Administering a PTO: Key Reference Links

Mass Attorney General’s Office – MA oversight for public charities soliciting from the public

• Guide for board/ directors/ executive bodies at http://www.ago.state.ma.us/filelibrary/board.pdf.
• Main page of AG’s Public Charities website: http://www.ago.state.ma.us/sp.cfm?pageid=1214.
  
  

IRS – Tax Information for Charities & Other Non-Profits

• Easy to use reference information - see http://www.irs.gov/charities/topic/index.html.
• General Compliance Guide - http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4221.pdf.
• IRS Publication 1771 Charitable Contributions—Substantiation and Disclosure Requirements: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1771.pdf.
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Mass Secretary of the Commonwealth (governs business entity formation and legal regulation)

• Main page for guidance on MA business entities, including compliance is: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/cor/coridx.htm.
• Forms and reporting for Massachusetts Not-for-Profit Corporations purposes is a sub heading of the main site; access it directly at: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/cor/corpweb/cornp/npfrm.htm.

Mass Department of Revenue - handles the state’s tax related compliance, including sales tax

• Register for MA Sales tax Exempt status via MA Dept of Revenue’s Webfile For Business website: https://wfb.dor.state.ma.us/webfile/Business/Public/WebForms/Login/Login.aspx
• MA Dept of Revenue Sales/Use Tax Forms: http://www.dor.state.ma.us/forms/formsIndex/taxformsSALE.htm#s1

Other not-for-profit references

• PTOtoday.com - is a company which provides all kinds of resources for PTO’s. The website section PTO Basics at http://www.ptotoday.com/nonprofit.html has useful links on entity matters.
• GuideStar is a non-profit organization whose mission is “to revolutionize philanthropy and nonprofit practice with information” on not-for-profits. See various useful links for non-profit administration on their site at http://www.guidestar.org