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- Year-Round Help, Not Just Tax Season
- Nonprofit & Church Specialists
The money side of a Cincinnati church or charity often lands on one volunteer treasurer who also has a full-time job. Then a Form 990 deadline slips by, a donor asks for a receipt nobody can find, or a letter shows up from the IRS. Church and nonprofit work is what our office is known for. We can look at where you stand this week and tell you what has to happen first.
Signs You Need Help With Nonprofit or Church Accounting
Some signs are loud. An IRS letter says your annual return is late. A grant form asks for financial statements, and all you have is a checkbook register. Other signs are quiet. Money given for the building fund paid the light bill. Nobody has matched the bank statement in months. The board approves a budget it can’t really read.
Waiting makes all of this harder. A group that misses its annual IRS return three years in a row loses its tax-exempt status on its own. The IRS explains this on its page about automatic revocation of exemption. Churches skip the 990, but they still owe payroll reports for staff and written receipts for larger gifts.
The 990 also sorts money into set buckets: program, management and fundraising costs, and gifts, program fees and investment income. If your books aren’t built that way, every year starts from scratch.
Our Nonprofit & Church Accounting Options
New groups usually begin with Start a Nonprofit. We help prepare and file the paperwork, from Ohio incorporation through the Secretary of State to your federal ID number. Next comes the 501(c)(3) Application, where we help you choose between the full Form 1023 and the shorter 1023-EZ. Groups that hold charitable money or ask Ohioans for gifts also need Ohio Charitable Registration.
Once you are up and running, Form 990 Preparation protects your status each year. We prepare the 990-N, 990-EZ or full 990, plus Form 990-T when you earn business income outside your mission. Church Bookkeeping covers giving records, designated funds, bank matching and financial statement preparation. We keep the books in the same categories the 990 uses, so the annual return comes straight from records you already have.
If you pay a pastor or staff, Church & Nonprofit Payroll covers pastor and staff paychecks, payroll tax deposits and quarterly 941s, with clergy pay handled under its own rules. When the board needs a plan for the year, Nonprofit Budgeting & Board Reports builds a budget that matches real giving and the monthly reports to track it.
Nonprofit & Church Accounting for Cincinnati Ministries and Charities
Ohio adds its own layer. Charities that hold money for charitable work or ask Ohioans for donations usually have to register with the Ohio AG’s office and report to it every year, on top of the federal 990. Groups that are organized and run only for religious purposes, like most churches, are usually exempt. A church that runs its food pantry or after-school program as a separate nonprofit may not be. We check which side of that line you are on.
Payroll has a local twist, too. Our College Hill office sits next to North College Hill, Mount Healthy, Forest Park and Springdale, and each one is its own taxing city. A church in one city often has staff who live in another, so city tax withholding has to go to the right place. We work with congregations and charities from Mount Airy, Roselawn, Bond Hill, Northside, Westwood, Finneytown, Colerain Township and Wyoming.
What to Expect
Call us or book a time online. First we talk about where you are: brand new, behind on filings, or simply tired of doing it alone. Then we ask for what you have. That might be bank statements, last year’s 990, your IRS letter, your bylaws or a box of giving envelopes.
We look it over and tell you what needs to happen first, what can wait, and what our fee will be before any work begins. After that, you get a plain calendar of what is due and when, so the next treasurer isn’t starting blind. You can meet us on North Bend Road or send everything online.
Why Choose Us for Nonprofit & Church Accounting
Few tax offices in Cincinnati take on church and nonprofit work at all. For us it is a core part of the business, right beside the personal and business returns we have prepared here since 1993. One office can handle your 990, payroll, pastor’s return and board budget, so it all lines up. We keep the same hours all year, Monday through Saturday. That matters because a calendar-year group’s 990 is due in May, and in November if extended, long after most tax shops have gone quiet. Today we work with more than 20 churches, pastors and ministries. Our Google rating is 4.7 stars from 64 reviews, and many clients have stayed with us for more than ten years.
This work is a big part of why Cincinnati clients file with us.
Our Nonprofit & Church Services
501(c)(3) Application
Form 1023 or 1023-EZ, prepared so the IRS recognizes your charity.
Form 990 Preparation
The right yearly return, from 990-N to full 990, filed on time.
Church Bookkeeping
Giving records, designated funds and monthly statements.
Church & Nonprofit Payroll
Pastor and staff paychecks, tax deposits and quarterly 941s.
Start a Nonprofit
Incorporation, an EIN and your first filings, in the right order.
Nonprofit Budgeting & Board Reports
A budget built on real giving, plus monthly reports your board can follow.
Ohio Charitable Registration
State registration and the yearly report most Ohio charities owe.
Common Questions
Does our church have to file a Form 990?
Usually not. Churches and certain church groups are not required to file the 990, 990-EZ or 990-N. A church still files payroll reports for its staff, and it files Form 990-T if it earns 1,000 dollars or more in gross income from a business unrelated to its mission. A separate nonprofit the church sets up, like a daycare, may need its own 990.
We missed a couple of years of filings. Is it too late to fix?
Often it is not. If your group has missed fewer than three years in a row, filing the missing returns now can keep your status from being revoked. If the IRS has already revoked it, you will need to apply to be reinstated, and we can help prepare that application and the past returns.
Can you work alongside our volunteer treasurer?
Yes. Many groups keep their treasurer and hand us the parts that take special know-how, like the 990 or payroll taxes. We can also set up a simple system for your treasurer to follow, so the books stay clean between our check-ins.