501c3 Filings Confuse Even Established Nonprofits

“I'm reviewing the QuickBooks Online configuration for a nonprofit that already has its own 501(c)(3) determination, It does not pertain to the review but the org also maintains a relationship with a fiscal sponsor. The fiscal sponsor told the org that the relationship is supposed to improve their grant prospects, but I don't have the background to know if that's true. Rather than a "does this sound right, yes/no", I'd like to understand the why behind any recommendation”

“I'm sure you're registered as a non-profit. As such I'm sure you have your books audited at least annually. This is type of question you should take to your auditing CPA firm.”

“You didn't do your due dilgence before accepting the role...990 and audited F/S are publicly available.”

“My interview is coming up soon. 1) What specific IRS tax documents should I carry in person to the interview- account or tax transcripts or something else? 2) Do I need to carry any state income tax documents? 3) Is it advisable to upload these documents to my USICS online case's 'Unsolicited evidence' section before the interview? Thank you! submitted by /u/james_bond_1953 [link] [comments]”

“I'm on the board of an all-volunteer nonprofit. Last year our trust (a separate entity) reinstated our tax exempt status after losing it for 12 years. Our accountant (new this year--did not have one in the past) has recommended we join Techsoup and get Quickbooks through them. We currently use no software. We also operate a summer camp and employ about 30 people for a total of 3 weeks each summer. Our accountant recommends we get payroll software for that, and her total for all this is comin”

“You will need to file both NJ and MA taxes.”

“First of all, when asking about a particular state, you should mention it in the title. You wanted until the third paragraph to say it's for New York. I happen to recognize the form but many won't. Next, it's an income tax, not a time tax. If the job is paying $120,000 per year that would be $30,000 for your three months. If the job is paying $50,000, then your income will be $12,500. The New York standard deduction is $8,000 so that would be subtracted from your gross income to get”

“While gaming income can constitute UBTI, virtually all of the authority is in the context of tax exempt organizations running gaming operations, not winning money from gaming. For income (other than certain debt financed income) to constitute UBTI, there needs to be a trade or business and that trade or business must be regularly carried on. If we assume a tax exempt organization can enter a raffle (not clear, but assume for the sake of argument), I don’t see how entering a raffle could classifi”

“if the winning goes to an non-profit then it's UBIT for the non profit because it's a raffle and it's not business related income, it's taxable just like any normal tax”

“You shouldn’t have to jump through hoops for what will end up being a non taxable transaction Sorry, I don't quite understand this statement. What do you mean it will end up being a non taxable transaction? If we tell the winner we must make the payment payable to them rather than their non-profit, won't that be taxable income for them?”

“What if the winner claims that they were entering the raffle on behalf of their non-profit organization?”

“I am reasonably certain that the winner can't do that. It's income to him unless he fully disclaims the prize. He can then donate the prize to his non-profit, but he takes the deduction on his own schedule A, and likely can't actually deduct it.”

“Just say policy is to give it to you and you figure out what you want to do with the money. You shouldn’t have to jump through hoops for what will end up being a non taxable transaction”

“pretty sure they meant the management company, the sponsor-side operating entity collecting the management fee and employs the staff. distinct from the fund and the GP/carry vehicle; not a master-feeder structure. that's entirely different tax practice/work: multistate apportionments and nexus, 162 vs. 212 expense treatment, guaranteed payments & SE tax, fee waivers, owner-level K-1s and composite filings, bla bla bla. It's not really fund-level 1065s and investor allocations. Answer”

Have you decided to donate yet?

“I have been asked to be part of a new finance committee for a medium size nonprofit which has just hired a new finance director and accounting vendor. In doing my due diligence, I discovered that no one is assigned to monitory their receivables and their accruals for employee liabilities are all over the map. The employee liabilities should be easy to correct as their payroll processor should have all the data they need. Receivables have to be analyzed but I expect a write off a major percentage”

“Shopping for a reddit tax opinion, eh?! You’re going to compromise federal worker classification to “solve” the org’s/your state problem? If the BOD hired you as the executive employee director and you fulfill the paid sole officer or a paid officer role, you can’t fulfill those duties as a nonemployee. Perhaps the org can hire your replacement and engage you as a non-officer former-EE consultant to help the new person get up to speed. Maybe your NJ exempt org interest will need to transition to”

“I understand that I was reiterating the point that it’s not just him paying them directly instead of having them withheld. There’s also an additional burden.”

“IT/business admin for a Colorado charter school (501c3) here. Trying to get sales-tax-exempt status applied to a vendor account for a project we need running before the new school year, and it's turned into a much bigger headache than expected. Sent our Colorado exemption certificate to the vendor's billing team. Got back a generic "documentation doesn't meet requirements", no field, no form, nothing specific. Asked directly what's wrong and got a near-identical templat”

Thank you for donating to the animals!!!

“Hey OP, this is actually my specialty as a NFP auditor! I’m guessing your auditor is recognizing revenue based on when the grant conditions were met, rather than when the grant invoices were submitted. E.g., if you incurred expenses on a reimbursable grant in Dec 2025 but didn’t bill that grant until Feb 2026, you still earned the revenue when the expenses were incurred and would recognize it in December 2025, as that is when the grant conditions were actually met. Submitting an invoice is consi”

“I'm hoping to learn from anyone who has gone through this process, particularly nonprofit attorneys, CPAs, or founders with Florida 501(c)(3) formation experience. I'm forming a small grassroots nonprofit in Florida. We incorporated using the standard Florida Division of Corporations online filing process. After incorporation, I learned that the standard filing did not include all of the IRS organizational language typically found in 501(c)(3) Articles (such as the dissolution clause and”

“I'm hoping to learn from anyone who has gone through this process, particularly nonprofit attorneys, CPAs, or founders with Florida 501(c)(3) formation experience. I'm forming a small grassroots nonprofit in Florida. We incorporated using the standard Florida Division of Corporations online filing process. After incorporation, I learned that the standard filing did not include all of the IRS organizational language typically found in 501(c)(3) Articles (such as the dissolution clause and”

“Small non profit, second year audit. Last year this auditor lost their absolute shit at me for “asking questions”. When my supervisor found out they called them and got in a shouting match at each other. My supervisor has since retired and I’m essentially left with no supervisor. I technically have one but she is on vacation and has never worked on any non profit ever. They didn’t ask me a single question about anything. I am the bookkeeper and did all grant reports. We got our grant reports don”

“Hi Everyone, I've been grant writing for small agencies for over 25 years and we've always added the value of volunteer hours, both as expense and income. I believe this aligns with GAAP. I'm questioning this because one agency's CPA doesn't want to include volunteer hours on their tax return. They have a lot of pro bono attorney hours. This CPA isn't savvy on nonprofit taxes. Do you have any pointers I can use to persuade him to include them or should I drop it? The agen”

“If I earn $10,000, then its $475 I lose if they tax me their 4.75% rate, but if they tax me the 9% rate then I lose $900... That feels significant to me and not so small. I'm just trying to figure out how OR determines what rate in their stated 4.75-9% range they apply to your taxes, based on the fact that I will only be working there 3 months. I cant seem to find any information online about this specific scenario. Do you know of they would determine this based off my prior year federal rep”

Depends on when you pay it back.

“We're a small nonprofit and aren't looking to shell out hundreds of dollars just to file a simple tax form. Lower-cost suggestions are welcome as well. Thanks, all. submitted by /u/Ronin1926 [link] [comments]”

“I work for a nonprofit currently and audited only NFPs before I left public, I’d look up anything 990 related or tax exempt orgs. That’s likely going to be the bread and butter of your work. All the best in your new role! Edit: forgot to mention, charitable contribution deductions will also be very important. There should be CPE courses for that too”

“we r 501(c)4 in texas incorporated for 40+ years and our registered agent info with state is outdated since i joined the board four years ago. it is the home address of a board member years ago. can some malicious person make the entity secretly dissolved because of this noncompliance? submitted by /u/loafing-cat-llc [link] [comments]”

“A 1099 could qualify as well, it varies by state. Don’t know why they’re being difficult, but you could ask them (or research) whether any of their funding is from your state’s Medicaid program.”

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“A donor wants to give stock but won't use Stock Donator's transfer authorization form because she wants to specify the original purchase date of the shares (specific tax lots) so she can donate her oldest shares. The Stock Donator form does not provide a space to specify tax lots, so I gave her Stock Donator's brokerage information so she could initiate the transfer through her own brokerage. The transfer has now been stalled for weeks. Her brokerage says Stock Donator has a "re”

“I recently was termed from a national non-profit after raising concerns that violated California charitable trust laws. Has anyone gone through this process either filing a complaint or being on the receiving end? I am waiting for the 2025 990 to be filed so I am sitting on this for a few more months. A few specific questions I have: how long did it take to hear back after filing? Did you get a chance to speak with someone at the AG before they decided whether to investigate further or not? (I a”

“The reason you had to withhold Illinois taxes was because you had an Illinois office, which meant that you had to follow the laws of Illinois.”

“I submitted form 843 via USPS certified mail almost two months ago. Status on USPS is “on the way” I’ve tried calling IRS several times to find out status, they never pick up. I don’t see any record of the firm in my online IRS account. How do I know it was received??? submitted by /u/brpacker [link] [comments]”

“Any rational reason he chose 1099? He saved like 7k, it seems odd he would just do it to save money. In no way was I independent at all, I don’t see it.”

“i volunteer as a treasurer in a community group; we file 990 as a 501c4. we had been on cash basis with one checking account since the beginning. for a variety of reasons we r considering adopting credit card. 1) one of the reasons is to protect us from unscrupulous vendors. in your own experience is charges on debit cards have on the same level of protection as on cc? i have spoken to my bank about recent debit card charges regarding this protection and she reassured me that i can dispute these”

“Hello everyone!! I got my CPA last November and my CPE cycle started on 7/1. I got promoted and transferred to a new department in my non-profit corporate. It is their tax team. They focus on the different tax forms and the 990 schedules for the group. Can you recommend for me any CPE sources to help me prepare? I wanna hit the ground running. I transfer in August. Also, looking to learn more about 1120s and 1065 and retirement planning. Any suggestions? I don’t wanna pay an arm and a leg for th”

“For church files, I’d check restricted funds/classes before touching the conversion. QBO can flatten or reshape those in ways that look fine at first but make fund reporting ugly later, and recurring entries/budgets are the other spots I’d audit before and after the move.”

“IRS 501(c) organizations typically must file and make publicly accessible 990s for each fiscal year, which include a list of top-paid employees and vendors, listing them by name and salary or disbursement. I am curious if employers are under any obligation to inform the people whose names and salaries will be published in a 990, either at the time of hiring or at the time of 990 filing. If not, are there any not-for-profit industry standards or best practices for informing those who will be list”

“I was unemployed. Got hired but was temporarily 1099 until moved to a W2, which never happened. I have about 20 weeks still of unemployment benefits. I sent invoices, haven’t been paid. Left because I had a very strong suspicion they would never pay me and just wanted free service. Is there anyway to still claim unemployment or am I screwed because I am now considered a contractor and I quit? submitted by /u/4_way_stop [link] [comments]”

“Or is it one of those things where nonprofits can get away with discrimination? Looking at job postings for office/ops manager type of work and came across one for an org that does family behavioral services. They require their employees to be raising or have raised a child with mental health, emotional, or behavioral challenges. It's the first thing they say in the job description and is reiterated under minimum qualifications. That seems like the kind of question you wouldn't even be a”

“Are there any recent graduates from Yo San that have an understanding of the school's finances? Or anyone who is able to decipher what to look for in the public 990 non-profit tax returns? My initial calls with them went great and was told they're in a very good financial state because of an endowment, etc etc. I'm hoping to confirm this from someone who doesn't work there. I got accepted and will be transferring in many classes which will help offset the crazy cost you really ca”

“Realistically could I create an LLC to assist single mothers but have it Christian Faith Based if I have a Private Business or LLC fully funding it. Would the state have to remove my non profit status? Can one single business be a sole funder of my non profit. Is it possible? submitted by /u/SaltLight21 [link] [comments]”

“Hi, hoping someone can help clarify my situation. I'm receiving a $2,500 stipend from a nonprofit fellowship program. They've classified me as an independent contractor for tax purposes and will be issuing a 1099-NEC. This is a one-time payment upon completion of the program, which ends in July 2026 — however I'll be continuing capstone project work through May 2027. My questions: Do I owe self-employment tax on the $2,500? Does the $400 net SE income threshold apply here? Are my ded”

“A few weeks ago, I posted asking about how long people were waiting for 1023-EZ processing and 501(c)3 designation. The answers varied widely, unsurprisingly given the agency’s understaffing, etc. After waiting for the determination for seven months, I faxed the IRS, then faxed again two weeks later. Today, we received our determination letter. The determination was dated 4 December, 2025. We did not receive a letter, nor did we appear in TEOS. We are still not there, but we _do_ have the letter”

“How do I go about getting an ST-2 form? I can’t seem to find it on the mass.gov website . Also why do I need this form if I already have a 501c3? submitted by /u/jiujitsuatc [link] [comments]”

“At one budget level did your NPO get a full audit vs a review? Years ago, I'd heard an audit should be required for orgs with over $1mil in revenue, but times have changed and I'm not sure that's still accurate. Asking this as a board member of a new and growing NPO submitted by /u/Ok_Gazelle9211 [link] [comments]”

“Hi! I recently started an environmental-based nonprofit with my friends and family, but I need some help. We are based in Texas, and while we are doing other things as well, we mainly want to plant trees to promote environmental sustainability. However, after researching for a while, I am still unsure how to begin. I have figured out the types of saplings/young trees we need. Here are some of the questions I have: What legal things need to be completed before we can plant trees? What do I need t”

“Seems like it would work if you don't make the K-1 box 13 entry, but just enter on 8283.”

“You are simply incorrect. We go through an audit every single year by an external agency that is well known and credible and we have no issues passing. They like the tight controls we have and have told us so. You are welcome to your owner perspective but it is not correct at all.”

“My non-profit acts as an umbrella organization that helps manage our "communities", which are clubs on college campuses. We are looking to bring a new community into the fold that is an established club already. Considering the club is a Registered Student Organization at the university, what's the right way to get them to be considered under our umbrella? I'm struggling because the founders will no longer be associated with it, and the president of the club changes every 1-2 y”

“Were you determined to be a Public Charity or a Private Foundation? If you are a PF, you may still be ineligible for grants from many foundations.”

“My EIN, when applying for grants, keeps showing up as invalid. We've received determination letters about 2 months ago.”

“It’s likely that their accountant doesn’t understand or are inexperienced in nonprofit accounting. If you would like to continue supporting them, you could bring this to their attention and see what they say.”

“I work PT for a small local govt. In our rural area this type of entity really struggles with compliance for state reporting, timelines, etc. They change often and no one is usually notified. Over the last 20 years that I've gotten pretty good understanding of the requirements and where to look for updates etc. but every so often something still slips past me. To be clear my entity is much more compliant than most other entities in our area that just ignore the requirements altogether. What”