State tax experts educate nonprofits on requirements

Several state tax experts presented information on tax filing requirements to nonprofits at The Centre early Wednesday morning.

The organizations present were the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, the Employment Development Department and the California Franchise Tax

Board, all of whom gave presentations aimed at educating the 18 nonprofits present about state requirements.

The CDTFA talked about sales tax, said Andre Hollings, a CDTFA regional liaison manager. Hollings, who is based in the Santa Clarita Valley, added many nonprofits weren’t aware that the CDTFA offered free classes to educate them on filing their taxes.

“A lot of questions we answered centered on charitable donations and how to process those,” he said. “A lot of people were worried that this was their one shot at getting their questions answered, so when they learned there are other opportunities for learning, it was a great relief for them.”

Classes devoted to tax education were often aimed at for-profit organizations, Hollings said, but the CDFTA did offer classes for nonprofit operators.

The EDD, the largest tax collection agency statewide, gave a talk on payroll taxes for employees.

“They approach it from the angle of asking, ‘Who is an employee?’ ‘What is an employee in the contract?’ and things of that nature,” Hollings said. “Each of us approached the topic differently from the perspective of the agency.”

The Franchise Tax Board usually deals with personal income taxes to the state, but focused on explaining corporate taxes to the group for this seminar.

Representatives from 18 nonprofits attended the nearly four-hour event.

“When you have so many people show up to an event, you’re always going to fail to get every question answered,” said Hollings, who led the discussion. “So we emphasized that if you don’t get an answer today, you can go to a smaller class and get an answer that way. Tax business is tricky, and people are always thinking they only get one shot at getting their questions answered in this sort of setting, and that is just not true.”

Classes for interested participants are available for registration at cdtfa.ca.gov, on the agency’s public calendar.

“A lot of people were worried that this was their one shot at getting their questions answered, so when they learned there are other opportunities for learning, it was a great relief for them.” Andre Hollings, CDTFA regional liaison manager