I was in a very similar boat as you, last February (though the US Treas wasn't sniffing around). The bank officer who helped transfer signature authority from the old treasurer to me said I was signing that the EIN was correct. So, I called the IRS, who had no record that the EIN had ever been issued; however, we did have another EIN that had been assigned -- but nothing had ever been filed, and that EIN had not made it to the bank.

As JHB said, the start-up toolkit is pretty good for helping fill out Form 1023. (I had a couple different responses than what the guide suggested.)

Your situation is not uncommon (and don't be surprised if your sales tax exemption from NY turns out not to be valid either).

The basic rule of thumb is that if your organization has more than $5000 per year coming in (not profit, not after expenses, but money coming in from any source) then the IRS expects you to formalize by filing for 501(c)(3) status. That takes care of you at the federal level.

That application form is not trivial. It costs $750 and fair amount of work. But many of us have slogged through it. It just takes persistence. You can also use the advanced search in these discussion forums (try key word: 501) and find lots of good info.

Also - look into joining PTO Today Plus - the paid membership part of this site. As a member you'll have access to a lot of resources, including a kit to help you file.

PTO Today has been a very generous host in providing these Forums and the file exchange and other parts of the website for free. We all try to help each other and most of the discussions here are among us mere mortals - not PTO Today Staffers (although they jump in from time to time). So there are both the resources for sale and free options that can help you along.

Definitely check in with us before you decide to pay an accountant or lawyer megabucks to do this for you. Professional advice is always great (especially if you can get it donated). However, we've had folks post in the past how they were considering paying someone $1000, $1500, $2500 (which may not include the IRS fee). In my opinion, unless you have an unusual situation or lots of extra cash - it's just not worth it to spend that kind of money when you can get help here from us.

And as tedious as the application process is, it's actually also a learning opportunity. It helps you understand about IRS expectations later.

I am looking for help/Guidance. Our PTO was established many years ago and I just found out that the EIN number we had associated with our bank acount was not valid. The US Treasury was inquiring due to a large cash deposit that was made earlier in the from a fundraiser. Upon working with the IRS, it was determined that we did not have an EIN number. As a result, I worked with the IRS to establish a new EIN Number for our PTO.

I am now wondering if anything we thought was in place is realy valid. We have a tax exempt cert for the state of NY, but nothing else. The IRS was helpful in explaining what form to fill out to get ourselves established as a tax exempt orgnaizaiton, however the application is lengthy and confusing. I want to make sure we are a recognized tax exempt organziation with both the federal and state governments so that our funds are not taken or held from the students. I am overwelmed with the application process and was wondering if there were any resourse available that we could use to help with this process? I only have looked at the Federal process and have not begun to look at the state process...