Congratulations! You have
been entrusted with a very important job, the position of Treasurer.
Handling the financial aspects of the Unit and County is a great
responsibility. You should take this job seriously. By following the
instructions and guidelines in this Plan of Action, future Bulletins and
the American Legion Auxiliary Unit Handbook, your job will be made easier
and more efficient.
To operate properly, a
budget needs to be prepared and adopted. Review your Unit’s history of
expenses, receipts, donations and any item that will help with preparing
your budget. Keep in mind, that you cannot spend more than you take in,
unless you have a reserve to take it from.
You do not need to open a
separate checking account for the GENERAL fund and for the POPPY/VA&R
fund. These can be kept in one bank account, however you MUST keep
separate accounting ledgers, earmark everything and keep receipts of all
expenses.
Some monies are sent
directly to Department and some are funneled from the Unit through the
County to Department.
Units are to submit their DUES directly to
the Department Office not to the County. Send $11.80 per Senior and $4.00
per Junior dues paid.
When
placing POPPY orders, do not go through the County but instead mail the
check with the Poppy order to the Department Poppy Chairman, as per
instructions on the order form.
When paying
EMPIRE GIRLS STATE tuition, the Unit makes the check payable to the
County. The County Treasurer writes one check for the amount of the total
tuition for all the girls from that County. The Check is payable to the
Department of NY but mailed to the person designated by the Empire Girls
State Committee.
For everything else, Units
are to send their money to their County Treasurer who in turn sends a
County Check to the Department Treasurer. Counties are a clearing house.
Every Unit
is assessed $5.50 for BONDING & $5.00 for DEPARTMENT DAY FUND. This
payment is a mandatory assessment, to be paid at the beginning of the
Administration through the County Treasurer to the Department Treasurer.
It does not require a Unit vote.
Another
assessment is COUPONS which is used to help with offsetting the expenses
of the Department Office. The equation to figure your Unit’s assessment
can be found in the Coupon bulletin. This money is also funneled through
the County to Department Treasurer.
Unit
donations are sent through the County, they are then filtered through the
Department Office for the American Legion Auxiliary to receive the proper
acknowledgement. Always remember to send a thank you for any donations
you receive, and be sure to put in writing that no goods or services were
rendered for this donation. If part of the money received is for services
(i.e. dinner) and part for donation, then acknowledge that no goods or
services other than (a dinner value at the cost of the dinner), was
rendered for this donation.
Earmark
all monies and include a remittance sheet. Pay all mandatory assessments
at the beginning of the Administrative year. Pay all others by the date
designated in their respective bulletins.
The Department of NY also
operates on a budget. As we begin a new year, we are faced with many
challenges to keep our Department financially stable. Revenues have a
tendency to go down and expenses go up. One of the main sources of
income comes from membership dues. You can help by making an effort to
collect those renewals and signing up new members.
Continue to help support
the fund raiser. For just $20.00 you can purchase a Department Calendar
and have 365 chances to win back your money or more. What a great gift
idea!
NOTE:
payments do not designate reports. Treasurers make the checks out and send
the payments, Committee Chairmen do the reporting as per the instructions
in each Committee’s respective bulletin in this Plan of Action.
A monthly Treasurers report
should be given at each Unit and County meeting. It should include an
accurate tracking of funds expended. All expenditures should also be
recorded in the minutes of the meeting.
Every member has the right
to know exactly what the Unit and County has with regards to finance.
Treasurer books should be made available at meetings for any member to
review.
990-N Form (E-Postcard)
Hopefully, your Unit has
filed a 990-N form (E-Postcard) with the IRS to be able to keep your tax
exempt status. Unfortunately, there are still Units in the Department of
NY who have not filed.
Units with gross receipts
of $25,000.00 or less for the tax year ending after 12/31/2007 and before
12/31/2010 have been required to file. There is no penalty for late
filing, but if a Unit fails to file for 3 consecutive years, they
automatically lose their tax exempt status.
The IRS has recently
announced the $25,000.00 threshold will be raised to $50,000.00.
A 990-N (E-Postcard) MUST
be filed EVERY year. You cannot file until after the 15th day
of the 5th month after your tax year. In cases where the IRS
has a different tax year for your Unit than you have, use the IRS year
to determine a filing date, for now.
Log on to
www.form990.org
this will take you to the Welcome to e-file Form 990.org site and follow
steps 1-2-3 to file. If you know you have a current EIN# but are not sure
what it is, check with your Unit’s bank. Most banks require an EIN# to be
able to open an account.
If you do not have a
current EIN#, you will not be able to complete the form. Call the local
IRS office or the IRS Customer Account Service (1-877-829-5500) to request
a new EIN #. After you receive your EIN#, contact the Department office
(1-800-421-6348). They will need your Unit name, Unit number, new EIN#
and the name & telephone number for a contact person.
Our Department office will
notify our National organization who will contact the IRS to have your
Unit put back under the umbrella of the American Legion Auxiliary.
Counties do not fall under that umbrella, charter organizations (Units)
do. We are currently reviewing what a County needs to do to maintain
tax-exempt status. Results will be in a future bulletin.
Finance/Audit Committee
Finance/Audit Committees
have a great responsibility to oversee that the moneys are directed as
earmarked in the Unit’s budget. The Finance/Audit Committee should
consist of 3 people who will audit the accounts annually. The Treasurer
is not a member of this committee but should be available to be able to
address any questions the committee may have. The Committee reports
directly to the membership.
In accordance to the
Constitution & By-laws and to comply with IRS regulations, each Unit must
attest that an audit has been performed. Please complete the Unit Audit
Data Form and send to the Department Office NO LATER THAN December 31,
2011.
Cultivate a New
Attitude.
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns that
need to be addressed.
Our
Department Office has been advised that in order to comply with the latest
IRS regulations, each Unit in the Department is required to complete the
Unit Audit Data Form Please submit as soon as possible.
All forms must be sent in to the Department
Office by.
Dec. 31, 2011
When
planning your budgets please remember the
Department President's Project -
Children’s Organ Transplant Association
(
Cota ) as
well as our Department Fund Raiser, the Department Calendars. You may also want
to think about budgeting for the ALA College as well as the Mid-Winter
Conference. Convention expenses as well as Fall Conference expenses should
also be considered when planning and preparing a budget
Mary
Lou Platt, Finance Chairman
Email :westford@localnet.com
Members: Mary
Anne Casadei, Dept. Pres. Project
Violet Brosart, Coupons
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