An Illinois PTA treasurer follows Illinois PTA’s local unit bylaws and its Money Matters guidance. Two people approve every expense voucher, and every check carries the treasurer’s signature and one other officer’s. An audit committee checks the books each summer, and the membership adopts that audit before it adopts the new budget. The first dues payment goes to Illinois PTA through Givebacks by October 1.
Illinois PTA keeps its treasurer materials in the Money Matters section of its password-protected Leadership Resources, and publishes the annual guides as PDFs. This page brings them together as they stood in November 2026, linking each public document.
The year’s Quick Start Guide and the Money Matters Basics overview are the place to start, with Compliance: Why, How, When for what goes to Givebacks. The treasurer’s duties are in the local unit bylaws template, and the audit steps are in Conducting a PTA Audit.
Deadline calendar
Illinois units generally run on a July 1 to June 30 fiscal year:
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Every board and general membership meeting | Written financial statement, filed for the audit |
| Monthly | A member who is not a check signer receives, signs, and dates the bank statement |
| June to August | New officers registered in Givebacks |
| July and August | Audit by the audit committee, with no checks written while it runs |
| First general membership meeting | The audit adopted, then the new budget |
| October 1 | First dues payment to Illinois PTA, then at least quarterly. AIM insurance renews for most units |
| November 15 | IRS deadline for the 990-N, 990-EZ, or 990 |
| December 31 | 990 proof, the adopted audit, and the insurance certificate uploaded to Givebacks, and dues sent for at least 25 members (10 for a new unit or a school under 100 students) |
| January 31 | 1099-NEC forms to recipients and the IRS |
| June 30 | All dues for the year paid (the Quick Start Guide asks for June 1) |
Illinois PTA’s summer and fall as reminders in Volo Cash, with the audit’s steps attached.
Paying money out
No new spending until the audit and budget are adopted. Illinois PTA’s toolkit says no checks go out in the new fiscal year until the membership has adopted the audit and the budget, unless last year’s budget included a start-up line for the new year. Deposits continue as usual. The treasurer chairs a budget committee with the president and a few others, the board reviews the budget, and the general membership adopts it at its first meeting, after the audit.
Any line over budget means an amendment. Illinois PTA’s budget guidance says only the membership amends the budget, by a two-thirds vote or a majority with notice. When any line will run over, the membership amends it first. The contingency line is not meant to cover overages.
Two approvals, two signatures. The bylaws template pays bills according to the adopted budget on expense vouchers approved by two people, and Illinois PTA’s voucher guidance uses one voucher for each check. Every check carries the treasurer’s signature and one other elected, authorized officer’s, even when the bank does not require two.
A request in Volo Cash approved by two people, the treasurer and the president.
Gifts and gift cards. Illinois PTA discourages gift cards. A unit that uses them anyway keeps a log of each card’s date, number, amount, store, and recipient, checked by a second person. The bylaws bar PTA earnings from benefiting members, officers, or other private individuals. When the PTA buys something for the school, Illinois PTA recommends donating it formally at a board of education meeting, so the gift is in the board’s minutes.
Cards. AIM’s insurance guide, which Illinois PTA links, advises avoiding debit and credit cards.
Taking money in
Two people who are not the treasurer count the money and sign both halves of the deposit voucher. The treasurer recounts and signs. The counters pass one half to the president, and the treasurer keeps the other, deposits as soon as possible, and attaches the deposit slip. Every deposit has a voucher.
Dues are $6 a member for Illinois PTA and National PTA: $2.75 for the state and $3.25 for National. The first payment goes through Givebacks by October 1 and then at least quarterly. A unit that has sent dues for fewer than 25 members by December 31 (10 for a new unit or a school under 100 students) is delinquent. A unit with dues still unpaid by June 30 loses its charter.
The monthly routine
The treasurer gives a written financial statement at every meeting, showing receipts and disbursements for the period, and an annual report at the end of the year. Illinois PTA’s sample report notes that the report is filed for the audit and never approved. Our treasurer’s report guide walks through the general shape.
Each month a member who is not a signer receives the bank statement, signs it, and dates it. AIM’s fidelity bond goes further: as a condition of coverage, someone without check-signing authority must review and sign the monthly reconciliation, and financial software does not count.
Reconciling in Volo Cash, with the statement and books matched before the non-signer signs.
The annual audit
Illinois PTA still calls it the audit. The board elects an audit committee of at least three members at its last meeting of the year, and nobody authorized to sign checks can serve, including the treasurer. An outside auditor is also an option. An audit happens at the end of the fiscal year and again whenever the treasurer or another signer changes during the year.
The treasurer hands over the checkbook, statements, canceled and voided checks, deposit slips, the ledger, the receipt book, and the vouchers and invoices. The committee reports the beginning balance, income, disbursements, ending balance, deposits in transit, and outstanding checks on the audit report form, and each member signs it. The treasurer keeps the books until the audit is done, and the outgoing treasurer prepares the 990.
The audit is the first business at the first general membership meeting, ahead of the budget. The committee chair moves to adopt it, no second is needed, and a majority adopts it. Then it goes to Givebacks. Our PTA audit guide covers what a reviewer looks at, and Volo Cash exports every request with its receipts as PDFs in one download for the committee.
Taxes and state filings
The 990 by November 15. Each unit files its own 990-N, 990-EZ, or 990 under its own EIN, never Illinois PTA’s, as part of Illinois PTA’s group exemption (group exemption number 9405). Proof goes to Givebacks. The Quick Start Guide asks for it by November 15 and Money Matters by December 31. Our PTA 990 guide explains which form applies.
Sales tax on purchases runs through Illinois PTA’s letter. Units buy tax-free under Illinois PTA’s exemption from the Illinois Department of Revenue, using a copy of its exemption letter for PTA purchases only. Illinois PTA sends the current year’s letter only to units in good standing.
Sales are taxable beyond a few exceptions. Under 86 Ill. Adm. Code 130.2005, a charitable organization does not collect sales tax on sales to its own members, on infrequent sales where buyers mainly mean to donate, or on up to two occasional events a calendar year such as a dinner, fun fair, or bake sale, which the PTA chooses. Ongoing sales mean registering as a retailer and collecting tax.
The Attorney General. Illinois’s charity laws apply to parent teacher organizations, and the Attorney General’s guide for school organizations explains them. A parent-teacher organization is exempt from registering when it meets every condition in 225 ILCS 460/3: it is run by the parents and teachers of a named school and solicits for that school, it turns its contributions over to the school after reasonable expenses, its fundraisers are unpaid, its net contributions stay at $50,000 or less a calendar year, and it gives the school an annual accounting, which the school board will certify to the Attorney General if asked. Otherwise it registers on Form CO-1, for $15, before soliciting. If it takes in more than $15,000 a year or holds more than $4,000, it files an AG990-IL within six months of year end, also $15. A CPA audit is required only above $500,000 in contributions, with reviewed statements from $300,000 to $500,000.
Incorporating is optional. Illinois PTA suggests considering it, as a low-cost way to protect officers. Articles of incorporation cost $50 with the Secretary of State, and the annual report costs $10.
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.
Raffles
Illinois PTA and National PTA do not recommend games of chance. When a unit holds a raffle, the Raffles and Poker Runs Act applies:
- The municipality (city, village, or town), or the county outside any municipality, licenses raffles drawn there if it has chosen to offer licenses, and may set limits on prizes, ticket prices, and selling days. Where no license is available, there is no legal raffle.
- License holders must have existed for five years, which the licensing body may waive for a local unit chartered by a state or national organization that meets the test.
- Only members, officers, or directors manage the raffle, and tickets may be sold anywhere in Illinois.
- Raffle money goes in a separate account, and the person who accounts for it cannot be the person who accounts for the PTA’s other revenue. Report to the members and the licensing body after each raffle, and keep the records three years.
- A drawing for a gift card given to people who buy a membership counts as a raffle.
Insurance and good standing
Liability insurance is required for good standing, and the certificate goes to Givebacks by December 31. Illinois PTA highly recommends a fidelity bond for officers and anyone who handles money, and names AIM as its preferred carrier, renewing October 1 for most units. AIM’s bond is conditioned on an annual audit and the monthly non-signer review above.
A unit in good standing gets the current sales tax letter and can apply for state and national awards and grants. One that falls behind on dues is delinquent and can lose its charter.
Doing it in Volo Cash
Volo Cash fits the process you already follow, from the two approvals on every voucher to the reports, reminders, and audit 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.