Word to the Wise

From Steve Van Buskirk at National Headquarters:
We have recently been advised that an IRS agent, in connection with an audit, requested that a Post provide specific information on each community activity or patriotic event it conducted or sponsored, including specific information concerning expenditures made in connection with those activities or events. The Post had not adequately documented those activities and events and had failed to keep copies of the Community Service, Americanism and Youth Project reports submitted to the Department nor prepare a Community Service Book. The Post is now scrambling to come up with evidence that substantiates entries on their 990 and, ultimately, substantiates the Post’s entitlement to its tax exemption.
Hopefully that Post will be able to work around its problems, but it serves to remind everyone of the need to maintain records that prove it engages in exempt purpose activities and is entitled to exempt tax status. Well kept Community Service, Americanism and Youth Activity records will go a long way in that regard.