Special Issues
Financial information in Parts II and III are now reported on the same basis as the remainder of the return, (in the past, Schedule A was presented on a cash basis even if the rest of the return was on an accrual basis.) This means that all four prior years that are shown (2004 through 2007) must be revised to the accrual basis if your organization reports on an accrual basis. Additionally, you must convert the list of supporters that is reported on line 5 to accrual basis for all prior years (2004 through 2007).

Information You Will Need to Prepare Schedule A, Part II or III
You will need to gather the following information:

• Contribution lists for 2004 – 2008. After 2008, you will only need your current year list since prior years will already have been converted to the accrual basis.
• Tax returns for 2004 – 2008. After 2008, you will only need your current year return since prior years will already have been converted to the accrual basis.
• View the IRS Form 990 Filing Tips: Schedule A (Public Support and Public Charity Classification) for additional help.

How to Prepare Schedule A, Part II
Complete Part II if you selected line 7 in Schedule A, Part I. There are two ways to meet the public support requirements: at least 33 and 1/3% of your support is from contributions and grants or 10% of your support is from contributions and grants and you meet the facts and circumstances test listed in Regulations section 1.170A-9T(f)(3). If you met the support test in the prior year but don’t meet it this year, you will have a grace period for one year, (see lines 16b and 17b in Schedule A). This article will only address the lines that often cause confusion.

Line 1
Enter your contributions, grants, and membership fees to the extent the fees are in excess of payments to purchase related activity products or services. You will find these numbers on Form 990 page 9 line 1. For 2004 – 2007, this number would come from Page 1 line 1. Remove unusual grants from this amount. Unusual grants are grants that are contributions and bequests from disinterested persons that meet the following criteria:

• Attracted because of the organization’s publicly supported nature,
• Unusual and unexpected because of the amount, and
• Large enough to endanger the organization’s status as normally meeting the 33% percent public support test or the 10% facts and circumstances test.

Line 5
Enter the portion of contributions by each individual , trust, or corporation included on line 1 that exceeds 2% of the total reported in line 1(f). This is for the current year plus the four previous years. For example, If your total in line 1(f) is $1,000,000, and you have one individual who contributed $21,000 during years 2004 – 2008, a private foundation who contributed $100,000 during years 2004 – 2008, a corporation that contributed $50,000 during the years 2004 -2008, and 50 individuals who each contributed a total of less than $20,000 during 2004 – 2008, you would report $171,000, (21000 + 50,000 + 100,000) on line 5. The $171,000 would be considered as coming from excess contributors and will be removed from your public support percentage calculations. Do not include support from governmental units or publicly supported organizations in line 5. Remember to convert 2004 – 2007 to accrual basis if your organization is on an accrual basis.

Line 12
Enter the total amount of gross receipts for the current year plus the previous four years from admissions, sales of merchandise, performance of services, or furnishing of facilities in any activity which is not an unrelated trade or business. Include membership fees to the extent that they are payments to purchase any of the related activities.

Line 17a
If lines 14 and 15 are less than 33 1/3% you will need to determine if you qualify under the facts and circumstances test. If 10% of your support is from contributions and grants and you meet the facts and circumstances shown below, select the box on line 17a and provide details of how you meet the following facts and circumstances requirements of Regulations section 1.170A-9T(f)(3) in Schedule A, Part IV):

• The program maintains a continuous and bona fide program for solicitation of funds from the general public, community, membership group involved, governmental units or other public charities.
• All other facts and circumstances, including the sources of support, whether the organization has a governing board which represents the broad interests of the public, and whether the organization generally provides facilities or services directly for the benefit of the general public on a continuing basis.
• If the organization is a membership organization, whether the solicitation for dues-paying members is designed to enroll a substantial number of persons from the community, whether dues for individual members have been fixed at rates designed to make membership available to a broad cross-section of the public and whether the activities of the organization will be likely to appeal to persons having some broad common interest or purpose.

Schedule A Part III
Complete Part III if you selected line 9 in Schedule A, Part I. The public support for test Part III is met if the organization meets the following criteria:

• The organization receives at least one-third of its support from contributions, membership fees, and gross receipts from activities related to its exempt functions or from amounts which are not related trades or business, not including unusual grants, (see above for a definition),
• No more than one-third of its support comes from gross investment income and net unrelated business income from businesses acquired after June 30, 1975.

If this criteria is not met, the organization will fail the public support test and will be considered a private foundation instead. Contributions from disqualified persons, contributions that exceed 1% of the total contributions for the year, and contributions that exceed $5,000 are removed from the public support calculation.

For more information, view the IRS instructions at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i990sa.pdf.

Coming Soon
Schedule D coming February, 2010

Special Issues With Schedule A, Part I
While your IRS determination letter is the first place to look to determine that type of organization you are, your activities may have changed. For your first five tax years as a section 501(c)(3) organization, you must check the box in Part I that corresponds to your public charity status as stated in your exemption determination letter from the IRS. After the first five years, check the box that corresponds to the activity you currently have.

Information You Will Need to Prepare Schedule A, Part I
You will need to gather or prepare the following information:

• IRS exemption determination letter. If you do not have your exemption determination letter, call 1-877-829-5500 to speak to the Exempt Organizations Customer Account Services.
• Information regarding the sources of your income.
• View the IRS Form 990 Filing Tips: Schedule A (Public Support and Public Charity Classification) for additional help.

How to Prepare Schedule A, Part I
Complete Part I by specifying under which part of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) your organization claims classification as tax-exempt. Look at your determination letter to determine under what section the IRS has determined you fall, then verify that you still meet the qualifications of the section, as detailed on the schedule and shown below. The remainder of this article will only address lines 7, 9, and 11 as they can be a little confusing.

Line 7 — 509(a)(1)
An organization that checks the box on line 7 qualifies as tax-exempt under IRC 509(a)(1) and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi) indicating that it is a “publicly-supported public charity”. This means that a substantial part of your revenue comes from contributions from the general public or from a governmental unit. A publicly-supported charity must attract public support in the form of donations and grants from people and granting agencies who agree with its goals and that it is successfully achieving them. If you are described in IRC 509(a)(1) and 170(b)(1)(A)(vi), you will complete Part II of Schedule A.

Line 9 — 509(a)(2)
An organization that checks the box on line 9 qualifies as tax-exempt under IRC 509(a)(2) and is typically supported by revenue from its exempt-purpose activities and services rather than from contributions. A 509(a)(2) organization, which depends more on revenue from services provided to those who find the services valuable and cost-effective, must in addition avoid competing with commercial businesses or risk being reclassified as a commercial business itself. In general, 509(a)(2) organizations are at greater risk of losing their tax-exempt status as a result of being reclassified as a commercial (and not charitable) organization. To prevent this, restrict your activities to ones that primarily advance your stated missions. If you are described in IRC 509(a)(2), you will complete Part III of Schedule A.

Line 11 — 509(a)(3), Supporting Organizations
Supporting organizations will select what type of supporting organization they are in line 11. Again, look at your IRS determination letter as a first place to start. If this does not tell you your type, answer the following:

• Type I:  the organization is operated, supervised or controlled by one or more publicly supported organization. Choose this if you can answer “Yes” to this question: 
  “Does the governing body, officers ,or membership of the supported public charity(ies) select a majority of your organization’s officers, directors, or trustees?”
• Type II: the organization is supervised or controlled in connection with one or more publicly supported organizations. Choose this if you can answer “Yes” to this question: 
  “Do the same persons, such as directors, trustees, and officers supervise or control the supported organization and my organization?”
• Type III: choose this is you answered “No” to the questions for Type I and Type II, your activities perform the functions of, or carry out the purposes of, the publicly supported organization(s), and but for your organization’s involvement, such activities would normally be engaged in by the publicly supported organizations themselves.  If this is the case, choose Type III Functionally Integrated. If not, you must (1) make payments of substantially all of your income (at least 85% of adjusted net income) to or for the use of one or more supported organizations, (2) provide enough support to one or more supported organizations to ensure that the supported organization is attentive to your operations; and (3) pay a substantial amount of the total support of the supporting organization to those supported organizations that meet requirements (1) and (2). If this describes you, choose Type III, Other.

NOTE: The IRS has published a notice of proposed regulations for Type III Supporting Organizations That Are Not Functionally Integrated as a result of changes made in the Pension Protection Act of 2006, Public Law 109-280 (PPA). As a result of the PPA, Type III Supporting Organizations are prohibited from supporting any supported organization not organized in the United States. It also prohibits Type I or Type III supporting organizations form accepting a gift or contribution from a person who directly or indirectly controls the governing body of a supported organization.

For more information, view the IRS instructions at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i990sa.pdf.

Coming Soon
Schedule A, Parts II and III, coming in January, 2010.