AOPA ePilot Newsletter Story on SSA

AOPA is paying attention...I hope SSA emerges from this chapter
stronger.

In my e-Pilot email Newsletter today from AOPA:

SOARING SOCIETY FACES BUDGET CRUNCH OVER TAX ISSUES
Calling it the "single most serious challenge" it has faced in its
75-year
history, the Soaring Society of America (SSA) is in a financial crisis
over
unpaid taxes. In a September 7 letter to its membership, the society
said
it discovered that it had not filed federal tax-exempt information
returns
with the Internal Revenue Service since 2002. The society said the
chief
financial and administrative officer, Alan Gleason, did not provide
sufficient financial data required by an outside accounting firm to
prepare
the tax returns. In preparing the delinquent returns, the accounting
firm
also discovered that the SSA had not submitted federal payroll
withholding,
Social Security, or Medicare taxes, as well as New Mexico state
withholding
taxes for at least five quarters beginning in 2003. Balance sheets were

also found to be inaccurate. Gleason claimed that he didn't pay the
taxes
because of a lack of cash on hand, yet he didn't inform anyone else
about
the situation, according to the letter. Gleason has been put on paid
administrative leave pending an investigation. The SSA said it is
working
diligently to pay back taxes and file the proper paperwork. Although it

has severely strained its operational funds, the more than $1 million
in
funds supervised by the SSA Foundation remain secure. The SSA has more
than 16,000 members and is based in Hobbs, New Mexico.