Filing Taxes

I live in a Subdivision with 65 homes. We have a HOA w/officers but we do not have legal control because the developer has still not handed over the property to the HOA. We have a pool and he will not pay for the maintenance of it so we have been collecting the assessements from everyone as if we were a legal HOA and this is to pay for the pool maintenance. The developer has been paying the taxes and insurance for the pool and common areas, and for landscaping. So needless to say, we are able to have a descent contingency fund for the time being. My question is that we have not filed any type of taxes that I know of for 6 years. We are not a legal HOA yet and everything except for the electric for the pool is in the developers name. What should we do if anything?

Donna,
So the Assessments we have been collecting and the extra money from our operating costs that I have been putting in a Savings account (Contingency Fund)are still his responsibility?
I guess we have been collecting assessments on his behalf but he has never asked us for a dime.
My other concern is that the checking and savings account are under Riverdale Community and we do have a Fed tax id which the guy who "blessed" me this job had already had and gave to me. I received some tax info from the bank where we had 92.00 in interest income. How does that get accounted for from us to the IRS?
I just want to make sure that I will not be personally liable or we, as a community, will not get penalized by the IRS.

Leonard, it appears to me that the Developer and the homeowners need to be educated on proper operations of an HOA. Otherwise, there can be serious consequences for both. Particularly if the insurance lapses and there is a serious accident.

Regarding your question on taxes, since turnover has not yet happened it is the responsibility of the Developer's appointed Board of Directors is in control of the HOA. They may be incorporated as a non-for-profit corporation; and rather or not they are they should secure necessary insurance, pay the taxes, collect assessments, maintain the common areas, etc. The individual homeowners nor an unofficial group calling themselves the HOA w/officers should not be doing any of these things. They are not insured and could be held liable for any problems or irregularities.

I would not have them collecting assessments. Instead I would request the Developer turnover control of the Board to the homeowners, or at the least appoint homeowners to the official Board of Directors of the HOA.

There are 65 homes now which were done in 2 phases. There are 2-3 more phases planned but nothing has been started yet. The developer put a pool in while building the first phase and basically said that we would need to maintain it. He pays the taxes and insurance for the pool and common areas. He will not get involved in collecting assessments, we try and collect from as many HO as we can to maintain the pool which is approx. 8700.00 per year. We cannot even put liens on homes that do not pay because we have no legal right.
Why is he not giving us control of the HOA....I have no clue but he has been ready, so he says, to do so for almost 2 years. We are not really running parallel, he is paying all insurances and property taxes for common areas he just does not collect the money from us to do so.
He is basically holding us up from doing much of what is in the CCR's.

Leonard,
You say you have CCRs. I would assume that your state laws would have required that the CCRs be filed with some government authority, either municipal or state, depending on the laws of your state. I would start by consulting your CCRs and your state law to see what the requirements for forming an HOA are, how assessments are to be collected and costs paid, and when and under what conditions the HOA is to be turned over to the homeowners. From what you have said, it sounds to me like you are 1/2 to 1/3 complete, so you should have at least some minority representation of the homeowners on the HOA board of directors.

From what you have posted, I'm guessing your developer doesn't even have a board of directors and is running the show himself, perhaps believing he is "doing a good thing" by paying all the expenses himself. Other than for the pool, are any other assessments being collected from the homeowners? Are you saying that no other assessments are being collected to pay other common costs? If that's the case, what is going to happen after the developer leaves?

It may be that your developer is ignorant of legal HOA requirements. You may have to get together and agree to hire an attorney. If you believe your developer is violating the law, you may be able to get some assistance by contacting the Attorney General's office in your state. At least, it's worth a try.