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THESE UPDATES ARE OFFERED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DO NOT CONSTITUTE LEGAL ADVICE OR RECOMMENDATION
We are happy to announce that Section 6A of Mass. General Laws Chapter 180 has been permanently amended to allow on-line member meetings and voting at any annual, regular or special meeting when authorized by a nonprofit corporation's Board of Directors. This amendment now permits meetings of corporate members in-person, hybrid and in all remote settings assuming certain safeguards to ensure adequate notice and voting security are followed. Our Firm was pleased to have an opportunity to comment on the proposed legislation through the highly dedicated team at the Boston Bar Association who advocated for this legislation over many months before it was approved by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Maura Healey on March 29th as part of the omnibus budget bill. Please contact us if you have any questions about this long-awaited law.
Smaller charities whose annual gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less may choose to file Form 990-N, Electronic Notice for Tax-Exempt Organizations (e-Postcard). The IRS now offers sign-in options with Login.gov and ID.me. Both offer access to IRS online services through a secure account that protects your privacy. Currently, users with an active IRS username have the option to access the Form 990-N submission page using their active IRS credentials, however, this option will eventually be phased out. If you have an existing IRS username, the IRS recommends creating an account with Login.gov or ID.me as soon as possible. Please click here to view a copy of the IRS Form 990-N Electronic Filing System (e-Postcard) User Guide.
Approval time for online registration and Form PC filing has been dramatically reduced to about a week vs. two to three months when these filings are submitted in hardcopy. The Massachusetts Office of Attorney General Non-Profit Organizations/ Public Charities Division encourages Initial Charity Registration and Annual Form PC to be filed online. See details here: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/online-charity-filing-portal. Please contact Machiko Sano Hewitt if you have any questions about these new online filing systems.
The MA Office of Attorney General Non-Profit Organizations / Public Charities Division (Division) recently published an updated Guide for Board Members of Charitable Organizations (Guide). The Guide has been a valuable resource for charities and their boards statewide for many years. The updated Guide demonstrates the Division’s renewed focus on certain aspects of fiduciary oversight and operation of Massachusetts charities. Focus areas include duty of allegiance to mission, conflict of interest policy and procedures that are closely aligned with the IRS requirements and emphasis on diversity and term limits as key to keeping vital. We strongly recommend you share this Guide with your board and management Please contact us with any questions or concerns arising from this revised Guide.
Every non-profit corporation organized under the laws of the commonwealth must file a non-profit annual report with the Corporations Division on or before November 1st of each year. M.G.L.A. c180 § 26A; 950 CMR § 106.13. Please click here for a link to the MA Corporations Division website regarding nonprofit filings:
Our office will be closed for vacation AUGUST 8 – 19. If you need immediate legal assistance, please leave a message via phone or email and one of our attorneys will respond.
Contact Information During Office Vacation Weeks :
Employee Retention Credits (“ERC” or “credits”) were created as part of the CARES Act. Through significant expansions, ERC has become a significant form of COVID relief, similar to the PPP loan many non-profits have relied on. However, the infrastructure bill that the Senate passed (H.R. 3684) would end the ERC after the third quarter of 2021.
Liz Reinhardt and Chris Leigh-Manuell, Paralegal at Hurwit & Associates will be presenting Multi-State Registration & Compliance for Nonprofits: When, Where and How, a free online event on Tuesday, June 8, 2021 at 11:00 am.
Regulatory requirements for multistate fundraising are complex, hard to navigate, and compliance can be costly. Nonprofits soliciting funds outside their home states are well served when they adopt a strategic approach and have a good grasp of the legal requirements in a changing landscape before wading into these waters.
Register here to find out what your nonprofit needs to know!
We're happy to announce that we are sponsors for the 2020 Massachusetts Nonprofit Network (MNN)'s Annual Conference Tuesday, October 6th to Thursday, October 15th.
This year's conference entitled New Paths Forward will be held virtually and is expected to draw over 600 attendees. It will include over 16 workshops, keynote speakers and panels, and the presentation of two Lifetime Achievement Awards! We encourage you to attend. Early bird registration has already begun and will end Friday, September 11th.
Nonprofit organizations are navigating complex questions regarding their operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The coronavirus has introduced a great deal of uncertainty into our day-to-day lives.
There are constructive actions that you can take to benefit your nonprofit and support its good work. As you consider how to resume or continue operations, and how best avoid potential liability, the various options below are tools that can be used to build a shield of protections. While no shield can protect your organization from all risk under all circumstances, using different tools in the box will help build a broader shield of protection.
Borrowers are encouraged to start doing their loan forgiveness calculations as soon as possible so as to maximize that amount!
Please be careful to avoid overlap in the use of the PPP and the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs): You cannot use these two loans for the same purpose.
Please find more information here.
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Governor Baker released a four-phased opening to Massachusetts, titled Reopening Massachusetts. Each phase will last, at a minimum, three weeks, and could last longer before moving to the next phase. If public health data trends are negative, specific industries, regions, and/or the entire Commonwealth may need to return to an earlier phase.
The Massachusetts Attorney General's Division of Public Charities has issued guidance "extending certain deadlines and making other changes to assist the sector in operating from remote work locations due to the COVID-19 Pandemic." A link to the Attorney General’s Public Charities Covid Notice can be found here.
These changes offer some welcome relief in these challenging times. They include extending the deadline for all 2019 annual Form PC filings for 6 months, in addition to the automatic 6 months extension may charities elect, and on-line processing instructions for other submissions to the Division.
Please don't hesitate to call or email if you have questions about how this new guidance may impact your organization
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) was enacted on March 27, 2020 for purposes including the support of 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charities. Title I of the CARES Act – “Keeping American Workers Paid and Employed Act” – contains the Paycheck Protection Program that provides emergency, government-backed loans for eligible 501(c)(3) organizations for the purpose of funding payroll and related expenses through mid to late June 2020.
