ALAFL

October 1st, 2009

From the Department Secretary's Desk. . .

My goal is to post a weekly report on our site with important news and updates.  It is meant to keep our Units and members informed on important issues in-between the monthly Communiqués. We are also working on blogs for members to discuss projects, plans and needs.  Please watch for all the new things coming your way via the Department Web Site.
 

Our VISTA volunteer, Ryan Pulver, has been working on several exciting projects for the Department of Florida.  Often his work requires emailing or calling Unit members for assistance or information.  Please give Ryan your 100% cooporation.  He has dedicated a year of his life to work with our organization and wants to accomplish as much as possible to improve the way we approach our volunteer work.  He can not meet his goals without the help of our members.


Incoprorations & Annual Tax Reports

Congratulations to all the Units that have made the effort to comply with Florida's rules to Incorporate and with the new IRS regulations requiring that all non profits file an annual tax report.

If you have not incorporated or have requested our office do it for you, and haven't received anything, please let me know.  We had several requests pending when we got into the busy time of year with Convention and Girls State.  I have tried, in the last two weeks to get caught-up with the pending requests, but am not sure if we have taken care of everyone.

If you need us to prepare your Articles of Incorporation we need the following information.

1) Address where meetings are held.
2) County the Unit is located.
3) We list the President as the Incoporator, however, we need to know who to list as the Registered Agent. (Usually the Secretary or Treasurer)  
4) Street addresses for the Incoporator, Registered Agent and Vice President.  If any of these use a PO Box, please provide their legal street address,  

Once we have this information, we will mail three (3) copies ready to be signed and mailed to the state.

By this date all Units should have verified their EIN (Federal Tax ID #) with the IRS.  The telephone number to verify your EIN, if you haven't done so, is 1-877-829-5500.  You need the charity/non-profit division.  Once you get to speak with someone, verify the Unit has a valid EIN # and that it is listed under National's Group Exemption 0964.  If you find it isn't under National's group exemption, notify our office so we can file the proper paperwork for you.
If they have no record of an EIN # for your Unit, ask them to assign one to your Unit.  Keep in mind your accounting period MUST be listed as July 1 - June 30th.  Once you receive this number, notify our Office so we can have it included under National's exemption. Under no circumstance are you to contact National directly.


As soon as your unit has verified it has a valid EIN # that is under the national exemption, we can assist with filing the 990 N for Units that are under $25,000 in income.  Don't hesitate to contact the office.


Florida's first cyber Unit will be activated very soon.  Watch for exciting news on this!