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Nonprofit Property Tax Filing Requirements

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It’s never too early to start planning for the next tax season. Why? California law will prescribe a yearly tax on your organization based on property as it exists at 12:01 a.m. on January 1st.  All entities, unless granted an exemption by the County Assessor’s Office, are required to file the annual property tax form “Form 571-L Business Property Statement” with the County Assessor’s Office.  This form is due every year on April 1st but is still considered to be timely filed if sent by May 7.  On the Form 571-L, entities are required to declare all business property owned as of January 1.  Examples of business property include supplies, equipment, buildings, building improvements, etc.

Nonprofits are required to file the Form 571-L until the Assessor’s Office has specifically granted them an exemption.  In order to qualify for an exemption from the Assessor’s Office, the entity must submit the appropriate documents to the assessor’s office (i.e. exemption claim form, articles of incorporation, tax letter designating the organization’s non-profit status, etc).  This is a one-time process to be granted with the exemption.

Once the assessor determines that the nonprofit organization is a qualifying religious, church and/or welfare organization and is eligible for an exemption, there is a simplified annual filing process in which the entity will be assessed with a zero tax bill.  The annual filing due date for this type of filing is February 15th. If you have any questions you can call the Transfer Exemption department of the Assessor’s office at (805) 781-5643.

Speak and Be Spoke(n)!

So, tell us!  Do you have any tips to share with your fellow nonprofits regarding how to file for property tax requirements?

Take Part to Preserve Charitable Tax Deduction

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At Spokes, we often talk about the various management spokes (financial, development, human resources, etc) or constituent spokes (donor, volunteer, employee, client) needed to help nonprofits achieve their missions.  There is a third set of spokes that is equally critical – the partnership between the government, for-profit and nonprofit sectors.

The U.S. nonprofit sector exists because there are programs and services needed throughout our communities from which no profit can be made and are too localized and specific for the government to manage.  The for-profit sector exists to help drive our nation’s economy.  The government sector, or for-public sector, exists to support our legal, education and safety systems.  And, the non-profit sector, or for-impact sector, exists to improve the quality of life for all Americans and, especially, those who fall between the cracks of the for-profit and for-public sector efforts.  Each sector is equally benefitted and dependent by the other two and we nonprofit leaders have an important role to play in balancing this unique ecosystem.

As you may have heard, Congress is considering placing limitations of charitable tax deductions to solve our national budget crisis.  These changes threaten to create significant collateral damage to the nonprofit sectors and the health of the communities we seek to sustain.  By definition, all non-profits are dependent on some level of charitable support from private donors.  Often, those donors are employees of the for-profit sector.  And, nonprofits are dependent on the government to offer incentives to those individual donors to provide the financial resources we need to do our work.  Reduced donations will lead to fewer programs and services and, ultimately, to many more unaddressed issues in our communities.

As the recent recession has driven an increased demand for most nonprofit services, can our nation afford to take this risk?  Do you want to live in a community with depleted or no nonprofits?  What about your corporation’s employees?  Can the government pick up the services the nonprofit sector will need to drop?

If you don’t think so, I encourage you to join me in being outSpoken and participate in the United Way’s letter writing campaign to Congress.

More information can be found at http://www.capwiz.com/unitedway/issues/alert/?alertid=55024501.

Discounted Software from TechSoup

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The balancing act to keep your nonprofit organization stocked with software programs necessary to stay efficient (like Quickbooks, Adobe Suite, Microsoft Word, etc.) and to keep your budget aligned is an ongoing struggle – we can relate. That’s why we’re excited to spread the word about TechSoup, an organization that helps nonprofits save on IT costs with the help of donated tech products from over45 donor partners like Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco, Intuit, and Symantec.

As a nonprofit organization, you have access to TechSoup’s 400+ donated and discounted products available for a small admin fee that supports their work in the United States and around the world.

Signing up is easy! To get started with TechSoup product donations, follow these 3 steps:

  1. Join TechSoup as an individual member.
  2. Register an organization or association with an existing organization.
  3. Submit qualification documents.

Identifying products available to you is easy! You can see what products your organization may be eligible for in 1 step:

  1. Take the eligibility quiz.

Speak and Be Spoke(n)

If you’ve had a chance to use TechSoup previously or if you get a chance to use TechSoup in the future, please tell us!   We’d love to share how you are using this resource to move your organization forward in its mission with other Spokes folks!

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