| Return Reference | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, Line 2 | Due to the nature of AABA as a professional organization, several board members are partners or associates at large law firms and have either directly or indirectly represented corporations (such as banks) in which other board members are employed. In addition, the law firms of several board members have provided pro bono representation to non-profit or community organizations in which other board members are employed. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, Line 6 | Members vote on officers and open spots on the board of directors each year. Voting is done online and members who are current members for the year are eligible for voting. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, Line 8b | The organization does not have committees with authority to act on behalf of the governing body. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b | The 990 must be approved by the AABA Board by vote before it is signed. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c | Board members are required to fill out disclosures, and report conflicts of interest as they arise. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15a | The Board of Directors (all volunteer) determine compensation for the Operations Director and vote to approve. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 | available upon request. |
| Statement Note 1 | Form 990 Request for Abatement of Penalties Under IRC Section 6652As will be described below, Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bar Area (the Association) believes that its failure to timely file its Form 990 for 2023 was due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect, and therefore should not result in penalties. Internal Revenue Code Section 6652 states that a penalty will be asserted for late filing unless it is shown that such failure is due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect. Reasonable cause is based on all the facts and circumstances in each situation. The failure to file a timely Form 990 for the year at issue resulted from the serious illness and subsequent lack of communication from the Associations prior bookkeeper. The Associations prior bookkeeper had consistently supported the Association in timely filing each year until 2023 when their Stage 4 cancer diagnosis worsened. Following the decline in the bookkeepers health, the Association was unable to receive consistent responses from the bookkeeper such that the Associations tax return and financial statements were not completed. Because the prior bookkeeper also maintained the organizations books, QuickBooks account, and all relevant financial information, the Association was unable to file on its own or get the necessary outside help for an extended period of time.While the Association was able to timely file the 2022 Form 990 in 2023 based on the information previously provided by that prior bookkeeper, the Associations accounting work was set back by the diminished performance of its bookkeeper and the work needed to be transitioned to a new accountant in 2024. The new accountant needed to conduct significant work to secure sufficient access to financial information, rebuild the Associations books, and achieve a level of completeness and accuracy sufficient to complete this Form 990 filing for 2023. Applicant provided complete and accurate information to its bookkeeper, and made its best efforts to meet the required filing deadlines. Now that Applicant has engaged a new accountant and a new attorney, each with specific expertise in nonprofit corporations, and updated who has access to the Associations financial information so this error cannot happen again, the Association should be able to avoid future errors and filing delays.Thus, in light of: (i) the Associations good-faith attempt to properly comply with its tax reporting obligations; (ii) the Associations consistent efforts to remedy the problem upon becoming aware of it; and (iii) safeguards put in place to ensure all future returns will be correctly prepared, the Association has acted reasonably and in good faith to rectify the problem caused by circumstances beyond its control. Thus, imposing a penalty with respect to the subject return would serve no purpose other than to punish a small organization with a relatively small budget. As such, the Association respectfully requests that the potential penalty with respect to late filing of the Form 990, together with all interest accruing thereon, be abated. |
| Software ID: | 23017517 |
| Software Version: | 2023v6.0 |