A California PTA treasurer follows the California State PTA’s financial rules, which are stricter than National PTA’s baseline. Adopting the budget does not authorize spending, every payment needs the president’s and secretary’s signatures, and the unit files with the IRS, the Franchise Tax Board, and the Attorney General every November. Insurance through the state program is required.
I served as a PTA treasurer for three years across two California school districts and trained the treasurers who came after me. I always preferred to hand the tax filings to a CPA, and working out insurance, workers’ comp, and 1099s was always a research project. This page puts those answers in one place.
It summarizes the finance section of the California State PTA Toolkit and the state agencies’ own pages, checked in September 2026. Keep the Toolkit handy for its sample forms. Your bylaws and council have the final word.
Deadline calendar
For a unit on a July 1 to June 30 fiscal year:
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Every meeting | Treasurer’s report to the association and to the executive board |
| Monthly | A non-check-signer opens, signs, and dates the bank statement, then the treasurer reconciles it |
| At least monthly | Per capita dues sent through council and district |
| At least quarterly | Budget versus actuals to the executive board |
| After the June 30 close | Year-end financial review, one report per bank account, adopted by the board and then the association |
| November 15 | IRS 990-N, 990-EZ, or 990 · FTB 199N or 199 · Attorney General RRF-1 |
| January 1 | Raffle registration for the calendar year, if you plan raffles |
| January 4 | Insurance premium received by AIM |
| January 31 | Workers’ Compensation Annual Payroll Report to AIM · 1099-NEC forms to recipients |
| February 1 | Raffle report for the prior calendar year |
| March 31 | Last day to pay dues and insurance before the charter is withdrawn |
The California deadlines as reminders on the treasurer’s to-do list in Volo Cash.
Paying money out
The budget does not authorize spending. Every payment has to be in the budget and either released in advance by a vote at an association meeting (“I move to release up to $600 for the fall festival”) or ratified at the next one. The executive board can authorize bills within the adopted budget between meetings, and the association ratifies them later.
Unbudgeted spending between association meetings is capped by your bylaws: up to $500 if you hold eight or more association meetings a year, $750 for five to seven, and $1,000 for four or fewer. If the association declines to ratify a payment, the executive board that authorized it is personally liable and repays it.
Every payment has a signed Payment Authorization. The form carries the date, check number, payee, amount, budget line, and the date the expense was approved in the minutes. The secretary signs to confirm the approval is in the minutes, and the president signs to confirm it is a PTA expense. Receipts are attached. You do not have to wait for the next meeting to reimburse someone once the approval exists.
A signed request in Volo Cash, with the date approved in the minutes added by the recording secretary.
Checks need two signatures. At least three elected officers are approved to sign, and two of them must be the president and the treasurer. The secretary and the financial reviewer may never sign, and no two signers may be related by blood or marriage or live in the same household. Checks are printed with “Void if not cashed within 90 days” and “Two signatures required.”
Cards and cash are limited:
- No credit cards, for any reason.
- No petty cash. Start-up cash for an event is drawn by check to a person and redeposited afterward.
- Debit cards only under the Debit and Bank Card Policy in effect since February 2025, written into your standing rules. They go only to elected officers who sign checks, with no ATM use or cash back.
- EFT, ACH, and bank bill pay are allowed, each payment with an authorization form signed by two check signers.
- PayPal, Stripe, Square, and similar accounts count as bank accounts and need their own monthly treasurer’s report.
A cash advance needs executive board approval first, and the receipts come back on a Payment Authorization within 45 days.
Taking money in
At least two people count every collection: PTA members, one of them an officer or chair, not related by blood, marriage, or living together. Both sign a Cash Verification Form, and each keeps a signed copy. Deposit right after the event, never take money home, and recount anything that sat in a school safe before it goes to the bank, even if the envelope is still sealed.
The monthly routine
The treasurer presents a report at every association meeting and every executive board meeting, which in practice means two sets of reports covering two different date ranges. Our treasurer’s report guide walks through what goes in one, with a worked example. Volo Cash produces it for every account, payment processors included, with funds that do not belong to the association in their own sections.
Before the treasurer reconciles, an elected officer who does not sign checks (often the financial reviewer) opens the statement, reviews it, and signs and dates it. Statements go to the PTA’s permanent address, usually the school, never to a signer’s home. If your bank only offers online statements, add a non-signer as a view-only user who signs a downloaded copy.
That signature is also a condition of the fidelity bond in the state insurance program. The 2026 Insurance Guide adds that “using financial software to conduct the bank reconciliation does not meet this requirement.” Whatever tools you use, keep the signed statement. Volo Cash lets a non-signer review and sign off each reconciliation in the app, which records the review but does not replace that signature.
The year-end financial review
California calls its audit a financial review. It happens at the end of every fiscal year and whenever a treasurer, financial secretary, or any check signer leaves, and the Toolkit recommends a second one at mid-year.
The financial reviewer never signs checks and cannot be related to or live with the officers who handle money. If the reviewer is not a qualified accountant, a review committee examines and signs the report too. Each bank account gets its own Financial Review Checklist and report, the board adopts it, and then the association does. Our PTA audit guide covers what the reviewer looks at.
Taxes and state filings
For a June 30 year end, three returns are due November 15:
- IRS Form 990-N, 990-EZ, or 990, depending on gross receipts. Our PTA 990 guide explains which one and how to file.
- Franchise Tax Board Form 199N or 199. The 199N covers gross receipts normally $50,000 or less and has no extension. Form 199 gets an automatic six months.
- Attorney General Form RRF-1, with Form CT-TR-1 attached if you filed a 990-N, or a copy of the 990 or 990-EZ otherwise. Every PTA files it regardless of size, and the fee starts at $25. It moves to May 15 if you have an IRS extension.
Three missed filing periods in a row bring automatic revocation of the unit’s tax exemption and withdrawal of its charter.
California PTAs chartered by the California State PTA generally do not need a seller’s permit for fundraiser sales. The state treats them as the consumers of what they sell: they pay sales tax when they buy the goods and do not collect it when they sell them. That applies to units. Councils and districts that sell goods need permits.
If your PTA paid an individual or an unincorporated business for services, the 1099-NEC threshold is $2,000 for payments made after December 31, 2025, and the forms go out by January 31. Volo Cash collects W-9s by email, and its 1099 report shows who crossed the threshold. Incorporated units also file a Statement of Information with the Secretary of State every two years.
Raffles
The Attorney General regulates raffles, not the PTA:
- Register with the Registry of Charities and Fundraisers for the calendar year by January 1, or at least 60 days before the raffle. The fee is $30.
- Wait for the confirmation letter before selling any tickets.
- At least 90 percent of the gross receipts must go to charitable purposes, which leaves no more than 10 percent to spend on the raffle itself.
- Your organization must have been qualified in California for at least a year.
- Online raffles and 50/50 raffles are not allowed.
- File the raffle report by February 1 for raffles held the previous year.
Bingo needs its own license, and poker nights their own registration.
Insurance and good standing
Every California PTA must carry the state insurance program, arranged through the broker AIM. The unit premium of $345 covers general liability and an umbrella policy, officers’ liability, a $25,000 fidelity bond, and workers’ comp. It is paid directly to AIM through its portal, which opens around October 1, and must be received by January 4, with a $50 late fee and no grace period. Some older Toolkit pages still say December 20, so confirm the current date with your council.
The Workers’ Compensation Annual Payroll Report is due to AIM by January 31, and every unit files one even if it paid nobody. If you paid someone who does not carry their own workers’ comp policy, those payments belong on it. Get a certificate of insurance from every vendor, and check with AIM before signing any hold harmless agreement.
Volo Cash’s insurance report lists payments to vendors with no workers’ comp certificate on file.
A unit that has not paid its dues and insurance by March 31 can have its charter withdrawn. Good standing also means at least 15 members, a president, secretary, and treasurer in office, bylaws reviewed every year and approved every five, and all the filings above made on time.
Doing it in Volo Cash
Volo Cash fits the process you already follow, from the signatures on each request to the reports, reminders, and reconciliations above.
You can try all of it free for three months. Start a free trial.
For the rest of the job, our complete PTA treasurer handbook walks through the year, and the year-round duties checklist lays out what falls due when.