Tag Archives: Tax Compliance

End of 2012

aztecHappy Holidays everybody! Two quick updates for the close of 2012 and kicking off 2013:

End of Year Donations

This comes up every year, when do you record a donation received in 2013 but dated 2012, and your fiscal year closes on December 31st? Click here for a post about that issue.

2013 IRS Mileage Rates

The IRS has updated them as follows:

Beginning on Jan. 1, 2013, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

  • 56.5 cents per mile for business miles driven.
  • 24 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes.
  • 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations.

The rate for business miles driven during 2013 increases 1 cent from the 2012 rate. The medical and moving rate is also up 1 cent per mile from the 2012 rate.

Click here for the full article.

 

Nonprofit News Roundup

It has once again been too long since this site had an update so let’s start off with some interesting things that have come across my desk of late. But I first want to take a moment to say goodbye to a colleague and mentor who passed away last month, Flo Green. I started working for her at the California Association of Nonprofits at the end of 1999. In 2005 she worked with me to develop CAN’s first day long nonprofit accounting training workshop. Since then I’ve presented variation of that workshop to hundreds of nonprofit professionals and it is to her that I owe a great deal of thanks for setting me on the path I am on today. She will be deeply missed.

 Communicating Your Finances

This can be a tricky topic. How can nonprofit mangers communicate what is in their organization’s financials to the Board? How can a Board get the best information from staff? Is anybody sure they are asking the right questions? I consider it an integral part of my work to help explain the financial picture that the reports I put together tell, and to teach clients and others how to read their financials.

There are other resources out there like this article from Guidestar about 3 questions Board members should be asking themselves. This article from the great Nonprofit Assistance Fund talks about red flags board members may miss and how to prevent that.

Not directly related to finances but still good for board to think about, questions related to ongoing mission and relevancy for your nonprofit.

Sharing Resources

I’ve written about IdeaEncore before and I wanted to share two recent collections of resources; Financial Reporting and Documentation and some 990 preparation and understanding resources. Both have some nice resources that could save a lot of work over recreating the same thing at your organization.

Want to know where your taxes go and, perhaps more importantly, how much your tax bill this year will be? Check out the AICPA’s Total Tax Insights website. It includes a helpful calculator:

The Total Tax Insights calculator is the first comprehensive tax calculator that estimates your tax obligation based on place of residence and breadth of taxes paid. It’s customized for each state and for the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and includes more than 20 taxes, such as federal, state, local, Social Security and Medicare, sales, property and gasoline.

Elections

What can nonprofits do during election time? The Alliance for Justice is my go to resource for those questions. Check out their Advocacy Digest for election time resources. There is still a lot of misinformation out there about how nonprofits can or cannot lobby, AFJ has all the information you’ll need to do any type of advocacy activities.

Other News

Another Washington State Management Support Organization is shutting its doors. The Nonprofit Center in Tacoma closed last Fall and now the Alliance FOR Nonprofits is winding down. Washington Nonprofits and 501Commons will continue to provide support for the areas both organizations served.

Thanks so much.

Nonprofit News

The Alliance of Nonprofit’s Annual Conference is coming up on May 11th up in Bellevue. I’ll be there, and here is a link to more information if you’d like to see what they are offering. It is the biggest conference of the year for nonprofits in Washington and they usually pull in so good keynote speakers.

Time to File

First Quarter Filings – Are due by April 30 for assorted state agency and the federal government. Be sure you know what to file and when to file it so you don’t incur late fees or penalties.

990 Due – May 15 2012 is the first deadline for folks whose fiscal year ended December 31 2012. You’ll have to have your form filled out, signed and postmarked by that day or get a 3 month extension filed if you need more time. Don’t know when your form is due? Click here for some help.

How is Your Organization Doing?

Executive Compensation – Does your board review how it compensates the Executive Director? They should be, and it is a question on the full form 990. Here are some guidelines that can help you create a policy about compensation practices.

Check up – The Executive Service Corps of Los Angeles posted a nice Nonprofit Check-Up article, Preventive Medicine for Nonprofits. It is a good run down of things to sit back and look at critically about our organizations.

Check on – The IRS is making it easier for the public to look up nonprofits. This page has the details about their new search service.

Spruced UpStayExemp.org, the IRS’s exempt organization training site, has been updated. It looks better and has a more straight foreword interface. There are good tools and resources there for both staff and volunteers, I always encourage people to check out the site.