I'm not sure if I fully understand your question. Certainly, there's some variation, but I think most commonly PTO's have their fiscal year coincide with the school year. For us, our school operates mid-August thru late May.

Our fiscal year runs from June 1 - May 31. During the summer, we have the audit performed. Once it comes back, we have verified set of records for the next year's operations and new officers. Taxes (990EZ) are filed by the deadline in October based on the June 1 - May 31 year.

For us, officers are elected in late April, early May and take over their positions at the final (May) meeting. This allows a bit of an overalp with the current officers and a few weeks for transition. But, basically, their terms coincide with the school year, allowing them to plan in the summer and kick off new programs the following year.

I would think it might be difficult for everyone to have officers change earlier and be faced with implementing someone else's plans the final few weeks. You'd definitely want an audit before changing treasurers. And that takes some time with the books unavailable. To me it would be simpler to follow the natural cycle. Perhaps someone else with a different timetable can comment.

Good luck!

Joy

[ 04-02-2003: Message edited by: JHB ]</p>

Jhb ..i was wondering about that as am I about our officers. We jsut elected officers because we needed thaem for the IRS paperwork ...at the time I stated that we will end up changing the officer term. My principal thinks we should keep it this way from March to February but that seems to limit any parents with kids in sixth grade. I know we need to change it all but how im confused....Our school year goes from September to June..any suggestions

Pals,

You may want to consider changing your fiscal year to match the school year. That would make organizing your information much easier.

It doesn't matter when the organization was formed, "fiscal year" is just whatever you choose it to be (in your constitution/bylaws). You'd probably want to call the IRS to ask about reporting the partial year if you change, but otherwise it's just an amendment to your constution/bylaws.

Since you're already well underway, do check into before making the change. Unless there's some obstacle with the IRS or with your incorporation, it would make your life easier to run your fiscal year the same as the school year.

JHB

Hi..thanks for the replys. The IRS had recommended to me that since our gross sales were so high for our first year that we should file the 990. The realistic fact is that I clearly seeing our receipts increasing alot in 2003. Our fiscal year is january 1- December 31st, it's not a great way for it to be set up but that is when the group started (January 2002). To JHB thanks so much for the info you sent me..it made things clearer for me. This forum is such a GREAT asset to all of us "newcomers" I have received so much advice off of here !! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

When you say you "raised" $28,000 - does that mean the total that you took in or the final amount after taxes? Remember, you do need to count gross revenue - all incoming dollars.

We file the 990EZ each year, regardless of whether or not we hit the $25,000. None of us are accountants, so keep that in mind. But we make a good faith effort. We have good financial information from the treasurer and it takes us 2-3 hours to complete the pagerwork.

The fundamental formula is:

Starting checking account balance
+ All income, catagorized as per the 990
- All expenses, categorized as per the 990
= Ending year balance

(Checking account is our only asset)

We had to call the IRS a few times in the beginning. After awhile, you begin to understand the way the IRS means things. "Grants" are your expenditures towards school programs. "Cost of Goods Sold (CGS)" is the expense side of any sales activities (what the T-Shirts cost, the part of the catalog sale that goes to the company, etc.)

We put the summary information into an Excel Spreadsheet and divvy the items (revenue/expenses) up as per the 990, then fill out the form. Here's an example from the Excel spreadsheet of how we categorize. The # on the left is the 990EZ line number. The total for the category gets written on the appropriate line # on the 990EZ form.


REVENUE

1 Contributions

State Farm Grant
Donation - Keller Williams
Donations - Other

3 Membership Dues

6a Special Events & Activities Gross Rev

Catalog Sale
Spring Fling
Directory
Winter Breakfast
Garage Sale
Family Nights
BoxTops
Albertsons

6b Special Events and Activities Expenses

Catalog Sale
Spring Fling
Directory
Winter Breakfast
Garage Sale
Family Nights
BoxTops
Albertsons

6c Net Income from Special Events (6a-6b)

7a Gross Sales of Inventory

T-Shirts

7b Gross Sales of Inventory CGS

T-Shirts

7c Gross Inventory Sales
8 Other Revenue

9 Total Revenue

EXPENSES

10 Grants

Arts Programs
Ed Supplies
Equipment
Technology
Track & Field
Teacher Appreciation
Honorariums & Memorials
Facilities & Playground

15 Printing, Publications, Postage

Admin
Postage

16 Other Expenses

Bank fees (net)
Texas Sales Taxes
Bingo Taxes

17 Total Expenses

[ 03-30-2003: Message edited by: JHB ]

[ 03-30-2003: Message edited by: JHB ]</p>

New organizations and filing
Q: Small organizations are excepted from the filing requirement if their receipts are &#8220;normally&#8221; less than $25,000. How can a new organization know what their &#8220;normal&#8221; receipts are?

A: New organizations can receive up to $37,500 during their first year. They can average up to $30,000 during their first two years. After that they must average no more than $25,000 per year for any three-year period.

found this at 990 FAQ's (page 6 bottom)

I'm assuming that your organization is "new" to the IRS as your post stated that you had just finished filing the paperwork. I believe the general rule is you need to file when the average of 3 years gross receipts reach the $25,000 mark. So until that point you can either not file anything or file the 990ez informational return. Please do read all the IRS info as tax law changes quite often and the above is just how I understand it.