Bay Area Prabasi Inc. Is Back on Track
The present Officers of the Board (Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer) took on a herculean
responsibility when they assumed office as elected officers of Bay Area Prabasi Inc (BAPI) in 2019. In addition to the daily challenges of managing a reputable organization like BAPI, a lot of unresolved financial liabilities were inherited.
It was evident an internal audit was necessary to tackle the discoveries. A Financial Committee of the present and past Chairman, Treasurer, Advisor, assisted by a member with financial expertise, and NABC 2017 Treasurer, consulted the CPA as needed.
The current board is fully committed to bringing financial transparency and fiduciary responsibility to BAPI. Countless hours have been expended, and despite the complications brought on due to COVID-19, we worked very hard to resolve these issues with clear outcomes in most cases. These financial issues were in a multitude and here are some as follows:
- RRF1: LINK
- RRF1 is required to be filed with the Attorney General’s Office by all charitable and ‘Not for Profit’ Organizations
- Since 2004, Registration Renewal Fee Report, or RRF 1 had not been filed. This was discovered in 2020 by the current Officers of BAPI.
- Due to non-payment and non-filing of RFF 1 form, BAPI status was beyond delinquent and was ‘SUSPENDED’ and BAPI would have lost our ‘Not for Profit’ status
- As advised by CPA the team worked for several months with the California Attorney General’s Office to back pay the fees due.
Outcome: BAPI was reinstated from ‘SUSPENDED’ to ‘CURRENT’
Letter from the Attorney General is attached regarding BAPI status conversion. LINK
Discovery: Nov. 2020. Resolution: Feb. 2021
- Tax Submission to IRS
- BAPI is a membership and sponsorship driven organization and just like any other organization needs to file taxes to the IRS on time
- Tax delinquency leads to losing 501(c) (3) non-profit status
- BAPI was in “Delinquent” status with IRS for not filing 2017 on time
- A penalty of $5000 was pending for 2017
- IRS records had incorrect BAPI addresses, effort was put to correct that
- If left unresolved, BAPI would have been on a “Suspended” status
- By Jan. 2020, Chairman with support from the two officers took a personal risk and signed on this late filing of taxes to save the organization’s non-profit status
- Further effort was put towards appealing for the waiver of the penalty LINK
Discovery: Jul. 2020. Resolution: Dec. 2020
Outcome: All back taxes and current taxes have been filed. BAPI’s “Delinquent” status is resolved and penalty for $5,000 waived. BAPI is current with its tax filings.
Tax submission documents to the IRS are attached.
- 2019-2020 LINK On schedule (Nov. 2020)
- 2018-2019 LINK Delay (Dec. 2020)
- 2017-2018 LINK Filed on discovery (Dec. 2019)
Discovery: Dec. 2019. Resolution: Dec. 2020
Here are additional resources which are public information that can be helpful for members to check updates of the organization’s Not for Profit status –
https://oag.ca.gov/charities/delinquency
Non-Profit search –
https://rct.doj.ca.gov/Verification/Web/Search.aspx?facility=Y
Use the following State Charity Registration Number 083919 for BAPI
These will give all members access to the last 7 years of BAPI records, including the RRF-1 forms and I-990s. The forms hold current officers’ dated signatures.
For your review here is the first financial update that was emailed in September 2020. LINK
Overall, as is clear from the above information, tremendous progress has been made in resolving major financial issues and BAPI is in a much better status than it was in 2019.
The entire Board of BAPI is committed to having open and transparent financial transactions. Some policies are already in practice, namely, not accepting any cash donations or payments, reimbursing only upon receiving receipts, keeping meticulous accounts, and presenting all financial information to members.
Another important financial update will follow soon regarding NABC 2017 accounts resolutions with an external auditor’s report.
