All PTA monies belong to the association, and decisions about the disbursement of PTA funds must be approved by the general membership. Because the PTA is a private association, PTA monies should never be commingled with the funds of any individual, the school, or another organization. All monies deposited in a PTA account, with the exception of the Utah PTA and National PTA portions of membership dues, will be considered to be PTA income by the IRS. The PTA should not allow school or other funds to “flow through” its checking account. If the PTA sponsors a project or program in cooperation with the school, all funds should be accounted for and separated prior to the immediate deposit of the PTA portion into the PTA bank account.
Each PTA’s approved budget includes only income and expenses that the association has approved. No other funds may be deposited into or paid out of the PTA accounts by the treasurer unless the association has authorized the transaction by amending the budget. The treasurer may be held personally responsible for unauthorized deposits or expenditures. This means that the PTA treasurer must never deposit any non-PTA funds in the PTA accounts and never deposit any PTA funds in non-PTA accounts. This particularly applies to the school’s accounts. School funds are public monies and are spent in accordance with the school system’s budget. PTA funds are private monies, not controlled by the school system, and are spent in accordance with the association’s budget.
For an event to qualify as a PTA activity (that is, the funds generated belong to the PTA) ALL of the following criteria must be met:
- If there was a contract involved, the PTA president must have signed the contract in accordance with the provisions of the bylaws.
- The PTA must have been involved in the creation, planning, and implementation of the activity, and the PTA must have a properly structured committee for the activity and provide the majority of the staffing for the activity through volunteer PTA members.
- The activity must have been approved by the PTA membership as a part of the PTA’s approved budget.
If the event does not or cannot meet these criteria, then the activity is not a PTA activity; the money raised at the activity does not belong to the PTA; and it may not be deposited in the PTA’s bank account. The corollary also applies: If the event does meet these criteria, the money raised does belong to the PTA.