Except as otherwise provided by this section, the trustees of a charitable trust required to register under section 109.26 of the Revised Code shall file annual reports on forms prescribed by the attorney general, on or before the fifteenth day of the fifth month following the close of the trust's taxable year as established for federal tax purposes; or, in lieu of filing those reports, the trustees may file complete copies of all annual federal returns required to be filed by the trust with the internal revenue service for the taxable year, together with all schedules, attachments, and reports due with the return or returns. The federal returns shall be filed with the attorney general at the same time as required by the internal revenue service, taking into account any applicable extension of the federal filing date.

The annual report shall be signed by the trustee who is authorized to sign it. The annual report shall be considered certified by the trustee and the trustee's signature on the report shall have the same effect as though made under oath.

A charitable trust required to register under section 109.26 of the Revised Code is not required to file the reports required by this section if any of the following apply:

(A) It is organized and operated exclusively for religious purposes.

(B) It is an educational institution that normally maintains a regular faculty and curriculum and normally has a regularly organized body of pupils or students in attendance at the place where its educational activities are regularly carried on.

(C) For any taxable year it has gross receipts of less than twenty-five thousand dollars and at the end of which it has gross assets of less than twenty-five thousand dollars.

The attorney general, by rule pursuant to section 109.27 of the Revised Code, may exempt other classes of charitable trusts from the requirements of this section, and may by rule increase monetary limits set forth in division (C) of this section, that require filing with the attorney general's office.

The attorney general may institute judicial proceedings to secure compliance with this section and to secure the proper administration of any trust or other relationship to which this section applies. The willful failure of any trustee to file reports as required by this section may be grounds for judicial removal of the trustee responsible for such failure.

The attorney general shall charge the following fees for filing the annual report:

For the purposes of this section, "assets" refers to the total fair market value of the charitable trust's assets at the end of that trust's taxable year as established for federal tax purposes.

Any charitable trust that fails to pay the fee required by this section at the time required shall pay an additional fee of two hundred dollars, except that the attorney general may waive the two-hundred-dollar fee upon a showing that the trustees of the charitable trust failed to pay the fee for filing the annual report at the time required by this section for reasons that were beyond the control of the trustees of the charitable trust or of a designee of the trustees.

This section shall not be subject to section 119.12 of the Revised Code.

Amended by 128th General AssemblyFile No.38, HB 519, §1, eff. 9/10/2010.

Effective Date: 10-29-1993 .