We got three extra days this year to pay up. Three extra days to turn in our income tax forms and pay Uncle Sam. Instead of April 15th being the day, it is April 18th. We see it come out of our paycheck each week, we complain. We fill out the necessary forms during tax season and we hope we don’t receive a letter saying something about your friendly IRS agent auditing you.
Just to remind you, your condo association or homeowners association works the same way. It amazes me how many people don’t understand it, but every association must file a tax return every year, even if you are a not for profit one.
Your tax return is also like a summary of how good or bad your last year was financially. Same thing with your year end financial reports each association has to have prepared by the end of April; either a compilation, review or audit depending upon the size of the association’s budget. The report should indicate how much monet=y n=came in and how it was spent.
Failure to file your return by April 18th will get you in trouble with the IRS. Failure to prepare your year-end financial report by the end of April will no doubt get you in trouble with the DBPR, if you are a condominium. Trust me, I have seen the DBPR unleash its wrath on associations who have failed to prepare their reports on time. We’re talking the imposition of fines seeking several thousand dollars.
In a condominium, you pay an additional tax. The owner of each unit pays $4.00 per unit per year to the DBPR. All of those funds are supposed to be spent on those who live in condominiums and contribute the money. That’s just not the case. Only about half gets spent. The other half gets swept into the general revenue fund. It averages about $6,000,000 annually and could be put to good price and be responded to more quickly.
Unit owners who generally wish to waive reserves can do so. No such provision exists in the tax code. You’re going to be paying for road repairs well in advance of them being necessary. You have no say whatsoever at the HOA level.
And finally, failure to pay what’s due, when it’s due will only create heart ache or heart burn. Either way, your house will be sold at foreclosure sale. So bottom line, Keeps the assessments rolling in or take a huge risk of you rolling out.
