I'm so confused.We started out as just agroup of parents who did stuff for the school. Now we are looking back and saw we raised a huge amount of money and now see we have to do something. We have no officers( elections are next month), we just adopted bylaws but other than that we have done NOTHING. We are not incorporated or anything. I guess I really have my work cut out for me but im not sure what exactly we should do. The IRS told me the 1023 but then I ran into problems with that. they told me we could file an income tax and pay taxes on the money we raised or file the exemption. We have 15 months from our federal id number was issued which was Feb 27,2002. Can anyone tell me what exactly should be done, is there some process? This is driving me nuts and Im close to quiting my position which has been everything until now. Even once we have elections I have been told that no one wants to take an office ...so!! I love the whole involvement thing and just want to make everything the way it should be !
I'll try to answer your questions, but first let me copy in the IRS language:
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Required Inclusions (excerpt)
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Organizing documents.
Each application for exemption must be accompanied by a conformed copy of your organization's Articles of Incorporation (and the Certificate of Incorporation, if available), Articles of Association, Trust Indenture, Constitution, or other enabling document. If the organization does not have an organizing document, it will not qualify for exempt status.
Bylaws.
Bylaws alone are not organizing documents. However, if your organization has adopted bylaws, include a current copy. The bylaws need not be signed if submitted as an attachment.
If your organization's name has been officially changed by an amendment to your organizing instruments, you should also attach a conformed copy of that amendment to your application.
Conformed copy.
A conformed copy is a copy that agrees with the original and all amendments to it. If the original document required a signature, the copy should either be signed by a principal officer or, if not signed, be accompanied by a written declaration signed by an authorized officer of the organization. With either option, the officer must certify that the document is a complete and accurate copy of the original. A certificate of incorporation should be approved and dated by an appropriate state official.
Every attachment should show your organization's name, address, and EIN. It should also state that it is an attachment to your application form and identify the part and line item number to which it applies.
I'd be interested in a reply to this too. We have already mailed our tax exempt form and haven't yet heard back from the IRS. For part 1 line 10 we just mailed a copy of our approved articles of incorporation and a copy of our bylaws which was voted into effect last November and signed by all of the officers. I truly hope I'm not going to hear back from the IRS saying they have to have a copy of a constitution (which we have never had).
Help ! Im in the middle of filing out the Irs paperwork to become exempt. I thought I had everything but now read that bylaws are not enough to get tax exempt. PART one line 10. When we did our bylaws we kept them really simple so now Im confused what needs to go in the Consitution. I was wondering if anyone knew of samples of Consitutions that I can get an idea of what i'm looking for ! Thanks ...i think this forum is great ! we are only one year old and I have learned so much off of this ! im just really confused !
