PTA and PTO Treasurer Bookkeeping: The Fund-Accounting Playbook Every Volunteer Parent Group Needs
Miss three straight Form 990 filings and the IRS revokes your PTA or PTO exemption automatically — here is the treasurer playbook that prevents it.
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Nonprofit
Nonprofit accounting, fund tracking, and compliance
Public Charity or Private Foundation? How the 509(a) Tests Decide Your Nonprofit's Tax Fate
Miss the 509(a) support tests and the IRS reclassifies you as a private foundation: 1.39% investment income tax, 10% self-dealing tax, Form 990-PF yearly.
You Volunteer Every Weekend. Here's What the IRS Actually Lets You Deduct
Volunteer hours are worth $0 on your return, but the IRS lets you deduct 14 cents a mile, supplies, and uniforms — and two 2026 changes shrink who benefits.
Cause Marketing With a Charity? The Commercial Co-Venture Rules You Must Clear Before Launch Day
A "$1 per sale" charity promise makes you a commercial co-venturer in 20+ US states. Register in 7, name the number in every ad, and avoid the IRS UBIT trap.
Your Audit Just Got a Color: What a Yellow Book (GAGAS) Audit Means for Nonprofits and Contractors
A Yellow Book (GAGAS) audit adds internal-control and compliance reporting to a financial audit — required for nonprofits spending $1M+ in federal awards.
Volunteer Firefighter and EMT Taxes: Stipends, Per-Call Pay, Property-Tax Breaks, and LOSAP Awards
Volunteer firefighters and EMTs are usually employees for federal tax purposes, so stipends and per-call pay are W-2 wages. Section 139B excludes up to $50 for each month of service ($600 a year) plus qualified state and local tax benefits; LOSAP awards accrue tax-deferred under an $8,000 cap for 2026 and are taxed as ordinary income on payout with no FICA; only accountable-plan reimbursements stay off the W-2.
Can the IRS Audit Your Church? How the Two-Notice Section 7611 Process Actually Works
Section 7611 lets the IRS examine a church only after a high-level Treasury official records a reasonable belief in writing, sends two separate notices, and agrees to finish within two years and stay away for five. This guide walks through each stage, the pre-examination conference, the five exceptions that remove the protection entirely, and the three bookkeeping failures that trigger most church inquiries in practice, namely unrelated business income, informal payroll, and campaign intervention.
Qualified Sponsorship Payments vs. Advertising: How Nonprofits Keep Sponsor Dollars Out of UBIT
A qualified sponsorship payment is tax-free under IRC Section 513(i), while advertising revenue is taxed at the 21% UBIT rate and triggers Form 990-T once unrelated business income reaches $1,000. This guide draws the acknowledgment-versus-advertising line the regulations use — qualitative language, price claims, exclusive-provider clauses, periodical placements, contingent amounts, and the 2% de minimis threshold for return benefits — and gives an eight-step screen to run before signing a sponsor contract.
When Your Nonprofit's Bingo Night Owes the IRS: UBIT, the Volunteer and Bingo Exceptions, and W-2G
The IRS treats charity gaming as an unrelated business, so raffle and bingo profits can owe UBIT on Form 990-T even when every dollar funds programs. Two exceptions usually save the event — substantially-all-volunteer labor and traditional bingo (never pull-tabs) — while raffles paying $600-plus at 300 times the wager trigger Form W-2G, with 24 percent withholding above $5,000.
Can Your Charity Lobby? The 501(h) Election That Turns a Vague Rule Into a Clear Budget
Filing IRS Form 5768 swaps the undefined "substantial part" lobbying test for a formula — 20% of the first $500,000 of exempt purpose expenditures, sliding down to a $1 million cap, with grassroots lobbying limited to 25% of that. A single-year overage costs a 25% excise tax, not your exemption.
AASB 1061 Tier 3: An Implementation Playbook for Australia’s Smaller Not-for-Profits
AASB 1061 creates a simplified Tier 3 general purpose reporting framework for eligible Australian private-sector not-for-profits, mandatory for annual periods beginning on or after 1 July 2029. Here is what changes for leases, grant revenue, financial instruments, and donated assets — and the records, registers, and policies to build before the first Tier 3 year closes.
Community Theatre Bookkeeping: Ticket Sales, Restricted Grants, Production Budgets, and Volunteer Controls
How a community theatre records ticket settlements gross of platform fees, holds advance sales as deferred revenue, tracks donor-restricted grants separately from board designations, budgets each production against a 75% attendance base case, and builds compensating internal controls for volunteer-run cash handling.