By Brandi McGrath Kong, Director of Member Services
As a Sertoma club leader, you have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that your club is meeting its financial and legal obligations. This includes the club’s federal tax responsibilities with the Internal Revenue Service, which can be overwhelming for many clubs. We have put together this blog to address just a few things you need to know.
November is an important time of year for our clubs. The 15th of the month marks the IRS filing deadline for most clubs. It is also the time that many state corporate and/or charitable registrations comes due. Sertoma encourages our club presidents to work with their treasurers and secretaries to ensure that all forms and fees are submitted as required by law.
This time of year also has many of our members and clubs wondering why they’re subject to IRS business rules in the first place. As we all know, the IRS has requirements on how charities must track money, keep records, file returns, disclose information and more. This includes Sertoma and its American clubs, regardless of whether they fall under our group 501(c)(3) status or have their own (Note: Each club is then required to obtain its own federal employer identification number (EIN) from the IRS and to incorporate in its state).
The IRS has long established that voluntary and professional nonprofit organizations are both subject to the same requirements. This includes things like:
- Maintaining a consistent and comprehensive record of club revenue and expenses (can be done electronically or on paper).
- Accounting for every dollar of charitable money in your recordkeeping system.
- Notifying all board members of legal and tax filing deadlines.
We have put together a few videos you can use to educate your board on this topic further. We also encourage you to check out the online comprehensive compliance guide from the IRS to learn even more.