Some data actually gets reported on more than one line of the Form 990EZ / Schedule A. Coding your account numbers (which our system calls "categories") might get you part way, but I think you might still have some manual manipulation. I've done the 990EZ the first time for two different PTO's - it's GOTTA be easier to do it in subsequent years if you keep good notes and document the cross reference from your accounting system to the fields on the form. If it passes the IRS's review once, hopefully the same logic will pass in future years.

I just found the old excel I used - I extracted the quicken transactions and then assigned the 990EZ line number, sorted, and totaled. A little cumbersome without help from the accounting system, but it passed muster, I guess. I'll email you that file (as an FYI) and a copy of our monthly treasurer's report.

Thanks, Critter. Your advice is very helpful and consistent with what I've heard from others. One tip I picked up somewhere was to set up the first two digits of the account code to match the line item on Form 990-EZ. That way you can sort the data at year-end for, theoretically, easy input. I've seen in your other posts that you were offering examples of monthly reports. If that offer is still open, could you send them to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.? Thanks again.

I've never used Quickbooks, but I've at least looked at MSMoney and I've filled out the 990-EZ a couple of times (with Quicken as our accounting system). I doubt there's little advantage one over the other with respect to 990EZ. Basically, it comes down to how you identify and isolate certain types of income and expenses that the IRS requires you to report. And any basic accounting system will let you set up your own custom categories to meet your needs.

For example (and don't quote me on this specific example - this stuff doesn't stay in my brain for long!), the form requires you to report dues separately from other income. So, it would be easier for you to make a category specifically for dues in your accounting system so you can pull out the number later.

One issue I remember bumping into was needing to isolate our expenses to the fundraising companies. You have to report Gross and Direct Expenses on the form. In our PTO, for ease of monthly reporting, we post both debits and credits to the same fundraising category so we always show a net figure in our regular reports. That's very useful day to day, but I had to manually pull out the debits when I prepared the 990EZ. Not a big deal - I'd rather do that once a year than give up visibility of real-time net profit.
You also need to pull together all your program service expenses (ex: staff appreciation, assemblies, classroom supplies, enrichment programs, etc.) into one lump on the form. So if you have access to a custom field for each category, you could potentially label each category with the IRS line(s) that it applies to. Then, ideally, you could extract the category totals at year end and sort then by form line #. Again, it's not a huge big deal to do it manually, but this trick might save a little work, especially in subsequent years.

OK, I'll stop...information overload!This is dull reading even to me!

You're smart to be thinking about this before you set up your system. If you haven't already, you can download a copy of the Form 990EZ and its instructions from the IRS's website. You can also find an article about how to fill out the form in the April 2004 issue of PTOToday magazine. It is also included in the Treasurer Toolkit manual you can order from this website.

Sorry for the core dump. It's a pet subject of mine. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I'm trying to find out the best way to set up our PTO on QuickBooks Pro 2005 (we don't have the non-profit version) to satisfy both our reporting needs and Form 990-EZ. Any ideas? Would Microsoft Money be any better? I have a version of that, too. Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and expertise.