Original guidelines prepared by Victor Chen, with edits made by other Henrico PTA/PTSA treasurers; contact treasurer@hccpta.com with any questions.

State and National Resources

• Virginia PTA (VAPTA) 

  • Finance Basics: https://vapta.org/pta-basics/leaders-get-started/standards-affiliation

  • Treasurer Tools: https://www.vapta.org/pta-basics/support/treasurer-tools

  • Membership Resources (paying dues): https://vapta.org/pta-basics/leaders-get-started/membership-main

  • Leadership Training (includes Treasurer webinar): https://vapta.org/pta-basics/training/leadership-training

• National PTA eLearning videos (need to register, then click on Local PTA Treasurer link): https://www.pta.org/home/run-your-pta/elearning

• Turn to the sites above for the latest guidance. Below is unofficial, crowdsourced advice, but please note that the state and national guidelines take precedence. Also, please also consider adding to or editing the advice below as you see fit. Many of you have years of treasurer experience, and all of us can benefit from your expertise; think of these guidelines as a shared document for all Henrico County PTAs/PTSAs. To learn how to edit the guidelines, see the instructions on the home page. You have been given access to these documents based on the email you provided for the Treasurers Hub mailing list on MemberHub, but feel free to contact Victor at treasurer@hccpta.com if you need a different email address added.

• The links below with asterisks (*) are unofficial forms that Victor has created based on VAPTA's original forms. You can use them or the originals (the originals can be found on the VAPTA Treasurer Tools page).

Important Deadlines

Here is a breakdown of the deadlines you should be aware of as an incoming treasurer. Detailed instructions are provided below: the first section is devoted to the Standards of Affiliation ("Good Standing") tasks (*noted with an asterisk*), and the second section covers all the other tasks. 

1. *Add the contact information for your Executive Board (Deadline: June 15).

2. Change the signers on your bank account (Deadline: start of the fiscal year in July).

3. Create and approve a budget (Deadline: by your PTA/PTSA's first general meeting in September, when the budget will be approved; however, creating a draft as early as possible is best, since you will use the budget as the template for your Treasurer Reports).

4. Start creating Treasurer Reports (Deadline: every board meeting or general meeting).

5. *Approve and upload your PTA/PTSA's bylaws (i.e., Organizational Structure Form) (Deadline: Aug. 1). Note that this form does not have to be filed again if you are not making any changes from the last Organizational Structure Form that your PTA/PTSA filed.

6. *File and upload the IRS Form 990 (Deadline: Aug. 1). Note that the outgoing treasurer is supposed to file the actual IRS form, but the incoming treasurer may need to upload the IRS confirmation notice to MemberHub if the outgoing treasurer has not taken care of that (make sure to get a PDF of that confirmation page before the outgoing treasurer disappears!).

7. *Complete and upload your PTA/PTSA's financial review (Deadline: Aug. 1). The outgoing treasurer is supposed to handle the financial review—which can be completed at an Auditpalooza, by a separate financial review committee, or by a CPA—but the incoming treasurer will need to sign the completed form and upload the PDF to MemberHub. See the section on financial reviews below.

8. Set up online payments via the MemberHub Store (Deadline: start of the school year so that you are ready for your membership drive).

9. Start paying monthly Virginia PTA (VAPTA) dues (Deadline: 1st of every month after you start adding new members). Note that if you start having months with only a few new members, you can hold off on paying your state dues until you reach, say, 10 new members; you must pay everything by the end of the fiscal year, however, or you will not be compliant.

10. *Apply for a board insurance policy (Deadline: June 15). Upload whatever insurance policy is currently active by this deadline. Upload an updated policy whenever your current policy expires and you renew it.

11. Pay your annual HCCPTA dues (Deadline: Dec. 15). Note that these county dues are different from the Virginia PTA dues.

Submissions for Good Standing

• For local units to stay in "good standing" (i.e., fulfill the VAPTA's Standards of Affiliation and therefore maintain your 501(c)(3) status and be eligible for VAPTA grants), you will need to submit your PTA/PTSA's (1) board contact info, (2) Form 990 confirmation, (3) Financial Review, (4) Organizational Structure Form, and (5) insurance confirmation. You should review the VAPTA's Standards of Affiliation guidelines and deadlines in their entirety. Below we describe the general submission process for all documents, and further below are more detailed instructions for each document.

  • Log into the MemberHub website using your personal username and password. (If your PTA has not used MemberHub previously, you can request access here via the Virginia PTA's website. For more guidance on using MemberHub, look at the How-To Resources on the VAPTA website.)

  • Click on Compliance at the left.

  • Click on Submissions.

  • Click on Submit under each item to upload the PDF.

501(c)(3) determination letter 

• Once you take care of all these submissions, the VAPTA should post to MemberHub a PDF of your annual 501(c)(3) determination letter, which states when your 501(c)(3) status expires. Follow the steps below to find your letter, as depicted in this screenshot by Crestview's Adrienne Coffey: 

• • Click on the links to Compliance > View Documents on the left.

  • Click on the General folder.

  • Clicking on the .pdf file with the name of your school (e.g., Crestview Elementary School PTA.pdf).

  • Click on Download. Save the PDF in any shared drive (if applicable) and print it out to store in your binder (in the 501(c)(3) Letter section). 

• If you still have trouble finding your 501(c)(3) letter, go directly to this link: https://hccpta.memberhub.com/compliance/documents/general (replace hccpta in this URL with the specific subdomain for your PTA/PTSA's MemberHub page). Please note that if you did not successfully complete all the necessary Standards of Affiliation, you won't see the letter in MemberHub! You should contact the VAPTA directly if you should have received a letter but do not see it on MemberHub. It can take some time for the letter to be generated, but you can check with the VAPTA at liaison@vapta.org if you have questions.

• See below for detailed instructions for each type of submission required for a PTA or PTSA to say in "good standing."

Contact Information for your Executive Board 

• Deadline: June 15

• Step-by-step instructions for filling this out in MemberHub are on the VAPTA's website. Note that if you prefer, you can use your school's address for each officer, rather than their personal home addresses. Also, for the required financial review at the end of the year, you only need to include contact info for the president, treasurer, and secretary.

• To prepare for your Financial Review at the end of the year, you should print out a hard copy of the board contact info you've just submitted and put it in the Board section of your binder (and in the Board subfolder of your Google Drive, if applicable). From MemberHub, click on Compliance on the left. Click on Officers. You can then print out the page with the board's contact info.

Insurance Policy

• Deadline: June 15 (upload your currently active policy by the deadline; when your policy expires and you renew it, upload the renewed policy right away) 

• You can renew your board insurance policy through R. V. Nuncio & Associates Insurance Brokers, Inc. (RVNA).

• Log in at https://quote.rvnuccio.com using your organization's account information. If you haven't purchased insurance online before, you will need to select Customer and click on Register where it says New Customer/Insurance Broker.

• Once you have logged in, choose the policy at top (Policy Type Parent Teacher Association) and click on Renew Policy at the bottom.

• PTA/PTSAs typically just need the Liability Plus ($1,000,000/$2,000,00) coverage (which costs $65 currently). Those who wish can also get Bonding Plus ($64) and/or Directors & Officers Liability Plus ($50) coverage, though the VAPTA does not require this level of coverage.

• Follow the instructions. If you wish, you can make the payment via echeck, using your bank's routing number and account number; however, you will need to fill out a Check Request/Reimbursement Form* (with two signatures) in order to use any form of electronic payment (see General Guidelines below).

• Once your policy has been approved, you will receive an email with your policy documents. Upload it to your unit's MemberHub page (under Compliance > Submissions in the Insurance Confirmations section). You will also need to enter the Policy Number and Policy Expiration Date listed within that document. 

• For the Financial Review, print out a hard copy of the insurance policy and put it in the Insurance section of your binder (and in the Insurance subfolder of your Google Drive, if applicable).

Bylaws (Organizational Structure Form)

• Deadline: Aug. 1

• Under the VAPTA's new procedure, the Local Unit Uniform Bylaws now apply to all PTA/PTSAs, so you should print them out and add them to your binder. These uniform bylaws allow you to customize certain options, such as the length of officer terms; to set your customization options, you must complete the Organizational Structure Form. The form has to be approved by the membership, but once it is approved, you do not have to submit the form unless there are changes.

• If your PTA/PTSA does want to make changes to the Organizational Structure Form, then you must have a vote to approve the new form at a general meeting, giving your members 30-days notice prior to that vote. 

• Print the approved form as a PDF and upload it to your unit's MemberHub page (under Compliance > Submissions in the Unit ByLaws section). 

• For the Financial Review, print out a hard copy of the Organizational Structure Form and put it in the Bylaws section of your binder (and in the Bylaws subfolder of your Google Drive, if applicable).

IRS Form 990 

• VAPTA deadline: Aug. 1; IRS deadline: Nov. 15 

Important note: The outgoing treasurer is supposed to take care of submitting the Form 990 for your PTA/PTSA while they are preparing the financial review (described further below). In July, the outgoing treasurer should give the incoming treasurer a copy of the IRS Form 990 confirmation notice for the fiscal year that just ended in June. Either the outgoing or incoming treasurer should upload the confirmation to MemberHub by Aug. 1 as described below. This gives you only a month to take care of the IRS filing, but if completing the filing takes longer, you can include last year's filing and include a note of explanation; see below for more details. 

You will need to complete the IRS Form 990 for the fiscal year that just ended on June 30 (remember that PTA/PTSA fiscal years run from July 1 to June 30). Only the very brief Form 990-N electronic postcard, and not the longer Form 990, is required if your PTA/PTSA's average revenues were $50,000 or less for the prior three consecutive years. If your gross receipts are $50,001 or more, but less than $250,000, you may file a Form 990-EZ. If your gross receipts are over $250,000, you must file a full Form 990. IMPORTANT: If you fail to submit the proper Form 990 filing for three years in a row, the IRS will automatically revoke your federal tax-exempt status, and you will need to pay IRS fees and reapply to have your tax-exempt status reinstated.  

By federal law, your tax filing must be submitted to the IRS by the 15th of the fifth month after the end of an organization's fiscal year, so you always have a hard IRS deadline of Nov. 15. However, the VAPTA wants you to submit the Form 990-N confirmation notice before you submit your financial review, so you should get it done and upload a PDF of the confirmation page to MemberHub by Aug. 1. The confirmation page looks like this:

When you put together your materials for the financial review (see below), which is also due Aug. 1, the outgoing treasurer should print out the Form 990 confirmation for the just-completed year (i.e., the fiscal year that ended in June of the current year) and include that confirmation page in the binder for the review committee. (We recommend you include a copy of the previous year’s Form 990 confirmation page as well.) If you need to complete the more complicated Form 990-EZ or full Form 990 (see below) and have not completed it when you hand over your files to the review committee, just include a copy of last year’s confirmation page and a note of explanation. 

The instructions for filling out the Form 990-N postcard are below. See the subsection further down for information on filling out a Form 990-EZ or the full Form 990.

Form 990-N (average revenues were $50,000 or less for the prior three consecutive years)

• To file the Form 990-N postcard, visit https://sa.www4.irs.gov/epostcard/secure/home.

• The IRS requires each account to be associated with a specific individual, so you will need to create a new account if you are new to the role of treasurer. To create a new account, click on Create Account. Follow the instructions. Because the account is associated with you individually, use your real name and your personal email address (i.e., not an email address like treasurer@wilderptsa.org).

• Once you have created an account, log in on the IRS website with your new account credentials. Click on Manage e-Postcard Profile on the left. (If you've already set up your organization in the system, you should click on Manage Form 990-N Submissions instead and skip down to the Create New Filing step below).

• Enter the Employer Identification Number (EIN), or tax ID number, for your organization in the two boxes. You will find this information on your organization's IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter or similar government materials. The first two digits of your EIN go in the first box. For instance, if your EIN is 822881451, type in 82 in the first box, click Tab, and then type 2881451 in the next box. Then click on Add EIN.

• Click on Create New Filing.

• Select 82-2881451 - VIRGINIA CONGRESS OF PARENTS AND TEACHERS in the drop-down menu (the number listed here will be the EIN for your organization). Note that for all Virginia local PTA units, the Organization Name will be "Virginia Congress of Parents and Teachers" (the official name of the Virginia PTA, which is the sponsoring organization for your tax-exempt status). However, the EIN will be your PTA/PTSA's specific tax ID number.

• Complete the form. There is no need to list a DBA. For Principal Officer, choose Type of Name as Person and then write down your name and the address of the school (e.g., 1027 Wilmer Ave, Richmond VA 23227).

• Once you submit the form, it will list the Filing Status as "Pending." It may take a few days, but you will receive a confirmation notice from the IRS indicating your 990-N was either accepted or rejected. At that point, you should log into the system and view your filing status. Now the Filing Status should say "Accepted."

• Print the confirmation notice for that year's filing (not the e-Postcard itself) as a PDF. Upload the PDF to your unit's MemberHub page (under Compliance > Submissions in the Form 990 Confirmations section) to meet the "Local Unit Good Standing" criteria. Where it asks for Gross Receipts, list the amount on Line 2: Total Receipts from page 3 of your last Financial Review (see below) or the Total Income line in the sample Annual Report* (i.e., Gross Receipts includes all income, deposits, and credits for the fiscal year). 

• For the Financial Review, print out a hard copy of the confirmation notice and put it in the IRS Filings section of your binder (and in the IRS Filings subfolder of your Google Drive, if applicable).

Form 990-EZ/full Form 990 and CPA suggestions

If your gross receipts are $50,001 or more, but less than $250,000, you may file a Form 990-EZ. If your gross receipts are over $250,000, you must file a full Form 990. If you need to fill out a Form 990-EZ or the full Form 990, you should visit the IRS site for instructions. Be aware that it may take some time to complete a Form 990-EZ or full Form 990, which means you may not be able to finish it in time for the VAPTA's Aug. 1 deadline (which only gives you a month from when that fiscal year ends). If that is the case, the VAPTA will be flexible, but make sure you make the IRS's Nov. 15 deadline (which is not flexible), and when you submit your materials for the financial review, add an explanatory note about the delay and also include the previous year's confirmation notice. 

You may want to seek out the services of a certified public accountant (CPA) to handle the paperwork for a Form 990-EZ or full Form 990. Below are some suggestions from our local units. Please note that your PTA is not required to use a CPA either for filing its tax forms or for the annual financial review. You should not need to hire a CPA if your PTA has annual gross receipts of $50,000 or less and is filling out the very brief Form 990-N electronic postcard (as described above). Even if you are filling out a Form 990-EZ, you might be able to file the paperwork on your own rather than paying for a CPA, but you might want the added security and peace of mind of going with a professional. 

Suggested CPAs:

• Phillip J. Kirby, Jr., of Kirby and Associates
  Parham Road in Henrico
  pkirby@kirbycpa.com
  (804) 672-7650
  Notes from members: "He and his wife, Roslyn (who is also an accountant), own and operate their business.  They are both graduates of Highland Springs High School and Virginia Tech."

• Empire Consulting LP
  8727 Shrader Road
  Henrico, VA 23228
  cs@empireconsult.com
  (804) 915-8739
  Notes from members: "Take an appointment with Fred."

• Jennifer Young
  jennifer.young2844@gmail.com

Financial Review

• Deadline: Aug. 1

Update: To help you with the financial review process, the HCCPTA is hosting two “Auditpaloozas”—what we call our financial review help sessions. Here are the dates and locations. You can also refer to the HCCPTA calendar.

1. Wednesday, July 5, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Varina Library (1875 New Market Rd.) in the Conference Room (a different room than last time!), which is located on the first floor to the left at the bottom of the main staircase, past the Meeting room. 

2. Tuesday, July 11, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Tuckahoe Library (1901 Starling Dr.) in the Meeting Room just to the right after entering the building.

The outgoing treasurer is supposed to take care of this task for your PTA/PTSA. The outgoing treasurer should give the incoming treasurer a copy of the completed financial review, which the incoming treasurer and president should sign and then upload to MemberHub by Aug. 1 as described below. Here is what you need to do to complete your financial review:

• Download the recently revised Financial Review Report from the Virginia PTA website. You should fill out the treasurer portion of the report, which is just the top of page 2. (The board contact info will be in the first Board section of your binder if you organized your PTA/PTSA binder according to the format described above.) If you are stepping down as treasurer, make sure to sign just the top of page 2; the incoming treasurer will sign the bottom of page 4. 

• After you complete and sign your portion of the form, you need to give it and your binder to one of the following: (1) other PTA treasurers at one of HCCPTA's Auditpalooza, our financial review swap; (2) a financial review committee that your board appoints, which should be composed of 3 current PTA members who were not signers on the bank account during the period under review; or (3) a CPA or professional auditor. It is highly recommended you that you attend one of HCCPTA's Auditpaloozas, where HCCPTA officers and other PTA/PTSA treasurers will be on hand to serve as your financial review committee. If you attend an Auditpalooza, you won't need to create your own committee or pay for a CPA. Contact the HCCPTA treasurer (treasurer@hccpta.com) to learn about upcoming Auditpaloozas, which are typically held at local libraries in the county sometime in July. Only the (outgoing) treasurer needs to attend the Auditpalooza, but other officers are more than welcome to come as well (if the incoming president and treasurer come, they can sign the completed financial review form to finalize everything right away!). If you decide you want to hire a CPA to take care of your financial review, you can find a list of recommended CPAs in the section about IRS Form 990s above.

• If you organized your binder according to the format described above, your financial review committee should be able to breeze through the checklist in the financial review, since the binder is ordered according to that checklist. Here's how to collect everything you need:

1. Board Contact Info: Go to MemberHub and log in. Click on Compliance on the left. Click on Officers. You can then print out the page with the board's contact info. Remember that if you prefer, you can use your school's address for each officer, rather than their personal home addresses. 

2. Last Financial Review: Print out last year's financial review that was filed at the beginning of the fiscal year. If applicable, include any interim Financial Reviews that were conducted.

3. Transactions Register: If you use an online accounting program like Mint or MoneyMinder, you can simply print out your register. Otherwise, you will need to provide a check register and/or supplemental records of each transaction.

4. Annual Report: Create an annual report similar to the monthly treasurer reports, but just with the year-end amounts for each budget category. See the annual report tab in the Sample PTA Books* I've created.

5. Minutes: Print out the minutes and put them in chronological order. If it's easier for you, the secretary can store the minutes as Word or Google docs in a shared cloud drive like Google Drive (see instructions above for setting up Google Drive).

6. Budget: Print out the budget that was approved at the beginning of the year, along with any amendments. (See below for instructions on how to prepare a budget.)

7. Bylaws: Print out your unit's completed Organizational Structure Form (see above), plus any of your PTA/PTSA's specific standing rules.

8. IRS Filings: Print out the IRS Form 990-N confirmation page (or, if applicable, your Form 990-EZ/full Form 990 confirmation page) for the just-completed fiscal year (see the instructions above). For instance, if it is currently 2023, you would need to print out your IRS Form 990-N confirmation for the period from July 2022 to June 2023. If you have not yet completed your Form 990, you can include an explanatory note along with the previous year's Form 990 confirmation page.

9. Insurance: Print out a copy of your insurance policy (see above).

10. Sales Tax Exemption (if applicable): Print out a copy of the state letter if you applied for and received a sales tax exemption (see below).

11. 501(c)(3) Letter: Print out a copy of the 501(c)(3) determination letter that the Virginia PTA provided to you after you completed all the requirements for good standing (Standards of Affiliation). See the directions above under Submissions for Good Standing for directions on how to locate your 501(c)(3) determination letter.

12. Membership Roster: Go to MemberHub and log in. Click on Memberships on the left. Click on Manage Members. We suggest clicking on Export CSV and then opening up the file in Excel or Google Sheets; you can then print out the entire list of members. You may want to hide or delete unnecessary columns and add a column with numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.) so you can count your members easily. Alternatively, you can print out each page of members straight from MemberHub; note that each page has only up to 50 members listed.

• After the CPA or financial review committee has signed off on it, your PTA/PTSA's Financial Review should be signed by the incoming president and incoming treasurer. Once all of that is done, scan the completed report and upload it to your unit's MemberHub page (under Compliance > Submissions in the Annual Financial Reviews section). 

• Important note: Under the new Financial Review procedures, the report does not need to be presented to your PTA/PTSA's general membership before the incoming president and treasurer sign it or before it is submitted to the VAPTA; however, you should still share the Financial Review with your members for the sake of transparency.

• For next year's Financial Review, print out a hard copy of the completed Financial Review form and put it in the Last Financial Review section of next year's binder (and in the Last Financial Review subfolder of your Google Drive, if applicable).

Other Important Steps for the Start of the Year

Change the Signers on Your Bank Account

• Deadline: start of the fiscal year in July

• The new officers will need to schedule a meeting to add new check-signers to the account and remove old ones. Typically, banks require all the check-signers (those being added and those being retained on the account) to be present at the same meeting; check-signers who are being removed from the account do not typically need to be present, but check with your bank. The process can take 30 minutes per signatory. Remember to ask about transferring online access as well; otherwise, the new officers will not be able to use the bank's online services. 

• For your records, keep the bank signatory paperwork that the bank provides you in your binder.

Create and Approve a Budget 

• Deadline: by your PTA/PTSA's first general meeting in September, when the budget will be approved; however, creating a draft as early as possible is best, since you will use the budget as the template for your Treasurer Reports (see below)

• Before you can start writing checks or spending any money, you need to have your PTA/PTSA's budget approved by the general membership, typically at the first general meeting in September. 

• In the Sample PTA Books* Google Sheet that Victor created is a budget template tab that you can use. You can make a Google Sheet copy by selecting File > Make a Copy, or you can download it as a Microsoft Excel file by selecting File > Download > Microsoft Excel (.xlsx).

• To customize this spreadsheet, simply replace the budget information here with your own budget categories and amounts. Try to replace the text here rather than deleting or moving rows or columns; otherwise, you might mess up the automated monthly treasurer reports (see below). Feel free to contact Victor at treasurer@hccpta.com if you run into any trouble. 

• Important note: For 2022-23, you will want to double your budget for Board Insurance (see the instructions above) so that you can cover the insurance for not just this year (2022-23) but also next year (2023-24), given that the VAPTA will start requiring insurance policies to be in place by June 15 in the coming fiscal year (moved up from Oct. 1).

Start Creating Treasurer Reports

• Deadline: every board meeting or general meeting

• The format of the monthly Treasurer Report is up to your PTA/PTSA, but it is recommended that you not list individual transactions (which is the purpose of the separate Transactions Register; see below). Instead, take your budget and sum up the totals for each budget category—for the month and for the year to date. 

• In the Sample PTA Books* Google Sheet that Victor created, you'll find templates for the treasurer reports that follow this suggested format. (The link has the 2022-23 version; the 2021-22 version is here.) Use them to generate your monthly treasurer reports (note that each month is a separate tab in the Google Sheet). You can make a Google Sheet copy of the file by selecting File > Make a Copy, or you can download it as a Microsoft Excel file by selecting File > Download > Microsoft Excel (.xlsx). 

  • The spreadsheet is automated, so once you enter the budget categories and amounts in the budget tab, the tab for each month will contain those budget lines.

  • For each monthly treasurer report, you only need to enter information in the Actual Monthly column, and the spreadsheet will automatically update the year-to-date fields. The same goes for the membership column at the bottom—just enter the numbers for that month in the left column, and the system will automatically update the Membership Dues total for that month as well (so you shouldn't edit that cell yourself). 

  • If you need to update the month or year listed in the upper-left-hand corner of each sheet, go to the bottom of the sheet and change the month or year listed in the cell to the right of Balance on Hand: (Row 7 in the budget tab and Row 53 in the monthly treasurer reports). The date listed at top will automatically change. For instance, to change the date at top on the July sheet from "July 2021" to "July 2022," you should change cell C53 (Column C, Row 53) from 7/31/21 to 7/31/22; to change the Beginning Balance date from "6/30/21" to "6/30/22," you should change go to the budget tab at change cell C7 (Column C, Row 7) from 6/30/21 to 6/30/22.

• The fiscal year for PTAs/PTSAs starts on July 1 and ends on June 30, so your first treasurer report will be for July. 

• It's easier if you sort income and expenses month based on when the money entered or left your bank account (i.e., the cash accounting method), rather than, say, when the check was signed (i.e., the accrual accounting method). So if you write a check in November, but it is not deposited until December, you should list that transaction under December.

• Remember to have someone on your board who is not an authorized check-signer compare your bank statements to your treasurer reports every month. 

  • If you use the template Victor created, you can simply share the Google Sheet link or Excel file with them, and they can type their name and the date in the upper-right corner. (You should put your own name and date for when you completed that month's report.) Remember that you will need to give that person editing access for the file, by clicking on the Share button in Google Sheets, emailing them the Excel file, etc. 

  • Once the treasurer report is reviewed, you should print it out and add it to your binder and any shared drive (if applicable) in the Treasurer Reports section/folder. In Google Sheets, click on the Print button and make sure you're just printing the Current sheet. 

• At every board and general meeting, you will want to provide a summary of the treasurer report. Below are examples for what to say. You can email the board and/or membership beforehand with the text (and any links) and then just go over the important details at the actual meeting.

  • While practices vary, we suggest reporting the month-to-month totals to the board, while providing the year-to-date totals to the general membership (who probably care more about whether the PTA/PTSA is staying within its annual budget). 

  • One way to share each treasurer report with the board or membership is to print out a PDF of each report and email it to the board or membership and/or post it on your website. However, it is often easier if you just give the board or membership a link to the Google Sheet itself. You can just copy the link in your browser (note that each tab has a separate link, so you can send the link for a specific month). You can also click on Share and then click on Copy link at the bottom.

  • When sharing with other board members, make sure they have access to the Google Sheet (click on the Share button and add them to the list). 

  • For general meetings, you could put a link to the Google Sheet on your PTA/PTSA's website, or include that link in a Zoom chat for virtual meetings. (Be sure to make your Google Sheet publicly visible by clicking on the Share button and under General access, selecting Anyone with the link and granting them Viewer access.) 

April 12, 2022, board meeting

Here's the most recent treasurer report. In March, we started with  $3,449.03 in our bank account. We took in $60.15 in store rewards (Amazon Smile program), while spending $601 for staff appreciation and $12.25 for VAPTA membership dues. In April so far, we have taken in and spent nothing. That leaves us with a current bank balance of $2,895.93.

June 7, 2022, general meeting

We started the fiscal year in July of last year with $932.24 in our bank account. Since July 1 we have taken in $736 in membership dues, $633.22 in Spirit Night fundraiser revenue, $583.14 in T-shirts and other Spirit Wear sales, $536.27 in general donations, and $902.92 in store rewards from Kroger, Publix, and Amazon, and   $64.06 in product fundraisers. We have spent $601 on staff appreciation, $48.85 on student support, $65 on board insurance, and $62.40 in operational expenses like web hosting; $483 has gone to the Virginia PTA for their portion of membership dues, $2.90 has gone to the Henrico County Council of PTAs/PTSAs, and $2.02 has gone to PayPal for transaction fees. We currently have $3,122.68 in our bank account. For more information, you can see the Treasurer Report up to the end of May here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OrOkcLtD-_MnD9060bCdT3koqQkSxlpoDkB6g4CeOKc/edit#gid=202129224.

Set Up Online Payments via the MemberHub Store

• Deadline: start of the school year so that you are ready for your membership drive

If your PTA has not used MemberHub previously, you can request access here via the Virginia PTA's website. For processing payments via your school's MemberHub store (for example, wilder.memberhub.com), you will need to set up a Stripe Account with the new treasurer's contact information (Stripe is the payment system that MemberHub uses to processes online orders). Follow these instructions:

• Go to your PTA/PTSA's MemberHub Dashboard page (e.g., https://wilder.memberhub.com/dashboard).

• Click on Online Store on the left.

• Click on Store Settings.

• Click on View Express Dashboard under the Stripe Settings section.

• Click on Account.

• Click on Email and phone number at the bottom.

• Change the email address and phone number by verifying one with the other.

• Note that for the MemberHub store, you can set all the store items to have the transaction (credit card) fees automatically added to the transactions. You can do this by going to Online Store > Store Settings from the Dashboard page; there are options to choose from in the Processing Fees section. Note that you cannot change this setting for individual store items and you cannot give customers the option to choose between covering or not covering these fees.

• The Virginia PTA has instructions here for adding items to your store. Please note that if your unit is formally a PTA (parent-teacher association) and not a PTSA (parent-teacher-student association) you should not set up your store to accept student memberships. So elementary schools, which are PTAs, should not have student members. Note that you can have family memberships or community memberships, however.

Pay Monthly Virginia PTA (VAPTA) Dues

• Deadline: 1st of every month after you start adding new members (new requirement for 2022-23 fiscal year)

• You will need to make monthly dues payments to the state PTA. Out of whatever your PTA charges for membership, $3.75 for each individual member must be remitted to the state PTA (the Virginia PTA). (Note that these dues payments do not go to the Henrico County Council of PTAs/PTSAs, which has a separate process for submitting dues; see below.) If for a particular month you only have a few new members, VAPTA says you do not have to bother remitting dues for that month; wait until the total reaches 10 and then remit the entire amount. Be sure to remit all dues, however, by the end of the fiscal year in June, or that will create headaches for the VAPTA.

• Using MemberHub: It is recommended that you use MemberHub to have people sign up as PTA/PTSA members or renew their memberships. (Follow the Set Up Online Payments via the MemberHub Store instructions above.) Once you start receiving memberships through MemberHub, you can easily remit the state PTA's portion of these membership payments to the Virginia PTA by following these instructions (also provided on the VAPTA website):

  • In MemberHub, log in with your personal email address and password and click on Memberships in the left-hand menu. 

  • Click on Remit State Dues in the menu.

  • Click on Send ACH Payment (note there is a $1 transfer fee).

  • Suggestion: For greater convenience, some PTAs/PTSAs in Virginia have their schools process their membership payments at the same time that families pay for their other school fees in the fall. The school will then cut the PTA a check for the total amount of PTA/PTSA memberships. You can work out with your school how best to do this.

• Sending a paper check: If you are not using MemberHub to process your memberships, you will need to mail a check to the Virginia PTA. Go to the Membership Resources page on the VAPTA website and scroll down to Paying Dues. Click on the link to the dues remittance form and then mail it and your paper check to the Virginia PTA at 1027 Wilmer Ave, Richmond VA 23227. 

Pay Annual HCCPTA Dues

• Deadline: Dec. 15

• You will need to make one (1) dues payment to the Henrico County Council of PTAs/PTSAs (HCCPTA) every year. The HCCPTA charges dues of $0.10 per member based on the membership total at the end of the last fiscal year (June 30). Please note that the HCCPTA (county) dues are different from the Virginia PTA (state) dues, which you will pay monthly through MemberHub's Memberships > Remit State Dues menu option and which apply to the current year's membership, not last year's.

• HCCPTA's treasurer (treasurer@hccpta.com) will email you the invoice in November. Below are instructions from the invoice email for making your payment:

There are three ways to pay your county council dues:

1. Make a payment via PayPal to HCCPTA’s PayPal account at https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=YY2Y27ND9W9EY. Virginia PTA allows local units to use PayPal and other electronic transactions services set up for nonprofit organizations, which allow you to make payments directly from your bank account without the need for a credit or debit card; note that the same recordkeeping requirements are in place for electronic transactions, including two signatures on the check request form. If you pay dues via PayPal, your PTA/PTSA must cover the additional processing fee, which is a discounted nonprofit rate of 1.99% of the total plus $0.49 per transaction. Please check the checkbox that allows you to opt to offset the fees.

2. Go to HCCPTA’s MemberHub Store at https://hccpta.memberhub.com/store and click on the link for Dues Payments to HCCPTA. You can pay with a personal credit card or debit card, and then have your PTA/PTSA reimburse you for the cost. (Remember that Virginia PTA strongly advises units not to have their own debit cards.) MemberHub will automatically add the processing fee for card payments, which is 3.5% of the total plus $0.50 per transaction.

3. Mail a check payable to HCCPTA to the following address:

HCCPTA c/o Victor Chen

514 Ridgeley Ln

Henrico, VA 23229-7236

If mailing a check, please include a printed copy of the invoice. You can print out the invoice email or fill out a blank form here.

• Please note that any amount that you pay beyond your required dues will automatically go to our George H. Moody Scholarship fund, which helps deserving Henrico high school seniors pay for college. Please consider having your PTA/PTSA donate! Last year, we received generous donations totaling $2,500 from these Henrico PTAs and PTSAs (thank you so much for your kindness!):

  • Arthur Ashe Jr. Elementary School PTA

  • Douglas S. Freeman High School PTSA

  • Echo Lake Elementary School PTA

  • George H. Moody Middle School PTSA

  • Greenwood Elementary School PTA

  • Highland Springs High School PTSA

  • Kaechele Elementary School PTA

  • Lakeside Elementary School PTA

  • Maybeury Elementary School PTA

  • Nuckols Farm Elementary School PTA

  • Pocahontas Middle School PTA

  • Short Pump Middle School PTSA

  • Tuckahoe Elementary School PTA

  • Tuckahoe Middle School PTA

  • Twin Hickory Elementary School PTA

  • Varina High School PTSA

General Guidelines

• Every payment needs to have a completed Check Request/Reimbursement* form. VAPTA has sample forms, and Victor has created an editable Microsoft Word version of that particular form in case you wish to use it. 

  • Every payment needs a receipt. Tips/gratuities are fine so long as the amount is listed on the receipt.

  • If the recipient loses the check, you should complete a Check Reissue Request* form (whether you actually stop payment on the original check is up to you). 

  • If you end up voiding a check, make sure to file a Voided Check form.

• When you are depositing cash or checks to your bank account, you are supposed to have two people count the money. For cash, make sure to complete the Cash Deposit Receipt form, which requires the second person's signature. For checks, make sure to complete the List of Checks* form, which also requires the second person's signature. File these with the corresponding Record of Deposit form in your binder after you deposit the cash or checks at your bank. 

  • You can do mobile deposits of checks (using your bank's website or app), but you still need to fill out the same forms, including having a second person sign off on the check deposits. 

• Important note: The VAPTA allows for signatures on PTA forms to be typewritten. They do not need to be handwritten or images of handwritten signatures. Since oftentimes these forms are emailed, you will also have the email record of the signer's approval. (For paper checks, of course, you will need a physical signature.)

• In order to generate your required Transactions Register, we suggest you use an online accounting program like Mint (free, but run by for-profit Intuit) or MoneyMinder (not-for-profit, but $179/year). The program can be set to pull data about your PTA's transactions straight from bank, and then you can categorize the transactions according to your budget categories. This means you can easily print out the list of transactions required for the Financial Review. Instructions for using Mint are below.

• Visit the Virginia PTA Treasurer Tools page for additional advice. 

Guidelines for Optional Services

Accounting Software

Using Mint for Your Transactions Register

You can use Mint.com to easily categorize expenses. It can also make it easier to print out the Transaction Register (required for the financial review) at the end of the fiscal year. Here is what you do to print out transactions:

1. Log into Mint.com.

2. Click on Transactions on the left.

3. Click on the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the transactions table and choose Export ??? transactions. Save the spreadsheet file somewhere, and then open it up with either Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. You can then print out the spreadsheet (hide any columns that you don't need, and expand the other columns if they are too narrow to be read).

4. Unfortunately, Mint.com does not automatically generate a running balance when you export the transactions. However, you can edit the file to create a running balance. (More details to be added.)

In-Person Payment Systems (Credit Card Readers)

To process payments in person, you may want to look into obtaining a credit card reader through services like Square, Stripe, or PayPal. At the moment, the most basic Square reader (which reads the magnetic stripe on credit and debit cards) is free for the first reader ordered; the more advanced version of the card reader (which also reads card chips) costs $49. For registered nonprofits, Square charges 2.6% + 10¢ per transaction for all major credit cards; the fee for manually-entered transactions is 3.5% + 15¢.

The Stripe reader costs $73 ($65 plus $8 shipping). Stripe charges a fee of 3.5% + 50¢ per transaction. Annoyingly, the Stripe card reader does not seem to link to actual products on the MemberHub store—transactions need to be entered manually—even though MemberHub uses the Stripe payment system. That means there does not seem to be a built-in advantage for using Stripe over the other services.

PayPal offers its credit card reader Zettle for $29 for the first reader ordered. It charges a fee of 2.29% + 9¢ per transaction. This fee may be lower for registered nonprofits.

Setting Up a Square Card Reader

Note: The basic Square reader only works with Apple devices with lightning charging ports.

1. Install the Square POS app from Apple's App Store.

2. Sign into your organization's Square account.

3. Insert the Square Reader cord into your device. A message will appear noting that the reader is connected. 

4. Tap on the Library link in the menu at the top.

5. If your unit has created items in the store, scroll down to the bottom of the list to see those items, such as different membership and donation options. Tap on an item to add it.

6. When you are done adding items, tap on the blue Review sale button at the bottom. Tap on the blue Charge button at the bottom.

7. Swipe the card, which should be charged.

Online Payment Systems

Virginia PTA allows local units to use certain electronic transactions / credit card processing, including Apple Pay, Cheddar Up, PayPal, Stripe, and Square. (All of those services allow for a nonprofit organization to create an account. VAPTA does not currently allow Venmo, and do not use PayPal's Friends and Family no-fee transaction option.) PTAs are also permitted to use online payments such as e-checks. The same recordkeeping procedures must be followed for electronic payments: i.e., two signatures on the Check Request Form. Below I have included step-by-step tutorials for setting up PayPal; other services have similar procedures.

Online Payments Using PayPal

• You can set up a nonprofit PayPal account that gives you a discounted rate; follow the instructions on that website.

• When sending or receiving money using PayPal, note that the following fees apply:

  • For sending money (e.g., to reimburse a board member), the fee that applies is the "Send/Receive Money for Goods and Services" rate, which is currently 2.99% of the transaction.

  • For receiving donations, the fee that applies is the Charity Transaction Rate (which you need to apply for), which is currently $0.49 + 1.99% of the transaction.

  • If you are reimbursing someone using PayPal, the PTSA can cover the transaction fees, but you should add a line in your budget for "Transaction Fees" and record that expense there.

Sales Tax Exemption

You can find general information about sales tax exemptions for nonprofits and the procedure for applying at the Virginia Tax page for nonprofits. Note that the renewal process can take up to 90 days. To apply or renew your exemption, you will need to provide:

• an up-to-date 501(c)(3) determination letter (see above); 

• your mission statement;

• your organization's totals for the previous year's gross revenue, administrative expenses, and fundraising expenses; 

• proof that your organization is registered to solicit charitable donations or contributions in Virginia (via the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services);

• the due date of your last Form 990-N (typically, this is Nov. 15 of the preceding year; you may also be asked to upload the last Form 990-N);

• an estimate of how much in dollars your organization spent in the previous year and the current year on purchases made in Virginia, with a breakdown for those expenses in the Northern Virginia region, Hampton Roads region, and elsewhere in Virginia.

Renewing a Sales Tax Exemption

1. Visit Virginia Tax's Nonprofit Online site at https://www.npo.tax.virginia.gov. You can check if your organization has previously received an exemption by using the search engine. 

2. If you have access to an existing account, login using it. If you don't have access to the existing account, you can create a new user account and then associate your PTA/PTSA's exemption with that new account. To do so, click on Sign Up. Under Services Available, select Change Access Request and complete the steps required to access the exemption you want to renew. Once you receive the confirmation email, log into the site again. 

3. Under Associated Organization History, select the print option to print a copy of your certificate (you'll need it for the renewal process). Then click on Renew.

Applying for a New Sales Tax Exemption

1. Visit Virginia Tax's Nonprofit Online site at https://www.npo.tax.virginia.gov. You can check if your organization has previously received an exemption by using the search engine. 

2. Click on Sign Up.  

3. Under Services Available, select Apply for Sales & Use Tax Certificate of Exemption.