Three offices across New YorkTax planning and accounting for people who run things.

Scarsdale

Nonprofit accounting in Scarsdale, Westchester

Scarsdale organizations tend to be well funded and under documented.

What you get

  • Form 990, 990-EZ and 990-N
  • Unrelated business income on Form 990-T
  • Restricted and unrestricted funds tracked
  • Reporting a board can read
The MyCleverCPA team outside the office

The MyCleverCPA team

  • 25+ years in regulated finance, compliance and audit
  • Tax work led by a CPA. Jillian Sinel holds the CPA and the CAA
  • Riverdale Office at 331 College Rd, Bronx, NY 10471

In Scarsdale

Nonprofit accounting for Scarsdale

Real money, real donors, and the written policies the Form 990 asks about never actually written down. The return asks whether you have a conflict of interest policy, a whistleblower policy and a document retention policy, and the answer is a matter of public record.

Those are a morning of work to put in place and awkward to explain the absence of.

Scope

What is included in nonprofit

The same work wherever you are. Scoped to what you actually need.

  1. Annual filings

    • Form 990, 990-EZ and 990-N
    • Form 990-T for unrelated business income
    • New York State charities filings
  2. Fund accounting

    • Restricted and unrestricted fund tracking
    • Grant and program reporting
    • Costs allocated across program, administration and fundraising
  3. Governance and controls

    • Internal controls for volunteer-run finance
    • Separation of duties on a small team
    • Documentation a board can actually review
  4. Setting one up

    • Entity formation and the exemption application
    • A chart of accounts built to produce a 990
    • The written policies the 990 asks whether you have

What this covers

  • Form 990, 990-EZ and 990-N
  • Form 990-T for unrelated business income
  • Annual reporting and regulatory filings
  • Nonprofit structuring and entity setup
  • Bookkeeping and fund accounting
  • Board and management reporting
  • Restricted and unrestricted fund tracking
  • Internal controls for volunteer-run finance

Local tax

Complex returns, and a SALT problem with no easy answer

With a median home value of $1.8 million and Westchester property tax rates, Scarsdale households are about as constrained by the state and local tax deduction cap as anywhere in the country. For employees there is very little to do about it directly. For business owners and partners, New York’s pass through entity tax is worth modeling properly, because it moves state tax from the capped personal deduction to the entity level.

The returns here are complex for a specific reason: an executive and professional population means equity compensation. Restricted stock units, incentive stock options and non qualified options each behave differently, and the alternative minimum tax still has teeth on ISO exercises. Add the 3.8% net investment income tax, capital gains, partnership K-1s from city law and finance firms, 529 plans and the kiddie tax with a household size of 3.22, and charitable bunching through donor advised funds.

A quarter of residents are foreign born in a highly educated, affluent village, which produces an unusual niche: inbound executives and assignees with foreign pensions, PFICs, treaty positions and Forms 8938 and FBAR behind them.

No local income tax at all, unlike Yonkers four miles away. MCTMT Zone 2 at 0.34%, and the self employment threshold rising from $50,000 to $150,000 for 2026 takes a lot of Scarsdale consultants and board members out of it entirely.

One planning point people miss: the Unincorporated Business Tax follows the business, not the residence. A Scarsdale consultant with a Manhattan office or Manhattan clients can owe New York City UBT while owing no city resident income tax.

How it works

How nonprofit runs

Four stages. Most of the value sits in the first two, before anything is filed.

  1. Check the filing history

    Which 990 was filed, when, and whether exempt status is still intact.

  2. Straighten the records

    Funds separated, allocations documented and balances reconciled.

  3. Prepare the return

    The 990 and anything it brings with it, including the 990-T.

  4. Report to the board

    Statements and a 990 the board can read without a translator.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Can anything be done about the SALT cap?

If you are purely an employee, realistically no. If you own a business or hold a partnership interest, the New York pass through entity tax is the main route and it is worth modeling on your own numbers, because the benefit varies a great deal depending on the entity and the income mix.

My compensation is mostly RSUs and options. What should I be watching?

The timing of income recognition and whether withholding covers it, which it frequently does not at supplemental rates. For incentive stock options the alternative minimum tax on exercise is the one that produces unpleasant surprises, and the fix is to model the exercise before you do it rather than after.

I live in Scarsdale but my clients are in Manhattan. Do I owe New York City anything?

Possibly the Unincorporated Business Tax, even though you owe no city resident income tax. UBT applies to an unincorporated business carried on within the city regardless of where the owner lives. It catches more Westchester consultants than you would think.

I moved here from abroad. Is my foreign pension a problem?

Not a problem, but it is a reporting obligation and often a treaty question. Foreign pensions, foreign accounts and foreign mutual funds, which are usually PFICs, each have their own forms and the penalties are weighted toward non filing rather than non payment.

What happens if we missed a 990?

Three consecutive missed years revokes exempt status automatically. One missed year is fixable and worth fixing immediately. If status has already been revoked, reinstatement is possible but it is a longer road.

Which 990 do we file?

It depends on gross receipts and total assets. Small organizations may only need the 990-N, which is short. We would rather confirm the threshold than have you file the wrong one.

Can you help us set up a new nonprofit?

Yes, on the structuring and accounting side, working with whoever handles the legal formation and the exemption application.

Also in Scarsdale

Our other services here

Talk to us about nonprofit in Scarsdale

Book a time online, or call the Riverdale office directly.

Nearest office

Riverdale Office
331 College Rd, Bronx, NY 10471

Office hours

Sunday to Friday, 11am to 8pm Eastern.
Closed Saturday.