA cannot endorse
any candidates for any elective public office. This
includes school board elections. It is okay for a PTA unit
to endorse the proposed budget and referendums (after a
membership vote to support), but no endorsement of
candidates is permitted.
New York State law requires that organizations lobbying at
the local level, and spending over $2000 a year on this
activity, must report the activity to New York State. This
law became effective January 1, 2001. Keep track of any
money used for lobbying of local officials (including the
school board).
Questions on any issue in this newsletter should be
addressed to your Region Director or sent to jaincy@aol.com.
Content is for informational purposes.
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Treasurers Newsletter
As the school year begins, budgets should
be at the top of your priority list. It is the
responsibility of the Executive Committee (or the Budget Committee
if you have one), not just the Treasurer, to prepare a budget.
The budget should be presented to your PTA membership at the first
PTA meeting of the school year.
What goes
into preparing a budget? Start by looking at the balance in
your checking/savings accounts. Next determine what
fundraising your PTA will be doing. Based upon the results
of last year’s fundraising and any additional knowledge you have,
estimate how much money will be raised. Are the budgeted
revenues realistic? Can you expect to raise this much money?
Now comes
the fun part- how to spend the money you expect to raise. Begin by
looking at last year’s spending and programs. Do you want to
provide the same programs to parents and children? Are
there any new events you wish to sponsor, such as providing a
speaker at a PTA meeting? Does the school have any
expectations about programs the PTA will provide? Have you
gotten feedback from last year on how the programs the PTA
sponsored, were received? Did you factor this information
into the budget planning?
Do you have
a realistic budget? Does it generate enough money to cover
the costs of all the programs and expenses you expect to incur
this year?
Now that you
have a budget, what’s the next step? Present the budget to
membership at the first PTA meeting and answer any questions
membership has. Membership must vote on the
budget. Once the budget is approved by membership (look at
your by laws to determine how many members make up a quorum and
how many votes are necessary to pass the budget), you now have an adopted budget.
Provide a
copy of the adopted budget to the various Committtee Chairpeople,
so that they can monitor their spending. It is each
Chairperson’s responsibility to ensure that their spending doesn’t
exceed the budget, but the Treasurer’s responsibility to refuse to
write checks in excess of the budgeted expenditure. Should
anticipated spending exceed budget, bring this to membership’s
attention before issuing checks.
It is the
Treasurer’s responsibility to monitor revenue earned and money
spent against the adopted budget. If there is a shortfall of
revenue, it is your responsibility to bring this to the Executive
Committee’s attention. If the shortfall is significant, it
is the Committee’s responsibility to either reduce spending or
find an alternate source of revenue to cover the shortfall.
Besides
preparing and monitoring the budget, what else should you be
doing? Deposit cash and checks in the bank promptly.
Issue receipts for all monies turned over to you for deposit.
Utilize a voucher for all expenditures and make sure that there
are two signatures on all checks.
If your PTA
raised more than $25,000 during the most recent fiscal year, then
a Form 990 must be filed with the IRS within 4 ½ months.
Most PTA’s fiscal year runs from July 1 through the following June
30. If this is the case, then the Form 990 must be filed by
November 15th. Please look at the actual revenue
for the most recent fiscal year and determine whether you need to
file. There are significant fines and penalties imposed by the IRS for
not filing.
If
you need help or have any questions about the Treasurer’s duties,
please contact me at pamp913@aol.com
Pam
Perricone, Treasurer
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