Warning for small non-profits.

[Darren]

If you are associated with a small non-profit or know someone that is, in your local community, this may be of interest. From the NY Times:

"The federal legislation passed in 2006 required all nonprofits to file tax forms the following year. Previously, only organizations with revenues of $25,000 or more — or the vast majority of nonprofit groups — had to file.

The new law, embedded in the 393 pages of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, also directed the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the tax exemptions of groups that failed to file for three consecutive years. Three years have passed, and thus the deadline looms."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/us/23exempt.html

You can sign up at http://www.guidestar.com for a free account that allows you to check the IRS 990 forms filed by non-profits. They have until May 15th to file any missing forms. If they don't they automatically lose their non-profit status.

[TheMartianChick]

Thanks for posting this. I work for a non-profit, but I know that our filings are up-to-date. This will have quite an impact on those charities that did not file as they will be unable to receive funding from government agencies and will not be able to issue receipts to individual who donate looking for the tax break. It also could curtail some helpful programming for people who may really need services in the current economy.

[Belfrybat]

Thanks for the heads-up.

I am part of a small non-profit which has less than $25,000. income a year. We do not have an file an actual tax form, but since the new legislation three years ago, file what is called a "postcard" on-line. Only three questions, are you still in business? Is your income normally below $25,000. and are there any updates on address/ contact info? Easy peasy to file. And all small non-profits received advance notice of this new law beginning three years ago. So it is very easy to be in compliance.