The Leader
January 2020: Getting Ahead of Hall Taxes

It’s a new year and for many California lodges, a new line of officers are in place. But old problems don’t simply go away with a new master sitting in the east—especially if they involve Uncle Sam. For Maya Lodge No. 793 in San Gabriel, in fact, tax problems nearly spelled the end of their lodge—and underscore why it’s so important that lodges stay on top of their financial liabilities, something all officers can get a jump on by attending the all-new Hall Association Boot Camp at the 2020 Secretary and Treasurer Retreats Jan. 31 in Irvine and Feb. 7 in San Ramon. In the space of just a few months in 2018, Maya No. 793 went from being in good standing and flush with cash to having its charter suspended and facing a tax bill topping $1 million.

Below, Gabriel Lopez, lodge secretary and newly installed president of the Maya Masonic Temple Association, shares the harrowing tale of how his lodge nearly lost it all—and how they stared down their problems and managed to win it all back.

Facing the Music

“We were operating blindly for years,” Lopez says, looking back at how Maya No. 793 found itself in such dire circumstances. “The uncomfortable truth is, everything that happened to us was due to our own negligence.” As these things tend to do, that started with a relatively simple problem: The lodge’s hall association forgot to file its taxes. No one remembers when that first default occurred, but by 2018 the IRS hadn’t heard from the Maya Masonic Temple Association for several years—possibly as many as seven. During that time, their tax-exempt status was revoked, meaning that all income generated from the hall would be taxable. Under normal circumstances, that might not have been a death knell, as the hall didn’t generate much income of its own. However in 2018, the lodge decided to sell its building, unaware of the crippling tax burden it would place on them.

As the paperwork from the real estate sale was being sorted, Lopez and members of Grand Lodge staff uncovered the startling reality. “We potentially owed the government around $1 million in taxes,” he says. The lodge’s secretary for fewer than two years at that point, Lopez nevertheless stepped up to lead the effort to right the ship. He worked closely with Grand Lodge real estate and financial services staff to untangle the mess. “I can’t begin to tell you how helpful Grand Lodge was,” Lopez says.

Together, the hall association and Grand Lodge were able to back-file the missing tax bills and, within a year, recover their tax-exempt status—cancelling the seven-figure debt. The lodge, which had seen its charter suspended during the interim, was also brought back into good standing. “It’s unfortunate we had to discover all of this the way we did,” Lopez says. “My advice to other lodges is to be proactive with their finances.” With an increasing array of tax-preparation and other financial services, Grand Lodge is well-positioned to help lodges stay out ahead of their tax issues. No one enjoys paying taxes, as Maya No. 793 found out the hard way, but avoiding them can end up costing a whole lot more.