HOA tax filings

[Shaun Reilly]

I own a condo that I rent out and have been helping to facilitate a HOA forclosure on a couple of seriously delinquent units.
One of them has the bank ready to payoff 7 months worth of fees and asked for the EIN# for the condo trust.

After talking with the lady that handles the finances she says they don't have one and best as I can tell she is correct.
We will be getting one to secure the payoff but this begs the question of what to do about the like 30 years of unfiled 1120H returns and what to do going forward.

I also dug in a little into the association I live at and found that we do have a number and have done tax returns, just not since 1991...

What kind of liability could these associations be looking at?
Based on what I have read I doubt either would have owed any taxes, but decades of fail to file penalties are a little daunting.

Anyone have any experience with this and can tell me what to expect, how to start fixing it, or if just pretend I am still in ignorant bliss?

[Steven Hamilton II]

Shaun Reilly,

Often it is not the end of the world. The HOA should have been filing its annual tax returns. You should consider getting them filed and requesting relief. 99.9% of HOAs do not have any tax liability.

Dave T is exactly right. You need to get onto it right away. One of the HOAs that I prepare the returns for is coming in tomorrow. For them it has not made sense to make the election.

Some of the residents will be irate if hit with a penalty from what wasn't done 30 years ago.

-Steven