All,

I was wondering how you went about setting up a bank account for your class reunion so that you could sell tickets and accept donations online? I read elsewhere online that a Tax ID should be received, while other places say that simply having 2 or 3 members of the committee open the account together will suffice. My main concern is what the bank account means come tax time...

I'd love to hear your thoughts, or what you did for setting up your account.

Thanks in advance!
Vicki

We are all a limted non-profit. There really is no point to set-up tax enity because there is not going to be a tax event. Any surplus can either be distrubted at the reunion event or could be a carry-foward to the next reunion. Either way this money is chump change.

So how does that affect me at tax time? If there happens to be a large amount of money sitting in the account from donations, that hasn't been spent yet, won't that look like I have money coming in from somewhere else to the IRS? Or will simply putting the account in the class' name (like Kubasaki High School Class of 2001), take care of that?

I just don't want to be faced with any expenses that could really cost me if I handle this wrong!

Thanks,
Vicki

When we went to our bank the local manager told us we need a tax ID number to set up an account. We called the IRS for information and were given a email address to go to for information...

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=96696,00.html

Then we filled out the information, and printed out the form to take back to the bank.

We set up an account that needed 2 signatures to cash a check or get a withdrawal. We needed to put in $100.00 to set up the account, and we purchased 1 book of 50 checks.

Then we went online to PayPal and set up the PayPal account using that bank account.

Very easy to do.

Terry

Hi Vicki,
I completely understand your dilema. I also had to weigh the pros and cons when it came to what I was going to do about the bank statement come tax time.

One of my options was to create a Non-Profit organization. But that involved creating a business entity and filing it with the Department of Consumer Affairs. I also needed to get a Tax ID and then file my papers differently with the bank. That takes a lot of time because I also own a business, but it's an LLC and I had to do that in order to get my business to be legit with the government and the bank. So it's a headache.

My other option was just to place the account under my name entirely and I would have to pay taxes on the interest that is received. I don't pay taxes on the money that's in the bank, but on the interest.
I opted for a non-interest bearing checking account.

So that's what I did. I just opened up an account with just my name but I had is Sub-named Class Reunion Account so when I turn it into my tax guy he'll know if I need to claim it or not.

I'm not an expert when it comes to taxes, but this was the best option for me for less headache.

I hope this helps,
Tash

We just decided to set up a C-corp, pay the state GET and federal taxes and call it cost of doing business. It probably could have been organized differently, be it an LLC or otherwise, but this way, it's an organization that can be "handed" down to others with a minimum of fuss.