We went through the EXACT same thing as you are going through. We, too, are an HSA from NJ.
This year (last couple of months actually)we incorporated, got our own ID number and are now going forward. If you want to email me, I can hopefully get you the steps we went through. We are now starting to go forward from the date we incorporated and do not have to backtrack. My email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Put HSA/PTO boards in the subject line so I do not delete ya!
If the number belongs to the district, then your group is not operating as an independent parent group, but rather as a committee of the district. Thus, the district adminn would have control over your group, including income/expenses. That may or may not be how your group actually operates, but using the district's number makes it look that way. There is a "group" exemption, but it's more likely that your past treasurers were just "borrowing" the distict's tax exemption with no intended fraud, just ignorance.
If you want to operate as an independent parent group, with control over your bylaws, decision-making, and finances, and your group ususally GROSSES over $5,000 per year, then the IRS would like to know about your group. The first step is getting your PTO's own tax id number.
What if that number IS the tax ID number for the school district? I talked to our previous treasurer and she says that is what she was told. That she was to use that number on the sales tax exempt forms, and that we did not need to file any sort of tax form to anybody. Sounds sort of "fishy" to me. Could this be correct?
In the meantime, I'm trying to track down the treasurer before her, to see where SHE got that info.
The first thing I'd do is track down that id number on the forms. It's probably an employer id number (also called a tax id number), but it's not necessarily assigned to the HSA. Call the IRS at 1-877-829-5500 and ask them.
If the number is in fact the HSA's (and not the school's or district's), that still doesn't necessarily mean your HSA is delinquent with the IRS. I mean, it doesn't necessarily mean your HSA is a federally-registered non-profit 501c3 charity which must file Form 990 with the IRS each year. You might just have a tax id number (which is the business equivalent of a social security number) and have not ever filed for 501c3 status.
Sounds like you have some old files. Can you find any Form 990 forms? How about a forms called Form 1023?
Check that out and come back with an update and we can all help you from that point.
p.s. don't panic about back taxes...you have some research to do before you'll know if that's an issue
I have just taken over as president of our HSA. Our entire Executive Board is new. We found a bunch of info about registering as a charity in NJ, but the last time it was filed was 1999, so we decided to bring it up to date. In gathering past info, it appears that -- at least for the past 7-10 years -- our HSA has never filed a tax return of any kind. In the past five years, there were three years when we raised over $30,000, and one year was over $50,000. We have photocopied and used Tax-Exempt forms to avoid paying sales tax, and those forms have an ID# on them...so someone must have done something official at SOME point in the past! I want to bring us all up to date but I don't know where to start...I can fill in 5-10 years of financial info, but what about before that? How far do we have to go back? This HSA has existed for 30 years or so, but the records are pretty sketchy after 5 years. I am going to contact some of the other HSAs in the area to see what they do, but just looking for any advice on starting starting fresh.
