A Georgia PTA treasurer follows the local unit bylaws and Georgia PTA’s Leadership Resource Guide. Every check carries two signatures, the president’s and the treasurer’s, after the president approves a check request. State and national dues go to Georgia PTA monthly. The audit or financial review reaches the state office by the last business day of September.
Georgia PTA’s rules live in a guide, a forms page, and its governance pages. The links below go to each, and the details date from November 2026.
The Leadership Resource Guide (updated August 2024) holds the treasurer’s section, Financial Management: A Treasurer’s Guide. The forms page posts the audit form, the check request form, Form ST-5, and a Dues & Totem notice with the current dues. The Standards of Affiliation page and its annual checklist set out good standing. The Georgia PTA Bylaws, amended June 5, 2026, carry the rules every local unit’s bylaws share. Georgia PTA approves each unit’s bylaws, and its amendments to the shared articles apply to every unit automatically.
Deadline calendar
Each unit’s bylaws state its fiscal year in Article XVI. Georgia PTA’s membership year runs July 1 to June 30. Georgia PTA’s guide ties the audit to the end of the school year whatever your fiscal year. The 990 dates below assume a June 30 year end:
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Every executive committee, board, and general membership meeting | Treasurer’s report |
| Monthly | Bank statement reconciled by the treasurer, then reviewed, signed, and dated by a member who is not a signer or related to one |
| Monthly, as dues come in | State and national dues sent to Georgia PTA through Totem |
| Within 15 days of an election or appointment | Officers’ names and contact information to Georgia PTA |
| No later than two weeks before school ends | Auditor or audit committee chosen (see the annual review below for the website’s earlier date) |
| When the school year ends | New signature cards at the bank, and the outgoing treasurer’s records to the auditors |
| First general meeting of the school year | Budget adopted |
| First general meeting after the review | Audit report adopted |
| Last business day of September | Audit/Financial Review form, pages 1 to 3, and the final bank statement to Georgia PTA, with a copy to your council or district director |
| November 15 | IRS deadline for the 990-N, 990-EZ, or 990, with Georgia PTA’s 990 Filing Verification form due within 10 days of filing |
| November 30 | Standards of Affiliation checklist, signed by the president and secretary, to Georgia PTA |
| January 31 | 1099-NEC forms to recipients and the IRS |
| January 1 to April 1 | Secretary of State annual registration, for incorporated units |
Paying money out
The membership decides how money is spent. A budget committee of three to five people, usually chaired by the treasurer, drafts the budget. The board considers it, and the general membership adopts it by majority vote, usually at the first general meeting of the year. Georgia PTA’s guide treats that vote as the way members approve spending, so a check with no budget line behind it should not be written. Amending the budget takes a membership vote at a regular or special meeting: a majority with prior notice, or two-thirds without it.
A check request, then two signatures. Every payment starts with a check request showing the date, the purpose, the amount, the budget line, and the receipts or original invoice. The president signs it before the treasurer issues a check. Georgia PTA’s form warns that a purchase made without approval may be left with the purchaser. Every check carries two signatures, the treasurer’s and the president’s. The secretary is also on the signature card, to sign only in an emergency in place of either one. Signers may not be related by marriage or any other relationship. Checks are never signed blank or written to cash. The treasurer records the check number on the request.
A request in Volo Cash approved by the president and signed by the treasurer, the two signatures Georgia PTA puts on every check.
Checks only. Because every payment needs two signatures, Georgia PTA does not permit paying with a debit card, credit card, ATM card, or online banking. Its treasurer FAQ adds that bonding insurance would not cover losses through a debit card or online banking. The audit form asks the reviewers whether the PTA paid by card. A yes has to be explained on the form’s last page.
One treasurer, new signers each summer. Georgia PTA does not allow co-treasurers. It strongly recommends that school employees not serve as treasurer. When the school year ends, new officers take office and the outgoing officers stop signing checks. Take the election minutes and at least two outgoing signers to the bank to change the signature card right away. Summer bills under the budget in place are paid by the new officers.
Cash boxes. The guide prefers that an event chair get change from the bank and be reimbursed through a check request. When that is not possible, the check is made out to the person getting the cash, for a set amount that usually falls between $25 and $100. It needs the committee chair’s and the president’s approval and is written no earlier than the day of the event, or the day before for a weekend event.
Taking money in
Two people count every collection on Georgia PTA’s Funds Verification Form. The counters cannot be related and cannot be the treasurer, who signs as the third person and deposits the money the same day or within 24 hours. A copy of the deposit slip goes back to whoever turned in the money.
Online payments through a service like PayPal or Square are allowed with limits. Only a bank signer may access the account, the treasurer transfers the money to checking at least weekly, and two people reconcile and sign each transfer. The merchant account is not shared with the school or another group. Refunds go out by check request and a two-signature check, not through the service.
Dues sent to Georgia PTA are $5.10 a member: $1.85 for Georgia PTA and $3.25 for National PTA. Georgia PTA’s Dues & Totem notice gives those figures, effective July 1, 2025, and the state bylaws set the state portion at $1.85. The Leadership Resource Guide’s remittance form and the Standards of Affiliation web page still show $3.75, so use $5.10. Dues go to Georgia PTA monthly through Totem, the required membership platform. Totem turned off local dues of $5.00 or less after the increase, so a unit with dues that low amends its bylaws to raise them. Until Georgia PTA approves the amendment, that unit collects dues by cash or check and mails Georgia PTA the Dues Transmittal form, a PTA check for $5.10 a member, and the member list. The state and national portions belong to Georgia PTA, so keep them out of your unit’s income and out of its gross receipts.
The monthly routine
The treasurer reports at every executive committee, board, and general membership meeting. The guide’s sample report compares each line’s monthly and year-to-date figures to the budget. Our treasurer’s report guide walks through the general shape.
The treasurer reconciles the bank statement each month. A PTA member who is not a signer, and not related to one, reviews, signs, and dates the statement. The treasurer’s checklist also has the treasurer and president review it together. The audit form asks whether each statement was reconciled by the treasurer and signed by the president and that non-signer.
Reconciling in Volo Cash, ready for the president and a non-signer to review.
The PTA Audit/Financial Review
Georgia PTA calls it the PTA Audit/Financial Review, and its website also calls it a financial reconciliation. The guide has it cover the year that ends with the school year, while the website says the end of the fiscal year. Pages 1 to 3 of the form, with the final bank statement, reach the state office at audit990@georgiapta.org by the last business day of September. Send a copy to your council, or to your district director if you have no council. A review also follows a treasurer’s resignation. The website adds a review whenever a check signer is added or removed.
Georgia PTA’s year end as reminders in Volo Cash, from new signature cards to the September audit deadline.
The guide and the audit form have the board choose an auditor or audit committee no later than two weeks before the school year ends. The guide allows a single auditor, and its FAQ asks that a committee have at least three people. The website’s Financial Audit Reconciliation page asks for a committee of at least three members, appointed by the president at least 30 days before the last regular meeting and approved by the board. A committee of three, appointed that early with the board’s approval, meets both. No signer, and no relative of a signer, may serve. The website also advises against appointing the incoming treasurer.
The outgoing treasurer hands over the records the form lists, from bank statements and check requests to the minutes and the adopted budget, and signs the form first. Until the review is done, the guide recommends limiting spending to emergencies, which include contract payments and other bills already owed. The reviewers answer the form’s yes-or-no questions, reconcile the balance, and check one of three findings: the books are correct, the reviewers found problems or have suggestions, or there are significant problems to report to the district right away. Any finding, even a minor one, means the second box. The president and treasurer sign as well. The committee reports to the executive committee, and the membership adopts the report at its first meeting after the review. Our PTA audit guide covers what a reviewer looks at. Volo Cash exports every request with its receipts as PDFs in one download.
Taxes and state filings
The 990 by November 15. The bylaws give the current treasurer the 990-N, 990-EZ, or 990, due the 15th day of the fifth month after the fiscal year ends. Within 10 days of filing, send Georgia PTA’s IRS 990 Filing Verification form with the e-filing receipt or the return’s first page. The Standards of Affiliation web page says to file within 60 days of the year end, while the state bylaws, the annual checklist, and the guide all use the IRS due date. Filing within 60 days, by August 29 for a June 30 year, satisfies every version. Our PTA 990 guide explains which form applies.
Sales tax on purchases. The Department of Revenue says Georgia has no general sales tax exemption for nonprofits, so a PTA pays tax on paper, binders, and other things it uses. For items it will resell, like spirit wear or school store supplies, a PTA gives the vendor Form ST-5 and checks box 1, purchases for resale, where a tax-exempt parent-teacher organization needs no sales tax number. The guide’s instructions say box 3, which on the current form covers water and sewer authorities, so use box 1. The exemption does not cover anything the PTA uses or gives away.
Sales by the PTA are exempt. Georgia exempts sales by any parent-teacher organization that qualifies under 501(c)(3), as the guide notes, citing O.C.G.A. 48-8-3(56). The Department of Revenue lists parent-teacher organizations among those exempt from collecting the tax.
Incorporation and the annual registration. Georgia PTA strongly encourages every unit to incorporate and handles the filing through its Incorporation Request Form. An incorporated unit files the Secretary of State’s annual registration between January 1 and April 1. The Secretary of State’s fee for a nonprofit corporation is $40, not the $30 the guide lists. Filing after April 1 adds a $25 penalty. The guide notes that a unit that doesn’t pay can be administratively dissolved.
Charitable solicitation. The Secretary of State requires charities that solicit in Georgia to register unless an exemption in O.C.G.A. 43-17-9 applies. The statute never names PTAs, though some of its exemptions likely cover a typical unit: organizations operated in connection with a nonprofit educational institution, civic and similar organizations whose unpaid volunteers solicit only their own members, and less than $25,000 in contributions in both the past and current calendar year with no paid solicitor. Local affiliates of a registered or exempt state or national parent organization, affiliated by contract or agreement, need not register separately. Georgia PTA’s guide lists the registration only “if applicable” in its records schedule, so ask the state office if you are unsure whether your unit qualifies. Registration costs $35 and renews every 24 months for $20. A unit that files the 990-N sends Georgia’s Form C-200 in its place.
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. The forms go out by January 31. The guide’s $600 figure is the old threshold.
Raffles and bingo
Georgia law, O.C.G.A. 16-12-22.1, requires a raffle license from the sheriff of the county where the organization is located. The guide also asks you to check that the school allows it. The statute sets these rules, and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office is one sheriff that lays them out:
- The sheriff may charge up to $100 a year.
- The organization must have existed for 24 months before the license is issued.
- The application includes an IRS determination letter. Units share Georgia PTA’s tax exemption. The state office sends an EIN letter on request when a unit needs to verify its nonprofit status. Your sheriff can tell you whether that letter will serve.
- A license expires December 31 of the year it is issued.
- By April 15, a licensed organization files a report of the past year’s raffle receipts and expenses, prepared and signed by a public accountant.
- No more than one raffle on any one day.
- Raffles run only on premises the organization owns, on property it leases and uses regularly for purposes other than raffles, or on property it leases from another nonprofit, tax-exempt organization. Ask your sheriff how that applies to a raffle held at your school.
- A special license covers up to three raffles in a calendar year, with the fee and the annual report waived.
Each sheriff’s office sets its own application process and lead time, so start with yours.
Bingo moved from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to the Secretary of State in July 2021. The guide’s bingo instructions still point to the GBI. The Secretary of State offers one-time permits to schools and other eligible nonprofits. Request one by letter at least three weeks before the event.
Insurance and good standing
The Standards of Affiliation checklist asks each unit to purchase appropriate liability insurance and record its effective date. The guide strongly encourages fidelity bonding for everyone who handles money, sized to the average of the last three years’ gross receipts. It also recommends general liability coverage and describes directors and officers and property coverage. It notes that school district insurance generally does not extend to PTAs and that AIM, the insurer most Georgia units use, requires a police report before reviewing a theft claim.
The state bylaws define a unit in good standing as one that pays state and national dues monthly, has approved bylaws, sends the audit by the last business day of September, files its 990 by the IRS due date, pays council dues where it has a council, and reports officers within 15 days of their election. Good standing is required for Reflections, Georgia PTA and National PTA scholarships and grants, awards, and convention voting.
Every unit also sends the Standards of Affiliation checklist by November 30, signed by the president and secretary. It confirms the 990, the audit, the budget’s adoption, insurance, dues, and the Ethics and Code of Conduct Agreement signed by every officer, board member, and committee member. One elected officer attends at least one Georgia PTA training and one council or district training. Every other elected officer attends at least one. A unit that falls short gets 60 days after Georgia PTA’s notice to fix it, then loses eligibility for awards, programs, and grants. After 45 more days Georgia PTA assigns a support team. A unit that still falls short can have its leadership restructured or its charter revoked. A unit whose charter is withdrawn turns over its books, records, and assets to Georgia PTA or to whoever Georgia PTA designates.
Doing it in Volo Cash
Volo Cash fits the process you already follow, from the president’s and treasurer’s signatures on every request to the reports, reminders, and reviews above.
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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.