At the same time, just because the account was set up using the town's Tax ID, that should not mean that the town has access to it.

As JHB suggested, I would immediately verify who has the ability to access those funds.

Now when you wrote "they" just realized this and froze our $$, do you mean the bank? If so I wonder how that all happened. If this is the case, and the town is not even involved, I'm sure this is easily fixed.

I recommend going to the bak with your Treasurer and discussing this. You will likely need that new ID, but that should be easy enough. I would imagine that as long as the account was set up under your group's name that the $ is safe and you should be able to reestablish access once you have the new #.

PresidentJim

Critter is absolutely correct. And even worse, your account may have been created under a person's social security number.

Another note - this is also a good time to verify exactly who has signature authority on your account. The bank may need a letter on PTO letterhead or copies of meeting meetings stating the officers (i.e., result of election).

We're making some changes on the signers of a swim team account (also charitable org) and they want minutes that show previous year's Board members and reflecting current ones.

You can fix this in one day. Take the first step to becoming independent of the school district by calling the IRS and getting a new tax id number for your PTO. Before you call, go to Internal Revenue Service and look up Form SS-4. That's the instructions for applying for a new tax id number. The IRS will assign you one right over the phone, no cost. Then go to the best bank in your area (not necessarily the same one you've been using, this is a good time to look for the best services, lowest fees, and proximity) and open a new small business checking account with the new tax id number. You might need a minimum deposit to open the account, so you'll either need to get the district to release some of your money, or you can make a personal donation to the new group, or I suppose you could loan the group some money, but document it all very neatly so no one can question your motives later. Once you have a tax id number and a bank account, ask the district to cut your new PTO a check for the full amount of your balance.

I learned in a PTOToday conference years ago that if your money was held in a school bank account, the school could legally seize it, but yours if the first real life example I've heard of. I hope it all works out for you, but you bring up a very valuable lesson for other PTO's who just assume their tax id number is their own.

FOLKS: check your bank account. If you are not 100% certain that you are banking under a tax id number actually tied to your PTO, go find out for sure. If you are banking with the school's tax id number, get your own tax id number before your funds are frozen like smmorris's. (ok, there are some groups who knowingly and appropriately bank under the district's control, but that's a special situation and one that I would not describe as an independent parent group. That's more like being a committee of the school).

. We took over this PTO and it has had same checking account for years. it is under the district tax id. They just realized this yesterday and froze our $$> . The PTO weas never informed in writing that we needed to cahnge our id #. I told them we can get our own tax id# and work on tax exmpt status but that they can expect us to fix this in 1 day. anyone had this problem?
need some help on this one!!! thanks, sheila pto president