July 26, 2001 | Read Time: 2 minutes
990 Handbook: A Line-by-Line Approach
by Jody Blazek
Charities must submit informational tax returns, called Forms 990, to the Internal Revenue Service to retain tax-exempt status. But now that the GuideStar Web site makes available charities’ forms on an Internet site, these important financial documents also serve as tools “for communicating an organization’s mission and accomplishment to the public,” writes Jody Blazek.
Ms. Blazek, a partner at Blazek & Vetterling, an accounting firm in Houston that focuses on tax and financial planning for nonprofit organizations, says she wrote this book to “demystify” the Forms 990 for financial professionals and laypeople and to make it easier for charities to provide the best presentation of their financial activities and good works.
Chapters explain charity filing requirements and provide a line-by-line explanation of Form 990 and Form 990-EZ; Form 990, Schedule A, which enables the Internal Revenue Service to review whether an organization can continue to qualify as a charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the tax code; Form 990-PF, for private foundations; and Form 990-T, which covers unrelated business income. Each chapter contains appendixes with examples of properly completed forms and blank forms.
In the final chapter, Ms. Blazek advises nonprofit groups about when and how to tell the IRS Exempt Organization division about changes in their organization’s activities, structure, and public-charity status. She also provides suggestions about the order in which forms should be prepared; how to avoid unnecessary I.R.S. scrutiny of earned income; why certain answers on the form could have multiple interpretations; and methods to reduce certain kinds of taxes. Footnotes point readers to areas of the tax code and to the third edition of Ms. Blazek’s text Tax Planning and Compliance for Tax-Exempt Organizations: Forms, Checklists, and Procedures, which focuses on obtaining and keeping tax-exempt status.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 1 Wiley Drive, Somerset, N.J. 08875; (800) 225-5945; fax (800) 597-3299; http://www.wiley.com; 226 pages; $34.95; I.S.B.N. 0-471-41781-5.
