STC’s IRS Form 990

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All 501(c)(3) organizations that are required to file IRS Form 990 are also required to make their Form 990 available for public inspection upon request.

STC is making its Form 990 available to members on its website as part of the Board of Directors' continuing commitment to transparency and accountability to members.

Requirement to File and Make Public the 990

Most charitable organizations are required to file an annual information return with the U.S. Department of Internal Revenue (IRS). This information return is known as "Form 990." It includes information on revenues, expenses and changes in fund balance.

IRS Increases Audits of Nonprofits

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is very interested in monitoring the activities of charitable organizations. The number of audits of charitable organizations has been increasing for the last three years and has reached over 7000, according to recent comments by IRS officials in 2007. This represents a 30% increase over the prior year. There are four major reasons for this intense interest in charitable organizations:

  1. Homeland security-to prevent charitable organizations from being used to funnel funds to terrorist activities.
  2. Income tax evasion-to ensure that no business is using a charitable organization "cover" to avoid income taxes.
  3. Protecting businesses from unfair competition by "tax-exempt organizations" to "level" the playing field by requiring tax-exempt organizations to pay taxes on activities that are "unrelated" to the tax exempt purpose of the organization.
  4. Protecting donors and members of charitable organizations from highly-placed individuals (employees or members of the Board of Directors) from using tax-exempt funds to enrich themselves, primarily through paying unreasonably high salaries that are not in line with comparable market data or inappropriate benefits to key or retiring employees.

STC's Tax Exempt Purposes

The IRS has recognized STC as a tax-exempt, "501(c)(3)" or charitable organization. This tax-exempt status was granted because STC conducts educational and charitable activities that benefit the public by improving the art and science of technical communication.

STC is exempt from taxes on profits earned in pursuit of its charitable and educational activities, such as conference and live web seminar fees and subscription fees from our educational publications. However, STC could be required to pay taxes on other activities that are not related to its charitable and educational purpose. The IRS has defined advertising revenues and income from job postings as "unrelated" income for 501(c)(3) organizations. There is a special tax called "unrelated business income tax" or UBIT. Tax-exempt organizations may offset their unrelated revenues with the expenses that it took to generate that income.

Guidestar

We also want to introduce you to Guidestar. This organization was established a few years ago to assist the public in evaluating and making wise decisions in their charitable giving. Recognizing that many STC members are making decisions on contributing to worthy causes, we thought it would be helpful to include this site. The site: www.Guidestar.org