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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 2020)
NEWS MyEagleNews.com Wednesday, October 21, 2020 A3 Chamber of commerce reinstates nonprofit status after four years Chamber now working to reinstate tax-exempt status through IRS By Rudy Diaz Blue Mountain Eagle The Eagle/Rudy Diaz Members of the community and Grant County Chamber of Commerce during a John Day City Council and Grant County Court study session Oct. 14. gible to file Form 990-EZ, which was the last form the chamber filed, or 990-N for the three years that caused their revocation may have their tax-exempt status retro- actively reinstated to the date of revocation. To qualify, the chamber cannot have had their tax-exempt status automati- cally revoked previously. The chamber would have to submit Form 1023, Form 1023-EZ, Form 1024 or Form 1024-A with the appropri- ate user fee no later than 15 months after the chamber appeared on the revocation list on the IRS website. “In addition, the IRS will not impose the Section 6652© penalty for failure to file annual returns for the three consecutive taxable years that caused the organization to be revoked if the organization is retroactively reinstated under this procedure,” according to the IRS website. Tammy Bremner, the chamber office manager, said at the conclusion of the study session Oct. 14 that the cham- ber was going to meet Oct. 15 and come up with an action plan. The chamber discussed how to deal with the non- profit status during an execu- tive session. Bremner said she was unaware the chamber non- profit status had been revoked and did not receive any notices. Bremner said the IRS sent a notice to the chamber, according to their website regarding the tax-exempt sta- tus, but she did not receive it. Bremner said more work at the chamber and events in her personal life led to the mishap. “I don’t want to make excuses, but (I) was definitely busy,” she said. “We had the eclipse, and then some things happened in my personal life, and it has been very busy since then. It’s gotten much busier here, and I just let it get through the crack. This board has become so much more active than the past, and I focused on other things and let it slip through the cracks.” Chamber President Sher- rie Rinninger said they talked to their accountant, Solutions CPAs, and developed a plan to move forward and signed a power of attorney. Rininger said she was told the problem can be resolved. “We don’t want to under- play it because we feel it’s very serious, but we were happy to hear that it’s not the end of the world,” Bremner said. Bremner said the chamber has all the financial documents from the missing years to pro- vide to the IRS if needed. “Anyone can look at our records at any time...” Rin- ninger said. “There’s nothing they came to the meeting, the chamber said they did not have them. Green said the city was going to request copies of the chamber’s tax statements from the IRS to see what had been reported in their 990s, but the city then learned the chamber lost its nonprofit sta- tus and tax-exempt status. He said he is not mak- ing accusations and that peo- ple volunteer for the board, but what the city would like to understand is the return on investment with the TRT and how those dollars are accounted for. John Day City Councilor Shannon Adair said the city wants to make sure the TRT money coming in is being spent effectively to bring tour- ism to the county. She added that she does not know if it would have gotten to this level if the city could have seen where the funds were spent when they requested the records. Bremner said during the study session, when Green requested information, the chamber provided it and that she was not aware the non- profit status had been revoked. She said, when the cham- funny going on. This was an oversight.” Now that all the cham- ber members are aware of the problem, Rininger and Bremner doubt this will hap- pen again. “We will continue to work hard to promote tourism and do the best we can do,” Rininger said. “This is a hic- cup, and we are going to move on.” Concerns about the cham- ber and transparency were brought to the Grant County Court by the John Day City Council during their work session. Green said a con- cern from the council was a lack of standard procedure for managing the transient room tax funds, so in May, the city requested the chamber pro- vide the city with audited financial statements of the TRT. “There’s tension in areas where there probably shouldn’t be, and one of those areas is how the funds have been collected and expended,” Green said. He said the chamber ini- tially stated they would pro- vide the financial documents and audits during a work ses- sion on May 21, but when —Tammy Bremner, Grant County Chamber of Commerce manager ber was asked for audited fig- ures, they told the city they did not have an audit. The agree- ment with the county to accept the TRT funds, Ordinance 2012-04, states the chamber will make its records available to the county and the county’s auditing process, but Bremner said the county has not asked for the records. Democratic Party of Grant County ENDORSES THESE CANDIDATES: President Joe Biden joebiden.com US Senate Jeff Merkley jeffmerkley.com State Treasurer Tobias Read tobiasread.com Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum ellenrosenblum.com Secretary of State Shemia Fagan shemiafororegon.com State Senate District 30 Carina Miller carinamiller.com State House District 60 Beth Spell 2nd Congressional District Alex Spenser spenser2020.com bethspellforeasternoregon.com Ballot Measures ~Vote Yes! See info at ORDemsVote.com Measure 107 – Campaign Finance Limits Amendment Measure 108 – E-Cigarette and Tobacco Tax Increase for Health Programs Measure 109 – Psilocybin Mushroom Services Program Initiative Measure 110 – Drug Decriminalization and Addiction Treatment Initiative Vote Early! Mail your ballot by October 27th. After the 27th, use a ballot box. S211432-1 Thank You First Responders, Volunteers, Farmers, Ranchers, Medical Facilities, Restaurants, Stores, Businesses, Churches, Teachers, and so many more. For Supporting All Our Communities. All of us at Bank of Eastern Oregon are proud to Support You. Please visit your local Bank of Eastern Oregon branch Friday, October 23rd for treats, during community bank week. Member FDIC S209772-1 S208468-1 The Grant County Cham- ber of Commerce regained its nonprofit status last week after losing it four years ago. During a joint John Day City Council and Grant County Court work session Oct. 14, John Day City Man- ager Nick Green told the court about the chamber’s lack of nonprofit status, and the cham- ber members at the meeting said they were unaware they lost the status. The IRS website also has the chamber listed in the Auto-Revocation list, a list of organizations whose federal tax-exempt status were auto- matically revoked for not fil- ing a Form 990-series return or notice for three consecutive years. The IRS uses Form 990 as the primary tool for gather- ing information about tax-ex- empt organizations such as nonprofits. The chamber’s tax-exempt status was revoked on Nov. 15, 2019, according to the IRS webpage. The chamber responded quickly after the joint work session. “The Grant County Cham- ber reinstated their nonprofit status yesterday (Oct. 15),” said Secretary of State’s Leg- islative and Communications Director Andrea Chiapella. “It is not uncommon for an entity to go inactive, particularly if there is organizational change, outside events or other exter- nal forces that take time and attention. Regardless of the reason, the chamber is active.” Even though the chamber has been reinstated as a non- profit in Oregon, Chiapella said what they do at the state level doesn’t impact the IRS process. The IRS website states that organizations that were eli- “I DON’T WANT TO MAKE EXCUSES, BUT (I) WAS DEFINITELY BUSY. WE HAD THE ECLIPSE, AND THEN SOME THINGS HAPPENED IN MY PERSONAL LIFE, AND IT HAS BEEN VERY BUSY SINCE THEN. IT’S GOTTEN MUCH BUSIER HERE, AND I JUST LET IT GET THROUGH THE CRACK. THIS BOARD HAS BECOME SO MUCH MORE ACTIVE THAN THE PAST, AND I FOCUSED ON OTHER THINGS AND LET IT SLIP THROUGH THE CRACKS.”