Thanks very much for all the advise. I really appreciate it. Now here's the twist. After talking to the IRS, we found out that our Bylaws were never submitted with our filing, and were informed that we better get them in ASAP. We were also told that unless they are received, and soon, we could be looking at per day fines and a possible revocation of our filing status. The IRS explained that it could mean an audit and we could be liable for the applicable state taxes on all the servies we used the tax exempt status for. This all began when people started asking for our bylaws at meetings and were constantly put off. Finally, after about 5 months of asking, we were told we voted on them at a meeting that noone remembers, no voting or bylaws were reflected in our minutes, and noone had a copy but the president.She said we voted on them right before she filed so she could send them in. The copy the president handed out that we supposedly voted on was the carbon copy of another schools and had very little to do with our own school.We never saw those before and definately would not have voted on them if we did. At that point a bylaws committee was formed to rewrite bylaws for our own school. We are in the process of finishing those up now. Nothing we are being told is sitting right with the rest of us. What should we do?
I agree with Critter. If your Articles of Organization (which may include the By-Laws of your organization) are amended, then the IRS (and probably the state authority) need to get a copy, but they are only going look to make sure the minumum requirements for an A-of-O are still in good shape. These include the organizations purpose, the financials, the non-political organization statement, and the what-if-we-disband statement. Other than that, the IRS isn't going to care what your by-laws state.
You may have to go back to the original forms submitted to the IRS to determine if the by-laws are part of your Articles or Organization or not. Our PTO created a Charter, which serves as our A-of-O, but our by-laws are not included.
Sounds to me like the IRS rep gave you the best advice -- write bylaws that work for your group.
If your committee chair is invoking the IRS, maybe she had a bad experience or someone else gave her bad advice, or she's just assuming the IRS would be overseeing these details. She's probably just uninformed. You're handling it the best way - go to the IRS directly and get the straight scoop. If she is still unconvinced, give her the IRS phone# and have her call them herself. You can also order materials ("publications") from the IRS that address issues such as deductibility of donations, or even the application for 501c3 which specifies the info you need to send to the IRS. Maybe seeing it in writing will help educate her.
Please help me out here. We are currently revising our Bylaws. We are in Illinois and are currently under the IRS Code 501(c)(3) and 170(c)(2). My understanding of the IRS's involvement in our "actual" Bylaws is as follows. We are required in our Bylaws to state the codes, follow them and follow the treasury rules of not keeping more than $9,999,999.99 carry over. During our revision discussions, our committee chair keeps refering to the IRS and making comments like: We are required to have 6 meetings a year or we will be in trouble with the IRS. We cannot change this bylaw (which has to do with committees) or we will be in trouble with the IRS. I called the IRS. I was told that as far as our actual bylaws go, the only thing they really care about in our Bylaws is maintaining treasury laws (for tax and audit purposes) and clearly stating in our purpose those specific IRS codes so that we are in compliance with these laws. I was then told that as far as anything else, a PTO by defination is independant and writes its own bylaws. The IRS is not involved with issues that pertain to our committees, or officers, ect. When I told her why I was calling, she said that it was ludricus. The IRS is not involved in our Bylaws. They were attached simply for filing purposes. It seems like anytime our committee chair does not like something we are voting on or revising she states that we have to watch out for the IRS.I am guessing that its almost like a scare tactic. Can anyone give me some factual and practical advise ?
