Good recordkeeping means preparing minutes of directors' and members' meetings and documenting important corporate decisions. You'll want to organize these materials in a corporate records book, which should also contain a copy of your articles of incorporation, bylaws and tax exemption determination letters from the IRS and your state tax agency, if applicable. In addition to keeping records of important decisions, your nonprofit corporation must record any financial transactions in a double-entry bookkeeping system and keep other financial records in order to file an annual corporate tax return. For more, see Earning Income as a Nonprofit Corporation . If they do, the IRS can revoke their nonprofit status, and can assess a special excise tax against the organization and its managers.
Nonprofit corporations can engage in only limited lobbying activities.
However, for tax-exempt nonprofits that want to participate in lobbying, the IRS simply sets a limit on the money they can spend on political activities. Nonprofit corporations must not distribute profits to members, officers or directors. A nonprofit corporation cannot be organized to financially benefit its members, officers or directors. However, reasonable salaries and expense reimbursements are permitted. For more information on unrelated activities, see Earning Income as a Nonprofit Corporation .