What does a treasurer do and what is form 990

Last updated 2026-07-24

what does a treasurer do?

A treasurer manages an organization's money and makes sure someone can always answer "where did the cash go?" That means tracking income and expenses, reconciling the bank account, giving the board a clear picture of finances at each meeting, and filing whatever's required with the IRS and the state. In a booster club or PTO, the job is smaller in scale than a corporate finance department but the standards are the same in spirit: every dollar needs a paper trail. You're more than paying bills. You're the person who can tell the board, in plain numbers, whether the spring fundraiser actually made money after covering the trophy engraving and the rental fees. Most of the job is unglamorous. Deposit slips. Receipt envelopes. A spreadsheet that gets updated after every game or event, not once a semester. The unglamorous part is also the part that keeps your group out of trouble, because sloppy books are the number one reason volunteer-run nonprofits end up with an IRS problem, a missing raffle license, or a board fight over where the money went. If your group already has 501(c)(3) or similar status, part of the treasurer's job is protecting it. That means filing Form 990 (or the 990-N postcard, or 990-EZ, depending on size) every year, without fail. Nothing else on this list matters if the organization loses its exempt status because nobody filed for three years running.

what is a treasurer?

A treasurer is the officer responsible for an organization's money and financial records. It's usually an elected or appointed board position, not a paid job, especially in booster clubs, PTOs, and youth sports leagues. Legally, the treasurer role doesn't automatically come with special protections or automatic personal liability either way. It depends on your organization's bylaws and state nonprofit law, so if you're worried about personal exposure (say, for unpaid payroll taxes or a bounced check to a vendor), that's a real conversation to have with a local attorney, not something a blog post can settle for you. Practically, the treasurer is the one person who should be able to answer, on short notice: how much cash is in the account, what bills are outstanding, and whether last year's tax filing actually got submitted. If a new treasurer takes over and can't answer those three questions within a week of getting the books, that's a sign of a handoff that needs fixing, not a personal failure.

what do treasurers do day to day?

Day to day, a treasurer's work breaks into a few recurring buckets: recording transactions, reconciling accounts, reporting to the board, and staying compliant with filing deadlines. Recording transactions means logging every deposit and every payment as it happens, with a receipt or invoice attached. Reconciling means matching your internal ledger against the bank statement every month, more than at tax time. Reporting means putting together a simple financial summary for board meetings: cash on hand, money in, money out, and anything unusual. Compliance means tracking the deadlines: the 990 (or 990-N) filing date, any state charitable registration renewal, and any raffle or gaming license renewal if your group runs raffles. A few concrete habits separate a treasurer who sleeps well from one who doesn't: - Two signers on every check over a set dollar threshold your board picks.

• A monthly bank reconciliation, even in months with almost no activity.
• A written expense approval process, even if it's just email sign-off from the president.
• A folder (physical or digital) for every fundraiser: flyer, permit if required, deposit slips, and a final profit/loss summary. None of this requires an accounting degree. It requires consistency, which is honestly harder to maintain than the math.

what does a club treasurer do differently from a corporate treasurer?

A club or booster treasurer is doing a compressed version of what a corporate finance team does with a lot more staff and software. The core job (track money, report accurately, file on time) is identical. The scale and tools are not. A booster club treasurer is often working from a shared spreadsheet or a basic tool like QuickBooks or Wave, handling a bank account that might see $10,000 to $80,000 a year in total activity, and reporting to a volunteer board that meets monthly or less. There's usually no bookkeeper, no controller, and no audit committee unless the group is unusually large or required to have one by state law. That gap matters because it means the treasurer is often the only check on the money. There's no separation of duties in the corporate sense; one volunteer might collect concession cash, deposit it, and record it. That's a real weakness, and it's why boards should build in simple controls (two people counting cash, a second signer on checks) even when the group is small. If you're setting these controls up from scratch, a 990 tax form filing requirement is actually a useful forcing function: you can't file honestly if the books were never kept straight in the first place.

what is Form 990?

Form 990 is the annual information return that most tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS. It's not an income tax return in the way an individual's Form 1040 is; it's a public disclosure document that reports revenue, expenses, assets, and governance details so the IRS (and the public) can see how a tax-exempt organization is run. The IRS describes it directly: "Tax-exempt organizations, nonexempt charitable trusts, and section 527 political organizations file this form to provide the IRS with the information required by section 6033" ^[1]. Section 6033 of the Internal Revenue Code is the actual statutory requirement behind the filing ^[2]. 990s are public. Anyone can look up a nonprofit's recent 990 filings through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool or through sites like ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer, which pulls directly from IRS data. That means your group's board should treat the 990 as something a parent, a donor, or a reporter could pull up and read, because they can.

what is a 990 tax form used for?

990-N (e-Postcard)	Small orgs	Gross receipts normally $50,000 or less [3]
990-EZ	Mid-size orgs	Gross receipts under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000 [4]
990 (full form)	Larger orgs	Gross receipts $200,000 or more, or assets $500,000 or more [4]
990-PF	Private foundations	Required regardless of size [4]	Most small booster clubs and PTOs land in the 990-N category. It's genuinely short: name, address, EIN, tax year, and confirmation that gross receipts are $50,000 or less [3]. There's no financial detail entered on the 990-N itself, which is exactly why groups that grow past that threshold need to watch closely and move up to the 990-EZ or full 990 the year they cross it.

The 990 tax form is used by the IRS to confirm a tax-exempt organization is still operating within the rules of its exemption, and it's used by the public to see how the organization spends money. For a booster club or PTO, that mostly means reporting total revenue (dues, fundraiser income, concession sales), total expenses (uniforms, equipment, event costs), and a snapshot of assets and liabilities at year end. There isn't one single "990 form." There's a family of related forms sized to the organization: | Form | Who files it | Gross receipts threshold |

what is the 990 deadline and what happens if we miss it?

The 990 (in any version) is due by the 15th day of the 5th month after your organization's fiscal year ends. For a calendar-year organization (fiscal year ending December 31), that's May 15 ^[5]. Miss one year, and typically nothing dramatic happens immediately beyond a late notice. Miss three years in a row, and the consequence is automatic: the IRS revokes your tax-exempt status by law. The IRS states it plainly: "Federal law automatically revokes the tax-exempt status of any organization that does not file required Form 990-series returns or notices for three consecutive years" ^[6]. That revocation isn't a warning; it's automatic and it's public. Your organization's name goes on the IRS Auto-Revocation List, and donations made after the effective revocation date are no longer tax-deductible for donors until you're reinstated ^[6]. For a booster club that depends on parent donations and sponsor checks, that's a real financial hit, more than paperwork. If your group has already been auto-revoked, the IRS has a reinstatement process, including streamlined retroactive reinstatement for organizations that qualified for 990-N or 990-EZ and apply within 15 months of revocation, described in Revenue Procedure 2014-11 ^[7]. It's worth reading that guidance directly or talking to a tax professional before assuming which reinstatement path applies to your group.

what does a treasurer of a club need to know about filing?

A club treasurer needs to know three things cold: which 990 version applies to your group, when it's due, and where your EIN and prior filings are stored. First, figure out your gross receipts for the year, averaged over the most recent three years if it fluctuates, since that's how the IRS defines the 990-N eligibility threshold ^[3]. Second, put the May 15 (or your fiscal-year equivalent) deadline on a recurring calendar reminder, not a sticky note that gets lost in a handoff. Third, keep a folder, physical or cloud-based, with your EIN letter, the last three years of filed 990s, and your state charitable registration paperwork if applicable. A lot of booster clubs get into trouble not because the filing is hard (the 990-N genuinely takes about ten minutes) but because nobody remembered it existed after the founding treasurer moved on. If your organization is mid-crisis right now, already on the auto-revocation list, start by confirming your status on the IRS's public list and reading the reinstatement revenue procedure before you file anything new ^{[6] [7]}. This is exactly the kind of gap a State-Personalized Treasurer Kit is built to close: a one-time $99 setup that gives incoming treasurers a filing calendar and document checklist so the next handoff doesn't start from zero.

what is a 990 versus a 990-EZ versus a 990-N?

The difference between the three main versions comes down to your organization's gross receipts and total assets, and how much detail you have to report. The 990-N is an 8-question electronic notice, no financial statements attached, for organizations normally at $50,000 or less in gross receipts ^[3]. The 990-EZ is a four-page form requiring a summarized income statement and balance sheet, for organizations under $200,000 in gross receipts and under $500,000 in total assets ^[4]. The full Form 990 is a much longer document, roughly a dozen pages plus schedules, requiring detailed program service descriptions, compensation disclosures, and governance policy questions, required once gross receipts hit $200,000 or assets hit $500,000 ^[4]. A group can also choose to file a more detailed form than required. Some booster clubs file a 990-EZ even when they'd qualify for the 990-N, because a board wants the extra transparency of reported numbers for members and donors. That's a reasonable call, not a requirement.

does every booster club or PTO have to file a 990?

Almost every organization recognized as tax-exempt under section 501(c) has to file some version of the 990 annually, and "we're small" doesn't exempt you. It just determines which version you file. There are narrow exceptions, mainly certain church-affiliated organizations, but a booster club or PTO organized as a 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) doesn't fall into those exceptions just by being small or volunteer-run ^[3]. If your group has applied for and received IRS recognition of tax-exempt status, an annual 990-series filing is required, even if that filing is the ten-minute 990-N. What trips people up is groups that never formally applied for exemption in the first place, or that lost their exemption years ago without anyone noticing. If you're not sure your organization has current 501(c)(3) status, check the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search before assuming anything about your filing obligation.

how does a new treasurer take over the books cleanly?

A clean handoff starts with three documents: the EIN confirmation letter, the last three years of 990 filings, and a current bank reconciliation. If the outgoing treasurer can't produce those, that's the first problem to fix, before worrying about the next fundraiser. Ask for read access to the bank account and any accounting software immediately, not "whenever it's convenient." Confirm who the authorized signers are on the account, since it's common for booster clubs to have a former treasurer or coach still listed years after they've left. Pull the group's most recent state charitable registration renewal (many states require annual or periodic renewal separate from the IRS filing) and confirm it with your state charity office or attorney general's office; requirements vary widely by state. This is the point where a lot of new treasurers realize the prior person was juggling everything from memory. That's not a personal failing on their part necessarily, it's just how volunteer organizations tend to run without a written system. Building a simple, repeatable filing calendar the first month you take over saves the next treasurer from starting cold too.

Frequently asked questions

What does a treasurer do?

A treasurer tracks all money coming in and going out, reconciles the bank account, reports the group's financial position to the board, and handles required filings like Form 990. In a small nonprofit, the treasurer is usually the only person with a full picture of the finances.

What is a treasurer in a club?

A treasurer is the officer or volunteer responsible for a club's money: collecting dues or fundraiser income, paying bills, keeping records, and reporting to the board or membership. It's usually an elected position defined in the club's bylaws, with duties that vary by organization.

What is Form 990?

Form 990 is the IRS's annual information return for tax-exempt organizations, required under Internal Revenue Code section 6033. It reports revenue, expenses, and governance details and is publicly available, unlike a personal tax return. Which version you file depends on your organization's size.

What is a 990 tax form?

A 990 tax form is any version in the IRS's 990 series (990-N, 990-EZ, 990, or 990-PF) that tax-exempt organizations file yearly to report finances and confirm ongoing compliance with exemption rules. It's not an income tax bill; most filers owe no tax with it.

What does a club treasurer do that's different from other officers?

Unlike the president or secretary, the treasurer holds sole responsibility for financial accuracy: bank reconciliation, expense tracking, budget reporting, and tax filings. Other officers may sign off on spending decisions, but the treasurer is the one who has to produce the actual numbers behind them.

Do small booster clubs really have to file a 990 every year?

Yes. Groups with 501(c)(3) or similar status must file some version of the 990 series annually regardless of size; small organizations with gross receipts of $50,000 or less typically qualify for the simplified 990-N e-Postcard rather than being exempt from filing entirely ^[4].

What happens if a booster club never files a 990?

After three consecutive years of missing required 990-series filings, the IRS automatically revokes the organization's tax-exempt status by operation of law, no warning letter required beyond standard notices ^[1]. Reinstatement requires a formal application process, and donations made during the revoked period aren't tax-deductible.

How do I know if my group should file a 990-N or a 990-EZ?

Check your gross receipts for the year (averaged over the last three years if income varies). If it's normally $50,000 or less, you likely qualify for the 990-N ^[4]. If it's under $200,000 with assets under $500,000, you'd file a 990-EZ ^[5]. Above that, the full Form 990 applies.

When is the 990 deadline?

The 990, in any version, is due the 15th day of the 5th month after your organization's fiscal year ends. For a calendar-year group, that's May 15 ^[6]. Extensions are available through Form 8868, but check current instructions on irs.gov before assuming eligibility.

Can our club file a 990-EZ even if we qualify for the shorter 990-N?

Yes. Organizations under the 990-N threshold can choose to file the more detailed 990-EZ or full 990 instead. Some boards do this for extra transparency with donors and members, though it means more work preparing an income statement and balance sheet each year.

Is Form 990 the same as an income tax return?

No. Form 990 is an information return, not a tax bill. Most tax-exempt organizations owe no income tax on mission-related activity. The IRS uses the 990 to monitor compliance with exemption requirements and make financial and governance data public, not to calculate a tax owed.

What records does a new treasurer need before taking over?

At minimum: the EIN confirmation letter, the last three years of filed 990s, current bank statements and reconciliations, a list of authorized check signers, and any state charitable registration paperwork. Confirm state-specific renewal requirements with your state charity office or attorney general, since these vary by state.

Sources

1. IRS, Automatic Revocation of Exemption: Three consecutive years of non-filing triggers automatic revocation of tax-exempt status
2. IRS, About Form 990: Description of who must file Form 990 and its purpose under section 6033
3. 26 U.S. Code Section 6033, Cornell Legal Information Institute: Statutory requirement for tax-exempt organizations to file annual returns
4. IRS, Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations (Form 990-N): 990-N eligibility for organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less
5. IRS, Form 990 Series Which Forms Do Exempt Organizations File: Gross receipts and asset thresholds separating 990-N, 990-EZ, and full Form 990
6. IRS, Form 990 Instructions: 990 series filing deadline is the 15th day of the 5th month after fiscal year end
7. IRS, Revenue Procedure 2014-11: Streamlined retroactive reinstatement process for small organizations after auto-revocation