Tax Exempt Status, Minutes, Letters, Emails 06-12-2014

 

ANONA WEST

MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEE'S

JANUARY 11, 2014

Present: John S. (Outgoing President), Jamie K., Kelly L., Lynda F., Judy A., Robert S.,

Absent: Milt L.

The minutes from the last meeting from September 21, 2013 were accepted.

 Kelly, Can I get a copy of these minutes?

Old Business:

Corporate Resolutions were reviewed and signed.

# 1 Corporate Resolution: to remove John Starshak from the Money Market Account and add Jamie Kunz.

#2 Corporate Resolution: to remove Mike Caplan from checking account and add Tom Cherrington.

#3 Corporate Resolution: to open a safety deposit box at the bank with Lynda, Jamie and Kelly as signors.

John Starshak will coordinate any additional signatures, and schedule a time for everyone to meet prior to February 2, 2012, depending on weather.

Bob Costello accepted trustee position as of 1/11/2014. We may consider Mike Caplan when an opening arises. New Business:

AS of December 31, 2013 the checking account balance was $5,130.83 and there is $53,457.30 in the Business Money Market.

Lynda provided us with copies of the year end Anona West Income and Expense spread sheets from 2011 to present. The board decided to review the most current Income and Expense sheet at every Trustee meeting.

Although Milt Lemke was absent he was asked prior to the meeting to be Secretary of the Trustees which he agreed to do. A motion was stated, seconded was unanimously passed.

501c3: Kelly researched our 501c3 status, an IRS representative informed us that they have no formal recognition of our 501c3 status. We need to file a form 1023, schedule E and the fee of $850.00.

  See communications below. Three years ago this situation was months away from being resolved. I explained this to anyone who would listen but evidently it fell on deaf years. Ed Wilmes, our accountant felt so bad he even returned the fee that had already been submitted to the IRS. See Below. 

 

The Accountant, Linda Butler, Kelly and Jamie have been working on the documents and the Trustees reviewed and approved for submittal to the IRS.

There was some discussion whether the revised By-Laws had formally been adopted, as, verified in the September 18, 2010 Trustee minutes that they were accepted with all past revisions.

The Trustees unanimously elected Judy Allen as the appointed official who will write 7 days prior to the next Trustee Meeting, the date on the Board.

Our next meeting is Saturday April 19, 2014 at Noon. The meeting was adjourned at 2pm.

Respectfully Submitted,

Lynda F & Kelly L

 

 

Kelly,
         Anona didn't loose it's "Not for Profit" classification but it needs to be renewed every 5 years. It wasn't
renewed in 1992; Ed Wilmes was bringing it up to date but was replaced/removed as our accountant before
this was accomplished. Would you please verify that this was accomplished.
         Yes, the annual report was filed for this year. This is a State of Illinois requirement but doesn't
reflect our up to date status as a 501 (c) (3) with the IRS.
                                                                                             Thanks for the Birthday wish...
 
Below are communications regarding this situation:
In 2000 our Treasurer and CPA, Mike Holan suffered a stroke. As a result of this, the renewal for our ΓÇ£Not for ProfitΓÇ¥ classification was not filed. New laws and regulations regarding qualifications for the 501(c) (3) classification became very complicated. Ed Wilmes had been pursuing the re-establishment of our status until he was removed as our accountant.

 

 

Anona West Board of Trustees

Minutes of the Annual Meeting

Sunday, September 18, 2011

(Corrected version as approved by the Board 12/3/11)

 

            President John called the meeting to order at about noon.  Present all seven: 

Pres. John, Kelly, Robert, Milt, Judy, Al, and Jamie.

 

            John reported that our CDΓÇÖs are now earning 0.7% interest, and will for the next 9 months. 

 

            The minutes of the meeting of August 9 were tentatively approved.

 

Old Business

 

            Accounting Costs

 

 

                        1.  It was unanimously agreed to:

a.      terminate our agreement with EJ, who has been our accountant

for several years;

           

            Ed Wilmes has been a member of Anona West for close to 25 years. During the majority of this period his services and advice were ΓÇ£GratisΓÇ¥. In 2001 when we received the balloon payment for the sale of the Original ΓÇ£Anona WestΓÇ¥ in Wheaton and were required by law to obtain a Federal Tax ID# before we could invest our funds in a ΓÇ£Vanguard Money Market FundΓÇ¥.

            In 2000 our Treasurer and CPA, Mike Holan suffered a stroke. As a result of this, the renewal for our ΓÇ£Not for ProfitΓÇ¥ classification was not filed. New laws and regulations regarding qualifications for the 501(c) (3) classification became very complicated. Ed has been pursuing the re-establishment of our status and except for filing fees this too has been ΓÇ£GratisΓÇ¥.

            The purchase of our current building and our increasing net worth along with the new Federal regulations necessitated a much more concise and professional record keeping protocol. Ed established these new procedures and incorporated the use of QuickBooks to report our annual ΓÇ£IRSΓÇ¥ and ΓÇ£State of IllinoisΓÇ¥ filings. Our assets are now exceeding $200,000 and continuity in the financial matters of Anona West is a necessity. EJΓÇÖs Tax Service was engaged via ΓÇ£Corporate ResolutionΓÇ¥ as our accountant.

 

 

 

 

 

b.   rescind our ΓÇ£appointmentΓÇ¥ of Lisa D. as bookkeeper

 Lisa was never appointed as "bookkeeper". She was elected as Treasurer.

The Bookkeeping function was part of her employment with EJ's Tax service. She also provided bookkeeping functions for the all other EJ's Tax Service customers.

Since Lisa's departure there has not been a comprehensive Income/expense report submitted as part of the monthly Administrative Board Minutes.

 

c.   reach an agreement with some other, less expensive accountant.

                        (Jamie agreed to talk with AW member Jerry  G, CPA, to ask how much better off we would be, vis-├á-vis the IRS, to have an accountant who is a CPA vs. one who is not certified.)

 

            It was also unanimously agreed that we should purchase a laptop for our bookkeeping purposes. 

MiltΓÇÖs laptop, which he will donate
                        (approved up to $125 if this laptop needs work)

If MiltΓÇÖs doesnΓÇÖt work:  approved up to $500 for suitable new one.

 

New Business
            As regards the appointment of a new trustee, various names were considered.

 

Next meeting:  December 3, 12:30 ΓÇô 1pm.

            This will be followed by an informal joint meeting with the Operating Board, at 1pm, to discuss how the Club might better serve the alcoholic who still suffers.  There will be food (pot luck).

 

                                                                                    Respectfully submitted,

 

                                                                                    Jamie K.

                        

Edward J Wilmes Sr.

721 S Oak Street

West Chicago IL 60185-3541

To:

Anona West Inc

c/o John Starshack

1 N 220 Cypress Lane Winfield IL 60190

Dear John,

It is great regret that I am writing this letter. I have recently become aware of yourdiscontinuing my relationship with Anona West as their accountant. This was done as required, by the board. This creates a problem as I can not represent Anona West with the IRS or the Dept of Treasury unless I am your accountant.

What this does is remove me from your 501(c)(3) pursuit. I have advised the IRS of my no longer being your accountant and they have canceled Anona's application. They DO NOT refund the filing fee. I was able to learn that when you file again the application should be signed by the president of the board of trustee's. (This would allow for a change in representation to any new president). I am very sorry that I was unable to complete this while your accountant. Enclosed is my check for $700.00 which was what I received from Anona to pay this fee and that I forwarded to the IRS with the application. I do not feel the club should have to have this loss because of the club's desire to change things. Please treat this as a donation to assist with your filing again.

Please note that unless Linda Butler is a registered tax preparer, she should not be paid to complete your tax return. If you wish to pay her for bookkeeping say at $50.00/month. That's fine. She can assist in this preparation but she cannot be shown on the tax return without a preparers Federal ID number that you MUST now have. This went into effect as of 01/01/2010 and became law on 01/01/2011. An unpaid preparer is not shown on the return. The tax return must be signed by an officer of the board at the time it is filed. The president's signature is preferred.

You should have a letter from the IRS, by now, that shows that you owe "0.00" in penalties for 2008. I did get this resolved. If not, please wait as at this time of year it sometimes takes a while for these to be sent out.

I owe a great deal to Anona and I am sorry that I am no longer to assist the club in my area of expertise.

Very truly yours,

Edward J Wilmes