400 Ramona Avenue, Suite 106, Corona, CA 92879
400 Ramona Avenue, Suite 106, Corona, CA 92879
Specialized tax preparation to maintain compliance and maximize exemptions. Grace and her team help tax-exempt organizations comply with IRS and state regulations, file required tax forms, and maintain their tax-exempt status. Our team assists with preparing and filing Form 990 (or related forms), managing Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT), ensuring financial transparency, and handling compliance issues to prevent penalties or revocation of tax-exempt status.
Accurate financial management to support transparency and mission success. We provide non-profit accounting services, including bookkeeping, financial reporting, and tax compliance to help organizations maintain tax-exempt status and financial transparency.
Non-profit tax and accounting services for tax-exempt organizations in Corona, CA and throughout Riverside County. Non-profit tax compliance has its own forms, its own deadlines, and its own consequences for getting it wrong, and Grace S. Clark, CPA has guided exempt organizations through all three.
Most tax-exempt organizations must file an annual information return even though they owe no income tax. Which version applies depends on size: the postcard-style Form 990-N for the smallest organizations, Form 990-EZ in the middle, the full Form 990 above that, and Form 990-PF for private foundations. California adds filings of its own, including Form 199 with the Franchise Tax Board and annual renewal with the Attorney General’s Registry of Charities and Fundraisers. An organization that misses its federal filing for three consecutive years loses exempt status automatically.
Exempt does not mean exempt from everything. Income from a trade or business regularly carried on and not substantially related to the organization’s exempt purpose is taxable and reported on Form 990-T. Advertising revenue, some rental arrangements, and debt-financed income are common triggers. We look for unrelated business income while the year is still open rather than after it closes, and we file the return when it applies.
Non-profit tax deadlines follow the organization’s fiscal year: the annual return is due on the 15th day of the fifth month after the year ends, which is May 15 for a calendar-year organization. Form 8868 extends the deadline for Form 990, 990-EZ, and 990-PF by six months. The Form 990-N e-Postcard cannot be extended.
Non-profit accounting differs from business accounting in ways that matter to auditors, grantmakers, and boards: net assets with and without donor restrictions, functional expense allocation across program, management, and fundraising, recording of in-kind contributions, and grant-by-grant tracking of restricted funds. We keep the books so those distinctions hold up, which means the return that comes out of them tells a coherent story instead of raising questions.
A Form 990 is a public document. Donors read it, rating sites score it, and board members get asked about it. Clean statements and a defensible expense allocation are part of fundraising, not just non-profit tax compliance. We prepare board-ready reports and are available to walk a finance committee or treasurer through them.
Beyond the annual return, exempt status depends on staying inside the boundaries that come with it: avoiding private benefit and excess compensation, observing the limits on lobbying and political activity, substantiating contributions properly, and keeping governance records current. We flag non-profit tax issues in these areas as we see them in the books, and we coordinate with your attorney when a question turns legal.
Whether you are forming a new organization, catching up on late returns, or simply want a second look before the board meeting, we are glad to help. Read more about Grace and our team, review our business accounting and corporate taxes and trust and fiduciary accounting work, see our full range of accounting and tax services, or reach us through our contact information page.
Exempt organization forms and instructions are published by the IRS and the California Franchise Tax Board.
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Grace S. Clark, CPA. All rights reserved. 2025
