By: Richard Ruvelson

While many tax-exempt organizations have been concerned about the provisions of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, there are some other tax “reporting” issues that I want to remind tax-exempt organizations to consider over the next few weeks.

Form 990

Since the 2012 Form 990 instructions were released on the IRS website on February 1st, I thought that it would make sense to communicate all of the changes through the link below. I will address particular changes over the next few weeks through blog postings, as well as through our workshop scheduled for February 19, 2013.

All of the significant changes are set forth on pages 1 and 2 of the instructions at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i990.pdf

Form 1099

Remember that 1099s to independent contractors should have been mailed to your service provider on or before January 31st. This includes reporting of amounts aggregating more than $600 during the course of the calendar year. Remember, payments made for accounting and legal services must be reported provided the threshold is met.

The deadlines for filing Form 1099-MISC with the IRS are as follows:

• Forms 1099 to recipients -January 31, 2013 (hope that you didn’t miss it), and
• Forms 1099 copies to IRS (on paper with Form 1096) - February 28, 2013, or
• Forms 1099 copies to IRS (filed electronically) - April 1, 2013.

Generally, extensions are available, although the extension for providing copies to recipients must be approved by the IRS.

Charitable Gift Receipting

Charitable organizations, including family foundations, must receipt donors prior to the donor filing their Form 1040 or other tax return for the year of the contribution. The receipt must acknowledge the amount and date of the gift(s), if cash and must state whether goods and/or services were provided in exchange for the gift. Failure to provide this written communication to donors results in the donor not being able to deduct their charitable gift.