Calling INGO tax experts

[Cameramonkey]

My wife was elected to our church's financial chair position. She is good with numbers but has absolutely ZERO tax knowledge. (I file our taxes, and I know just enough to be dangerous.)

This year we started leasing out our parsonage because it isnt needed by our new pastor, who already has a house locally. We were informed we need to file a tax return this year due to that rental income.

Now, I fully admit that I'm not a tax expert, and I didnt even stay in a Holiday Inn Express. So do we just need to file a 990-T and thats it? Rental income is all we have. [STRIKE]And line 6 under rent income references a schedule C. Do we need to fill out a separate schedule C for that line item? [/STRIKE] (EDIT: scrolled down and found all schedules are attached to the form)

On a related note, any suggestions for a tax prep expert that is familiar with this in the Indy area if it comes down to that?

 

[maxwelhse]

I've had my personal taxes, and my father's business taxes, done by a firm named DWD out of Fort Wayne for about 30 years. Specially, I deal with Mark Westerhausen. If you don't want to deal with them (they do have a Marion office, but that's still not Indy), Mark would at least be able to provide you with a trustworthy, professional, recommendation.

FWIW, I don't even go in. I send them my stuff and a return and a bill pops out of the other end. Also, FWIW, having a CPA firm do my personal taxes costs me about $250, and I can ask all the goofy questions all year long that I want for free.

 

[JettaKnight]

You're asking about business taxes (or charitable org), so I'm out.

 

[PGRChaplain]

844-545-5640 IRS Question Line. They can answer your question (Caution, not be the correct answer)

 

[Grump01]

Does the church use a CPA already, if so should be able to handle the taxes also?

 

[SmileDocHill]

Whew! I opened this thread thinking "Oh crap, there is an INGO tax i was supposed to be paying!? This is not going to be good news. "

 

[Cameramonkey]

Does the church use a CPA already, if so should be able to handle the taxes also?

We aren’t that big. If we had a cpa I would have asked them already.

 

[GLOCKMAN23C]

My wife, who spent years with H&R Block, says yes to the 990-T, with $1000+ of income. Also, the entire return must be paper filed. Make sure to take any expenses(maintenance, etc).

 

[Cameramonkey]

My wife, who spent years with H&R Block, says yes to the 990-T, with $1000+ of income. Also, the entire return must be paper filed. Make sure to take any expenses(maintenance, etc).

Thank you Sir! I have to agree after reading into things a bit more.

INGO ROCKS!!!!!

 

[Libertarian01]

I would strongly suggest your wife consults with a good CPA at least once. Probably after tax season when they won't be as pressured.

As she is on the finance committee she may become personally liable for any wrongdoing and you wouldn't want to get dragged into that. With power comes responsibility.

The reason I mention this is I recall many years ago my accountant did the books for several churches in the area. She was telling me that they were APPALLED when she told them they had to pay taxes on things they had NEVER paid on before her. They thought that because they were a "church" they didn't have to pay taxes, which is partially true. However, they didn't think that their daycare/school/extracurricular/etc things that were not purely religious in nature were legally separate. She faced extremely strong resistance from old board members who didn't want to accept that they had been wrong for years. They had a very difficult time wrapping their brain around the idea that the tax free status didn't apply to everything the church did.

I don't remember all the details as it has been many years ago, and a CPA or good tax lawyer is more than welcome to correct me on any error.

I just remember that at several churches they were operating outside of tax law on several issues and were resistant to facing this truth.

If you would like my CPA's # just let me know, and good luck to her.

Regards,

Doug

 

[Cameramonkey]

Thanks, Doug. They (the entire leadership team) is going through some extended training seminars for stuff like this. That's actually how she learned that we needed to claim this.

So far, we have been pretty lucky. All of our stuff falls within the tax free category because we arent that big. (dont have daycare or any other type of income) This rental income is new territory for us. And thanks to the not insignificant costs of getting the parsonage rehabbed (needed a new AC unit last summer) I dont think it will be too painful.

 

[Cameramonkey]

844-545-5640 IRS Question Line. They can answer your question (Caution, not be the correct answer)

No doubt. I had a question regarding one of the lines. No biggie, just go read the instructions. Not so fast.

Last revision of the 990-T is 2018. Last revision of the instructions is 2017. And the form must have changed significantly, because the instructions go off the rails about line 33, and there is a large swath that doesn't match and that there are no answers for. (or the question number doesnt match)

Oy vey!

EDIT: And yes, I have scoured the IRS website.

 

[Haven]

So when I was with a non-profit company and was the treasurer, we paid for a CPA for a few hours to help us with taxes after we lost our incorporation due to some bad tax advice. It was worth it.

 

[Cameramonkey]

So when I was with a non-profit company and was the treasurer, we paid for a CPA for a few hours to help us with taxes after we lost our incorporation due to some bad tax advice. It was worth it.

I'm about there. Whats a couple hundred more in losses.

Its frustrating as hell spending several hours to tell the IRS in detail how much you don't owe because your losses exceeded your profit.