A Utah PTA treasurer follows Utah PTA’s Treasurer Handbook, which is stricter than National PTA’s baseline in most places. Three people count every deposit, the principal signs every check request, debit cards and Venmo are out, and the year-end paperwork is due to Utah PTA by August 1. Sales tax paid during the year comes back through Utah PTA.
This page is built from Utah PTA’s own handbook and the state’s pages, checked in September 2026. It is the short version, with links to the source for each rule.
Utah PTA publishes its 2026-2027 Treasurer Handbook with the forms on its Treasurer Forms page. Your bylaws make the handbook’s procedures part of good standing.
Deadline calendar
Every Utah unit runs on a July 1 to June 30 fiscal year:
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Every meeting | Treasurer’s report to the executive committee, board, and membership |
| The 25th of each month | State and national dues remitted to Utah PTA |
| July 10 | Books to the AFR committee |
| August 1 | Year-End Financial Statement, AFR report, 990-N or 990-EZ confirmation, and sales tax refund request |
| September 1 | AIM insurance policies renew |
| Before September 30 | Budget and AFR report adopted at the first general membership meeting |
| October 1 | Budget and minutes, proof of insurance, signed fiscal management and conflict of interest forms, and training report |
| January 31 | 1099-NEC forms to recipients and the IRS |
| May 1 | Incoming officer list |
| June 30 | Books close |
Utah PTA’s fixed dates as reminders in Volo Cash, with the August 1 packet attached.
Paying money out
Only the membership authorizes spending. The general membership adopts the budget by a majority vote at a meeting with a quorum of ten, and that budget is what lets the board spend. Approval at a sign-up table does not count. An increase of 10 percent or more needs a two-thirds vote before the money goes out. Until the new budget passes, the incoming treasurer pays only routine and emergency bills.
Every check has a check request. The requester fills in the Check Request/Expenditures form with itemized receipts or an invoice attached. The president and treasurer sign to approve it, and the principal signs to acknowledge it. The form also records the sales tax paid, which feeds the year’s refund request.
A check request in Volo Cash, with the principal’s acknowledgment alongside the president’s and treasurer’s signatures.
Two signatures on every check. The treasurer signs, plus one other signer, preferably the president, from at least three on the account. The principal, the teacher vice president, and other district employees cannot be signers. No two signers may be related or share a household, nobody signs their own check, and the president never keeps the checkbook.
No cards, transfers, or payment apps:
- No debit cards, credit cards, ATM cards, or petty cash.
- No mobile deposit, online transfers, ACH payments out, wires, or Bill Pay. Dues to Utah PTA through Givebacks are the exception. Online banking stays read-only unless the unit adopts the e-Commerce Policy.
- The one card allowed is a prefunded spending card, after the membership adopts Utah PTA’s e-Commerce Policy and the unit carries liability and bonding insurance.
- Venmo, Cash App, and other peer-to-peer apps are not approved for PTA use.
- Square, PayPal, Stripe, and similar merchant services can take payments if, among other conditions, they deposit straight to the PTA account, the PTA has three signers and bonding insurance, and the treasurer gives the board a separate report on them each month.
Money given to the school or a teacher needs a signed grant agreement, and PTA funds cannot buy what the district is responsible for, such as capital assets, technology, or salaries. Utah PTA’s guideline keeps spending that is not direct program work at no more than 20 percent of the year’s total.
Taking money in
Three people count every deposit, and all three must be members of the PTA who have signed the Basic Fiscal Management Procedures agreement. The treasurer is one of them whenever possible. Each deposit gets a Funds Received Form with the three-signature Money Counting Sheet attached, and two people take it to the bank the same day. Money never goes home or stays at school overnight.
State and national dues do not belong to your PTA. At $6.00 per member ($3.25 National, $2.75 Utah), they go to Utah PTA by the 25th of each month.
The monthly routine
The treasurer reports at every executive committee, board, and general membership meeting: the balance from the last report, income and expenses by category since then, and the current balance. Copies go to the president and secretary. Our treasurer’s report guide walks through the general shape of one.
The bank statement goes to the school, and a board member who is not a signer reviews and initials it first. The president reviews it next, the treasurer reconciles it, and the president signs the reconciliation.
Volo Cash’s budget report, with actuals against each approved budget line, the same lines Utah PTA’s year-end statement follows.
The Annual Financial Reconciliation
Utah PTA calls its year-end review the Annual Financial Reconciliation, or AFR. The books close by June 30 and go to an outside auditor or an AFR committee of at least three PTA members by July 10. Nobody on the committee can be a signer or be related to or live with one. The report goes to Utah PTA by August 1 and is adopted at the first general membership meeting, before September 30.
The committee checks the June 30 reconciliation, budget compliance, a sample of transactions, dues, restricted funds, and that the sales tax refund was requested. The incoming executive committee does not accept books that have not been reconciled. Our PTA audit guide covers what a reviewer looks at.
Taxes and state filings
The 990 goes in by August 1. Utah units file under Utah PTA’s group exemption, each with its own EIN. The 990-N uses the legal name “PTA Utah Congress” with your PTA’s name as the DBA, Utah PTA’s Salt Lake City address as the mailing address, and a July 1 to June 30 tax year. Utah PTA wants the IRS confirmation for the 990-N or 990-EZ by August 1, well ahead of the IRS’s own November deadline. Our PTA 990 guide explains which form and how to file.
Sales tax comes back through Utah PTA. Under Utah law, a PTA is exempt at the register for purchases of $1,000 or more and pays sales tax on smaller ones. Units then reclaim that tax through Utah PTA’s Sales Tax Refund Request, due August 1 for the year just ended. Submitting it is required, Utah PTA charges $2 on refunds over $20, and only units in good standing are paid.
Fundraiser sales usually carry no tax. A PTA does not collect sales tax on fundraiser items that are not available to the general public. Book fairs are the exception: the PTA charges sales tax on every sale and passes it to the book fair company, and that tax is not refundable.
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
Utah has no charitable raffle exception. The criminal code counts any drawing people pay to enter as a lottery, and the state constitution bars the Legislature from authorizing games of chance. Utah PTA’s games of chance guidance allows a drawing in two cases:
- Anyone can get a ticket without donating, and payments are donations.
- The ticket comes free with an item whose price is reasonably related to its value.
Insurance and good standing
Utah PTA recommends general liability coverage, notes that the school district’s insurance does not cover the PTA, and has a partnership with AIM that covers most local units. Bonding is required for merchant services and prefunded cards. AIM policies renew September 1, and proof of insurance is due to Utah PTA by October 1 under the handbook and bylaws. An older Utah PTA page says September 15, so confirm the date with your council.
Good standing takes at least 10 members with a president, treasurer, and secretary, dues remitted by the 25th, bylaws renewed every three years, and the August 1 and October 1 paperwork on time. A unit that loses it cannot get its sales tax refund or join Utah PTA programs like Reflections, and it can lose its tax-exempt status, since Utah PTA’s annual list to the IRS includes only units in good standing.
Doing it in Volo Cash
Volo Cash fits the process you already follow, from the signatures on each check 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.