Our club has been operating 18 months and have just
installed new officers. We are discussing "paying" our
treasurer and would like some input from other clubs that
pay their treasurer - are there any legal ot tax
considerations? Should we add the agreed upon fee to our
monthly contribution or pay the treasurer in cash?
Thanks for your help.
Ginny Walega

We have been operating since 1994 and our treasurer(s) and
officers do not expect to be paid. Are you thinking of pay
/ salary as a tax deductible item ??? Then would your
treasurer need to have proper accounting training before
being payable as a salaried employee ???
Ilze

ginny walega wrote:
> Our club has been operating 18 months and have just
> installed new officers. We are discussing "paying" our
> treasurer and would like some input from other clubs that
> pay their treasurer - are there any legal ot tax
> considerations? Should we add the agreed upon fee to our
> monthly contribution or pay the treasurer in cash?
> Thanks for your help.
> Ginny Walega

Personally, I am opposed to paying the treasurer for
anything beyond reimbusement of out-of-pocket expenses.
Nevertheless here are some things to consider.

Review your partnership agreement. It may state that you
can't pay a partner for services rendered.

If you pay the treasurer, s/he will report the payments as
income. They are subject to self-employment and income
taxes.

The other partners will deduct the payments as an expense
before distributing income at the end of the year.

I would argue that the payments should be charged directly
against the units, not evenly to each partner. No adjustment
to monthly contributions is necessary. You'll just have less
money to invest as a club. If you want to maintain the same
"relative" purchasing power of each member, you'll have to
calculate the treasurer's fee as a percentage of your
regular contribution and each member will contribute that
percentage more each month.

Finally, why do you feel it's necessary to pay your
treasurer? If you're using bivio (or any other club
accounting software) there isn't all that much work to be
done. Typically less than 1 hour/month (not including
copying time).

Ira Smilovitz
lakshmi investments

ginny walega wrote:
> Our club has been operating 18 months and have just
> installed new officers. We are discussing "paying" our
> treasurer and would like some input from other clubs that
> pay their treasurer - are there any legal ot tax
> considerations? Should we add the agreed upon fee to our
> monthly contribution or pay the treasurer in cash?
> Thanks for your help.
> Ginny Walega

WOW... Been treasurer for our club the past 4 years... never received
anything except the enjoyment of managing the clubs financials.

Guess I'm in the wrong club! Good luck on your payment idea!
Rapid Investments
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ira Smilovitz" <irasmilo@bivio.com>
To: <club_cafe@bivio.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 8:38 PM
Subject: club_cafe: Re: Paid treasurers


> Personally, I am opposed to paying the treasurer for
> anything beyond reimbusement of out-of-pocket expenses.
> Nevertheless here are some things to consider.
>
> Review your partnership agreement. It may state that you
> can't pay a partner for services rendered.
>
> If you pay the treasurer, s/he will report the payments as
> income. They are subject to self-employment and income
> taxes.
>
> The other partners will deduct the payments as an expense
> before distributing income at the end of the year.
>
> I would argue that the payments should be charged directly
> against the units, not evenly to each partner. No adjustment
> to monthly contributions is necessary. You'll just have less
> money to invest as a club. If you want to maintain the same
> "relative" purchasing power of each member, you'll have to
> calculate the treasurer's fee as a percentage of your
> regular contribution and each member will contribute that
> percentage more each month.
>
> Finally, why do you feel it's necessary to pay your
> treasurer? If you're using bivio (or any other club
> accounting software) there isn't all that much work to be
> done. Typically less than 1 hour/month (not including
> copying time).
>
> Ira Smilovitz
> lakshmi investments
>
> ginny walega wrote:
> > Our club has been operating 18 months and have just
> > installed new officers. We are discussing "paying" our
> > treasurer and would like some input from other clubs that
> > pay their treasurer - are there any legal ot tax
> > considerations? Should we add the agreed upon fee to our
> > monthly contribution or pay the treasurer in cash?
> > Thanks for your help.
> > Ginny Walega
>

ginny walega wrote:
> ...We are discussing "paying" our treasurer...

Ginny, of the thousands of club members I've communicated
with over the years, and all the message boards I've
participated on, I've never yet run into a club that pays
any of their officers. Some do pay accountants to do their
taxes, but those accountants are independent contractors.

If, out of thousands of clubs, no one pays their officers,
would that not be a red flag for your club?

Lynn Ostrem
www.bivio.com/crowriver