Non profit setup

[landcruiser7240]

Does anyone know what it takes to become a no-profit in california. I am interested in starting a tlca chapter, but I am not familiar with getting the tax and nonprofit stuff together. Any help would be great.

 

[Romer]

Western Representative: Ross Woody,
707-557-9299, WesternRep@tlca.org

Ross is the TLCA western Rep and thats part of what he does is help new clubs get starte3d. Contract Ross and he should be able to help you.

 

[Land Schmoozer]

I can help

Not for Profit status is an IRS thing, and the state of CA will recognize it.

First thing you need to do is get a tax id number, which you can do on line at the IRS website. After just file a CA informational return annually so they get your $35 fee. You don't need to file a federal tax return until you have something over $20,000 of income per year. You can get all the details off the IRS or CA websites.

 

[landcruiser7240]

I emailer Ross about it. I will also check IRS, I just hate trying to understand irs crap.

 

[Land Schmoozer]

understand

just get a tax id number and start a club, worry about it when you make $20k in one year... the irs isn't out to get us small guys...

casey

 

[GRTPMPKIN]

A quick related question, is everything the same for WA? We are trying to rebuild Rain Country Cruisers, but I didn't want to promote too much until we took care of some of these details. Any quick and dirty tips for incorporating?

Thanks,
Don

 

[Land Schmoozer]

incorporating

there are various website available where you can get this done for around $150.

 

[GRTPMPKIN]

I finally got around to looking up the IRS forms that we would need to become a non-profit. From what I can tell, it would be under Internal Revenue Code 501 (c)(7) for social clubs, requiring filing a Form 1024 Application for Exemption and a Form 8718 User Fee of $300. The seems a little steep for a non-profit. Am I on the right track or did miss the cheap route? Between that and incorporating I don't know if we will be able to pull that off with the limited number of members at this time. Any advice from people that have done this is appreciated.

Don

 

[Land Schmoozer]

http://www.irs.gov/charities/nonprofits/article/0,,id=96189,00.html

http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=96122,00.html

These two will give you what you need. Yes you need to do those two forms and pay the fee. However, I wouldn't worry about it until you need to file a tax return, that means $20,000 of income. At that point the fee becomes affordable.

It's a car club, and the IRS understands that. They are looking for the folks that owe taxes.

casey