Your Tax Dollars (Not) At Work
Monday, October 12th, 2020 04:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizvogelI set today aside to catch up on convention stuff, including tax filings and other bureacracy.
The tax thing has been a learning experience indeed, but the practical upshot is that a tiny little organization like Narrativity need only file a 990-N. Sounds pretty painless. Only trick is that in our situation, we first need to register with the IRS that we're going to file a 990-N, and wait until they've got that processed before doing the actual filing.
Filing can only be done online. Registering to file can only be done by phone.
So in April, I called to register. IRS customer service was closed due to Covid.
I checked back a few times; still closed. Then with one thing and another, time got away from me. But I did finally call when they were finally open, talked to an IRS rep (eek! but actually it was fairly painless), and got us registered. Except that it takes eight weeks for that to process. They don't notify you when it's ready, you just have to try it and see if it works.
Eight weeks have finally passed, so I went to file the 990-N and see if it works. "This service will be unavailable due to system maintenance."
I am feeling decidedly thwarted.
Compare this to Minnesota's annual renewal for non-profits: They send an email reminder when it's time to renew. The email contains clear, step-by-step instructions and a link to the appropriate starting page. Both creating an account for online filing and filing the actual renewal generate confirmation emails, and both arrived within moments.
Maybe the IRS should hire some Minnesotans.
The tax thing has been a learning experience indeed, but the practical upshot is that a tiny little organization like Narrativity need only file a 990-N. Sounds pretty painless. Only trick is that in our situation, we first need to register with the IRS that we're going to file a 990-N, and wait until they've got that processed before doing the actual filing.
Filing can only be done online. Registering to file can only be done by phone.
So in April, I called to register. IRS customer service was closed due to Covid.
I checked back a few times; still closed. Then with one thing and another, time got away from me. But I did finally call when they were finally open, talked to an IRS rep (eek! but actually it was fairly painless), and got us registered. Except that it takes eight weeks for that to process. They don't notify you when it's ready, you just have to try it and see if it works.
Eight weeks have finally passed, so I went to file the 990-N and see if it works. "This service will be unavailable due to system maintenance."
I am feeling decidedly thwarted.
Compare this to Minnesota's annual renewal for non-profits: They send an email reminder when it's time to renew. The email contains clear, step-by-step instructions and a link to the appropriate starting page. Both creating an account for online filing and filing the actual renewal generate confirmation emails, and both arrived within moments.
Maybe the IRS should hire some Minnesotans.
