Your 990 is mostly filled in already
One filing year, from the chart of accounts in July to the return in January
You set up the chart of accounts
In July, months before anybody says the word 990. Each account you create or edit carries the Form 990-EZ line it belongs to — 21 line choices across income, expense and asset accounts, and BeeKeeper only offers the ones that are valid for that account type.
The first non-employee gets paid
The DJ, the coach, the photographer who shot picture day. Flag the vendor as 1099 reportable when you set them up and send them a link to complete their own W-9, while it is a condition of payment rather than a favour you are asking in January. The tax ID is stored encrypted and stays out of the activity log.
The year just happens
Every deposit, check and reimbursement lands on an account that already knows its 990 line, and every vendor payment is totalled as it is posted. Nobody is doing tax work. They are doing the bookkeeping they were going to do anyway.
The fiscal year ends and you close it
Closing posts entries that deliberately zero income and expense into equity. The worksheet leaves those out, so a year you have already closed still reports the revenue and expenses it really had — while net assets do include them, because that is where the surplus went.
The 990 worksheet is already populated
Your fiscal year laid out on the 990-EZ lines: revenue, expenses, net assets and the balance sheet, under a header carrying your legal name, EIN, address, fiscal period and accounting method straight off your organization's record.
You check the figures that look wrong
On a first 990 one usually does. Expand any line to see each account behind it with its own amount, so you can tell in seconds which account caused it. Accounts with no line mapped are listed for you rather than dropped, and unmapped expenses land on Line 16 so the form still adds up while you decide.
The 1099 list surfaces on its own
The 1099-NEC Preparation report reads the calendar year rather than your fiscal year, because that is the IRS rule, and lists every reportable vendor paid $2,000 or more with their name, tax ID and address in one row — plus a count of who is still missing a W-9 while there is time to chase them.
It gets filed
You file from the worksheet, your accountant does, or we do — annual return and 1099-NEC filings are an allowance that comes with your plan. Either way January is a review of figures that were already right, not a reconstruction of a year from a shoebox.
Filing season is only terrible because the work was deferred
Gross income from fundraising events, and the direct expenses of those events, stated separately. That is four accounts and a guess, reconstructed in January from a spreadsheet somebody else built.
The DJ, the coach, the photographer, the person who ran the science night. By the time you know they were reportable, chasing a W-9 is a favor you are asking, not a condition of payment.
It was not in the handoff. The outgoing treasurer assumed the council did it. Miss the annual return three years running and the IRS revokes the exemption your unit has held for decades.
PTA accounting that runs itself
Built for school groups. Free for 30 days, no credit card required.
What the worksheet actually gives you
What the worksheet covers
Legal name, EIN, address, fiscal period and accounting method, ready to copy across.
Contributions, program service revenue, membership dues, investment income, the three gross-and-direct-expense pairs, other revenue, and the total.
Grants, benefits to members, salaries, professional fees, occupancy, printing and postage, other expenses, and the total.
The year's surplus or deficit, net assets at the beginning of the year and at the end — including a surplus that has not been closed into equity yet.
Cash and investments, land and buildings, other assets, total assets, liabilities, and net assets at year end.
And so much more
Frequently Asked Questions
Keep looking around
Check Printing
Print one check or a whole run on plain check stock, with alignment you calibrate once. Voids, reprints and check numbers are all tracked for you.
Security & Roles
Give the president, treasurer and auditor exactly the access their role needs. Every edit is logged with who made it and when — including us, when you ask us for help.
Audit Kit
One page pulls the year together for your audit committee — and hands you a list of what is still missing while there is time to find it.