Does a school fundraising group (not 501c3 or incorporated) need to report monies received to IRS?

Answer 1

It depends on a couple of things...
First, the answerer above is correct if you are soley raising money for a special purpose, such as a band trip, and you are just the band parents trying to raise the money to go and 100% of that money is spent on the trip and it is filtered through the schools banking system...then you don't need to report it-the school will. However, you will need to make sure the money is being deposited into the school account and they are reporting it. If it isn't, then the group needs to report it.
But, if you are a PTO or a booster club or something like that which is organized & continues every year, then yes, you need to report it.
If you are not a not-for-profit, then you are for profit, whether you have profit or not and your taxes will unfortunately reflect that.
This happens all the time in schools where booster clubs aren't organized as 501c3's. If they aren't reporting taxes on it, then the "person in charge" ends up being personally liable for everything.
If this is the case, then I recommend that the organization hire a lawyer and go non profit.
Don't do what a lot of organizations do by asking the local PTA, or some other non-profit to "sponsor" them. That is considered money laundering and they are required to say no.

Another thing to consider...if you are not non-profit and not being filtered through the school then you are not sales tax exempt either. Everything you sale (candy bars, T Shirts, etc.) you should be paying sales tax on.

Answer 2

501c3 are required to report reveneus and expenditures on form 990 or 990 EZ (if assets are less than 250K) as long as revenues are greater than 25K. If you don't file and you are caught, it is a bear to get out from under penalities. You could also lose your 501c3 status.

Answer 3

If you are fundraising to pay for a particular event like a school trip for example, as long as the money is spent on the event that was stated while fundraising, there are no tax implications.