Understanding the Form 990 and its Preparation Prerequisites

Overview

This event is offered in collaboration with the Minnesota Society of CPAs.

Navigate the complex world of Form 990 and discover how its structure, definitions and disclosures shape public perception and regulatory oversight. Gain a clear understanding of the form's core components, the triggers for its schedules and the key terms every preparer must know. Learn how to identify data sources within an organization, manage sensitive disclosures and guide board members in understanding what the completed form communicates. Gain the clarity and confidence needed to complete Form 990 accurately and effectively.

Highlights

Overview of the Form 990's structure, purpose and schedule design.

Key factors that establish a related organization.

Definitions affecting Part VII-A including trustees, directors, officers, key employees and high-compensation individuals.

Core terms such as family relationships, business relationships, independence and 35% controlled entities which are central to both Core Form Part VI and Schedule L.

Sequencing of preparation tasks and identifying internal data providers.

Best practices for engaging the board in understanding the completed Form 990.

Prerequisites

Familiarity with the nonprofit sector helpful, but not necessary

Designed For

Public accounting tax and audit staff, nonprofit organization treasurers, accountants, CFOs, and other compliance advisors

Objectives

Appreciate the public relations and regulatory impact of the Core Form and frequently used schedules.

Identify the circumstances triggering each of the 15 substantive schedules.

Master six essential glossary terms every Form 990 preparer must know.

Understand how board member independence affects Schedule L reporting.

Recognize who within an organization holds the information needed for accurate Form 990 preparation.

Preparation

None

Credits

Level

Code

Vendor

Fields of Study

Leader(s):

Eve Borenstein, AICPA

Leader Bios

Eve Borenstein, AICPA

Eve Borenstein, JD Eve has practiced law since 1985, operating for 15 years the Tax Exempt Law Office of Eve Rose Borenstein, LLC until that firm merged in 2004 into the then-created Borenstein and McVeigh Law Office (www.BAMlawoffice.com). Her practice in both firms has been dedicated to the unique tax and regulatory rules applied by the IRS and state agencies to “tax-exempt” organizations. Office in Minneapolis, Eve consults with both CPAs and individual non-profits nation-wide; through 2012 she had represented more than 950 tax-exempt organizations before the IRS. A substantial portion of her clientele are organizations with gross revenues of less than $1,000,000 per year, but Eve also represents many medium and large organizations, typically on planning or IRS audits and correspondence.

For the past two decades, Eve has been an active member of the American Bar Association’s Tax Section Committee on Exempt Organizations, working from that platform, as well as with various other professional groups and committees (including those of the AICPA) to provide feedback to the IRS on exempt organization forms and procedures. Since 1990, she has authored and instructed four exempt organization CPE courses offered by State CPA societies (two on the Form 990 and two on EO tax mandates), and is the co-author of the AICPA’s “Comprehensive Form 990” course debuting spring 2013.

Informed by her clients’ experience in IRS examinations and by her work with the CPA community on the Form 990’s preparation, she is widely recognized as the authoritative instructor on that Form. In addition to teaching to the professional community serving non-profits, she participates in many training programs serving non-profits directly. Her speaking and teaching have always comprised a significant portion of her work in service to her commitment to see the sector “do it right the first time”.

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