VA Associations now required to e-file

We just received notice from the VA Tax Office that starting Jan 1, 2013, all corporations in VA are required to e-file and pay taxes through electronic funds transfer.

The Association must use an approved tax program to e-file.
I just checked the costs of those approved programs $300 - $2,500.

Attachments must be in the form of pdf files (so a scanner is required)

My Association is small (130 lots), self managed and with no physical office.
Officers are appointed each year and work out of their home.

Our taxes last year were ZERO for both federal and State.

Now instead of spending $1.00 for postage, an envelope and copies
We need to spend $300 or more for the sole purpose of telling the State we don't owe anything.

BTW, If I recall correctly, the IRS didn't allow e-filing of the 1120-H form

PLEASE if your a VA HOA or COA contact the legislature and anyone else who will listen and have a permanent waiver of this requirement for HOAs and COAs.

This is insane!

Off to redo our budget for next year.

Tim (and everyone else),

Please ignore my previous post about open.org. Either I have the wrong site or they have changed radically since my last visit there a few years ago.

Thanks Larry.

I did some more research and discovered that VA did this because the State believes that only 20-30% of Associations in VA are filing corporate taxes. Therefore, they want to force electronic filing so they can more easily track it.

I still haven't located the actual language of the act to see if there are penalties for filing a paper return instead of the required electronic return.

I know it's Item 273N of the 212-214 Appropriations Act (chapter 3, acts of assembly 2012 special session 1)but all I find are summaries and not the actual act.

Tim,

If you do some looking I'm pretty sure you can find some local firms that will e-file your taxes for you for a small fee (perhaps $25-$30). Try checking with some local firms or CPAs that prepare taxes. The IRS requires all professional tax preparers who serve more than a handful of clients to e-file federal returns, and several states have similar requirements.

A quick google and it brought me to the VA Tax Office website.
http://www.tax.virginia.gov/site.cfm?alias=CorpIncomeTax

And I found this. A simple waiver.
"Corporations that are unable to file and pay electronically by the effective date should request a hardship waiver."

http://www.tax.virginia.gov/taxforms/Business/Corporation%20and%20Pass-through%20Entity%20Tax%20Forms/2012/Waiver%20Request.pdf

Done.

Edmund,

We definitely have organizational structure and the Association runs well.

What we do not do is maintain an office at a physical location (our mailing address is a PO Box). We are self-governed and the Directors/Officers operate out of their home. Board/Committee meetings are hosted by the Director/Committee member in their home. General membership meetings are held in the nearby school.

I do appreciate the concern. My point in this thread was that this new requirement (not specifically targeted at HOAs but at Corporations) can become a financial burden for many Associations. I believe it's an idea not fully thought out before it was implemented.

I agree with you!

I/m confused.

In Michigan, the state Corporations, Securities and Commercial Licensing Bureau accepts E-files for Annual Reports. That lets the state know you are operating as a current corporation.

The IRS accepts Form 990. We can do the Form 990N or 990EZ because we are under the radar.

What forms are you filing with your state?

So why are we all responding to a six year old thread? And where is Tim?