To be successful in our daily lives, we must all meet deadline to survive, we must pay the mortgage payment on time or the bank will ask us to leave, you don’t pay your gas & electric in a timely manner you will be in the dark, Don’t pay your taxes on time and the government will own your house. Your Moose Lodge is no different then your personal deadlines that must be met to be successful.

To help each Administrator have a successful Lodge, we have come up with a 12 month calendar that will help you make all your deadlines in a timely manner, This calendar is located on the CA-NV website, on the Administrator Advisory button. Changes will be made as they occur, so please check the website periodically.

To help you get an understanding of what is in these calendars, I will highlight some of the things that will make your Lodge a Merit Award winner and keep you out of hot water with the State and Federal Government.

January is a busy tax month, W-2’s should have been sent to all paid employees and 1099-Misc to anyone you paid $600.00 or more and did not take out taxes for the year. By law these forms must be sent by January 31st. Other tax forms that were to be sent by January 31st were IRS form 940 Employers Annual Federal Unemployment Tax Return, known as FUTA and California form DE-7 Annual Reconciliation Statement.
February has more Tax deadlines to meet for the year. Copy A of W-2’s with the entire page of Form W-3 must be submitted to the Social Security Administration Office by February 28th. If you are late the Lodge could be fined $75,000.00, if you file by March 30th.

If you go longer and past August 1st the maximum penalty is $250,000.00 per year. I don’t think any lodge has that kind lying around. Another very important event in February of money is the Governor of the Lodge must appoint a Nominating Committee No Later Than the last General Meeting of February. You will also notice some recommended books and pamphlets to be made available for the new Board of Officers. In April, the General Election shall be held at the first General Meeting in April. For those lodges that own their property in California, your second half of your property tax is due April 10th.

May is a busy month, if your Lodge is on track to receive the Lodge Merit Award there are some important things you must complete by May 10th to complete the job. You must transmit your Monthly Report; Submit your Community Service Report and Balance Sheet to Moose International on time. Don’t be late and lose the Award you worked so hard for all year. Yes your insurance premiums come due in May, you will be billed by M.I. for your Directors & Officers Liability, Fidelity Bond (Misappropriation Assessment) and 50% of your Risk Pool total assessment. Very important in May, your new Jr. Governor must call a meeting of all Past Active Governors to select your Lodge Moose of the Year.

You will see many notes each month, reminding you of up and coming deadlines, asking you some important questions such as; Submit all membership applications as received, remit all endowment fund money as collected, send out invitations to new prospective members for enrollment, are all your social quarter servers TIPS trained and the list goes on and on

I have just touched on what you can expect to find in these calendars. If you use them, you will have a very successful and rewarding year. Meet your deadlines on time; keep the lodge money in the lodge bank account, not the IRS. I thank you for your attention and enjoy the rest of the Mid-year Conference.

It is that time again to prepare our California Exempt Organization 199 Form and Federal 990, 990EZ and 990N for the year. A complete set of instructions and the forms can be found below. It is recommended that every Lodge complete their 199 and 990 as soon as possible and mail it in. The deadline for filing is September 15, any date after the deadline will result in heavy fines and interest. IMPORTANT–You must also complete the CNMA Compliance Form and mail as instructed.

All of the suggestions and guidelines outlined in the attachments are based on the operations of an average Moose Lodge, Chapter or Legion. If your Lodge, Chapter or Legion has activities that are unusual, these forms may not work for you. In case of any questions, first contact your State 990 or Government Relations Chairman. If your question is of a technical nature, please call me at extension 6495. If you choose to have this report prepared by someone else, be certain they use the enclosed forms and follow these instructions. Please try to do the form yourself, as outside help can be very expensive, and most accountants are not familiar with Fraternal Organizations.

You will need to file either the Form 990 or 990EZ. Which return that you are required to file depends on your Lodge, Chapter or Legion’s gross receipts and total assets. The following steps are designed to help you determine the proper filing status.

Step 1: If you were not required to file a return for the prior fiscal year ending April 30th your gross receipts were less than $25,000 and you did not receive a mailing from the Internal Revenue Service including a blank Form 990, you have no filing requirements. If you filed a return last year and expect your gross receipts to be less than $25,000 this year, then follow instruction (a) on the enclosed “Worksheet to Determine Filing Status.”

Step 2: Refer to the Form 990 filed for the previous year. If Part I, Line 12 is greater than $100,000, or Part IV, Line 59 is greater than $250,000 and you expect these balances to be approximately the same for the current fiscal year ending April 30, 2009, then it is likely you will be required to file the standard Form 990 and should refer to the separate instructions enclosed for that form.

Step 3: If upon examination of your prior year Form 990 you note that Part I, Line 12 is less than $100,000 and Part IV, Line 59 is less than $250,000 you may be eligible for filing the Form 990EZ. In order to determine if you are eligible in the current year to file the Form 990EZ, you will have to complete the 990 worksheet, page 1 and then the enclosed “Worksheet to Determine Filing Status”.

Now that you have determined your proper filing status please refer to the attached copies of IRS Form 990 or IRS Form 990EZ. Please use the attached forms, as certain information has already been inserted to assist you in preparing your return. We have also attached worksheets along with the 990 and 990EZ instructions.

You should now follow the separate instructions for either the 990 or the 990EZ as appropriate. After completing the return, you should sign and mail it to the Internal Revenue Service, Ogden Utah 84201-0027 by September 15th. It is very important that you file a return or an extension by September 15th, as the penalty for late filing can be costly.

If you need to request an extension of time to file this return please obtain form 8868 from the Internal Revenue Service or download from the Internal Revenue Service website [www.irs.gov/formspubs].

If you have questions about filing your return, please contact Paul Rodenback in the Finance Department (630) 966-2203.

A big thank you go’s out to Joseph Mech, Treasurer of Moose International for all his help in getting all the current information available for this years 990’s

When your form is complete, do a spell check by clicking on Edit on the top of the screen, scroll down to Check Spelling, over to Comments and Form Fields and click. A Check Spelling Screen will appear, click start. Once that is completed, save the form to what ever file name you want, as long as you can find it latter.

Important Fraternal Information for The Moose

Most lodges do not understand the difference between an employee and a member. The purpose of this e-mail is to clarify the distinction between members and guests.  Section 50.2 of the Moose General Laws and the Private Policy allow good standing “members” to sponsor guests into a lodge – not employees.  There is nothing in our Moose General Laws allowing an “employee” to sponsor someone into a lodge as a guest.

When a member is in the lodge on the clock and receiving pay as an employee, he or she is in the lodge as an employee – not as a member.  The status of “employee” gives the person certain legal rights that members of the Executive Committee should never forget.  You cannot treat an employee in the same manner you treat a member.

Horse playing, joke telling and other conduct permissible with a member could have devastating ramifications if done with an employee (even if that employee is a member).  Unfortunately, the definition of employee could also encompass volunteers receiving tips, free meals, etc., because receiving such compensation could classify them as an employee.

Anyone receiving tips, free meals, drinks, etc. for volunteering could be classified as a paid employee and the compensation if over a minimum amount is reportable to taxing authorities. For instance, a member receiving drink chips and/or meals a couple of times a week worth $20 for volunteering would receive over $1,000 compensation by years end (not including tips received), which is far above the minimum reporting amount. If the lodge gets audited and this practice is discovered (which has happened), the penalties and interest could far exceed the taxes. Although we are unaware of anyone being criminally charged, it could also possibly be a criminal violation to fail to report this income to taxing authorities.

Please remember that our fraternal laws apply to members – not employees. Bartenders/employees should not be signing in guests while working even if they are a member. Perhaps these are matters worthy of a comment or two to the Administrators and/or Presidents at your upcoming association convention.