Starting Your Bank Account

Getting your bank account started is crucial for a new affiliate. You need to be an officially recognized affiliate before starting this process. After you are affiliated, the process is straightforward, though a slight bit tedious. The party’s Chair and Treasurer just needs to follow these steps.

Your Party’s Legal Name

It’s important to always use your party’s legal name on the paperwork.

• For County Parties, your legal name is “Libertarian Party of ________ County, Kentucky”, where the blank is your county name. Example: Libertarian Party of Pendleton County, Kentucky.
• Exceptions exist for Louisville/Jefferson/3rd and Lexington/Fayette because of merged county-city forms of government. Consult the State Party if you need assistance.

Obtaining an EIN

If you are re-activating a county party

Per the IRS:  Ask the IRS to search for your EIN by calling the Business & Specialty Tax Line at 800-829-4933. The hours of operation are 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. local time, Monday through Friday. An assistor will ask you for identifying information and provide the number to you over the telephone, as long as you are a person who is  authorized to receive it. Examples of an authorized person include, but are not limited to, a sole proprietor, a partner in a partnership, a corporate officer, a trustee of a trust, or an executor of an estate.

If you are starting a county party that hasn’t existed before

IRS EIN Online signup only available Monday through Friday from 7am to 10pm Eastern Time.  Visit the IRS website and follow the steps to get an EIN number for your party: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/apply-for-an-employer-identification-number-ein-online (link last verified 2021-08-16)

Now you want to scroll down and find the “Apply Online Now” button …
A new window opens.  Choose “Begin Application”
Now choose “View Additional Types, Including Tax-Exempt and Governmental Organizations, and press “Continue”
Choose “Political Organization” and then press “Continue”…
Read and understand, and press “Continue”…
Choose “Banking purposes”, and then press “Continue”…
Fill in your information, and choose “I am a responsible and duly authorized officer…” and press “Continue”…

(the rest to be added later)

(remember to use your party’s legal name, as listed above)

Document your new EIN number, and provide the EIN number to the State Party Secretary and State Party Treasurer.

Finding A Bank

If you have a relationship with a bank already, often that is the easy way to go. You should talk to the bank about how we’re organized.  You will be considered an “unincorporated association” (like a youth baseball league), and you need a business checking account that doesn’t earn interest (that would be a corporate contribution and therefore illegal). Find out the details of the account – monthly fees and whatnot. Don’t open the account yet. Make sure they’re going to be willing to work with you, and that the state party’s Constitution (what the bank will call governing documents or articles of incorporation), an EIN, and documentation from KREF showing you have filed with KREF will be acceptable for opening the account.  (See more under “Opening The Account, below.)

Filing with KREF

The process to file with KREF has gone online, and the following has been provided by KREF as the process to follow to start a committee account. The process must be started by the Chair of the committee.

First Time Login

These directions are current as of 1/8/2023.  If you have issues with KREF please call them at at 502-573-2226 and tell them you need assistance with the website.

Chair	Pre-requisites: Only the Chairperson can create a new committee. Check that the Chair and Treasurer both have access to their respective LPKY email address.  To get access to LPKY email, please contact the state party IT Director for assistance.  You should know which bank you intend to use. Note that you will create a username and password during this process and (as of 1/8/22) the username must contact between 7 and 32 characters, and the password must be between 7 and 20 characters and must have at least one capital letter and one number.
Chair	1. Click on the following link. https://secure.kentucky.gov/kref/financial/committee and choose the Sign Up option.  (NOTE:  If you have previously used KREF for a campaign you may be able to use that information here instead of signing up, but you may need to contact KREF to get directions on how to associate that account with your new committee.)
Chair	2. Fill out the individual SSO (Single Sign On) signup form.  You will provide an email address in this step — this should be your LPKY email.
Chair	3. You will receive an email with a link.  Click the link and it will take you back to the login page.  Your account has been verified.
Chair	4. If you’re not already there, go to the following link. https://secure.kentucky.gov/kref/financial/committee and log in with your new credentials.
Chair	5. You will be asked to affiliate with a committee.  If the committee is already set up, you would put in the Filer number (and the rest of this process would not apply).  If not, leave it blank and then press Next to create a new committee.
Chair	6. Since you are a new committee, just hit next. You will be asked to verify that you want to create a new committee. Click “continue”
Chair	7. Fill in the committee information.  For the sponsor question, put “Libertarian Party of Kentucky”.  For the “who will fund” questions say “Donors” .
Chair	8. Once filled out, click on “Continue” at the bottom of the screen.
Chair	9. Next you will verify all information then sign the form at the bottom of the page by typing in your name and clicking the little square box and then on Chairperson Sign Intent.
Chair	10. Once that is done the Intent will send out an email to the treasurer, inviting them to accept being treasurer.  Inform the treasurer to look at their email.  You will be on a screen that verifies what has been created.  Be sure to document the Filer Number and provide that number to the treasurer and the State Party.  Keep the filer number safe.
Treasurer	11. Click the link sent in your email from KREF.  At the website, choose the Sign Up option.  (NOTE:  If you have previously used KREF for a campaign you may be able to use that information here instead of signing up, but you may need to contact KREF to get directions on how to associate that account with your new committee.)
Treasurer	12. Fill out the individual SSO (Single Sign On) signup form.  You will provide an email address in this step — this should be your LPKY email.
Treasurer	13. You will receive an email with a link.  Click the link and it will take you back to the login page.  Your account has been verified.
Treasurer	14. If you’re not already there, go to the following link. https://secure.kentucky.gov/kref/financial/committee and log in with your new credentials.
Treasurer	15. You may be asked to affiliate with a committee.  You would put in the Filer number for the Committee and then verify you want your account associated with this Filer number.
Treasurer	16. Once logged in the treasurer will review the information and sign the form at the bottom of the page by typing in treasurer name and clicking the little square box and then on “Treasurer Sign Intent”.
Treasurer	17. Once the treasure has signed and submitted the intent, it goes to KREF for approval. Once approved, the chairperson will receive an email that it has been approved.
Either	18. Once approved, the chairperson or treasure can login and start their reports.
Either	19. Scroll to the bottom and select the report that is due by clicking on the 3 blue dots to the right.
Either	20. Click “view statement”. Your statement will open and you can start recording your funds.

Opening The Account

You should have the following items with you when to go to open your affiliate’s bank account.

• KREF filing information for the county party (print information from the website showing you are signed up)
• TIN/EIN from the IRS
• Articles of incorporation (which is our state party constitution)
• Convention minutes to prove who was elected at the latest convention where officers were elected
• A letter from the affiliating organization (i.e. that state party, if you are opening an account of a district and the district party if you are affiliating a count)
  • A letter directly from the state party should also work

NOTE: Some banks have started requiring a physical address for the account.  If so, you can use LPKY’s headquarters at 1015 S 4th St, Louisville, KY 40203.

If the bank gives you any hassle over not being incorporated in KY, tell them that the state party is incorporated to protect the use of the name, but that all affiliates are to be considered an “unincorporated association”, like a youth baseball team.

Be sure to let the State Party Treasurer know you have completed this, and you have a bank account. Transferring money via ACH may become an option in the future.

Avoid Interest Bearing Accounts

Interest can be construed as a corporate campaign contribution, which is illegal.  Since we tend to want our money working to guide people to liberty, there is little value in keeping the level of cash in the bank that would be required to make the interest worthwhile anyway.

Please bear in mind

This process is unusual to the bank employees and they’re trying to follow the rules so they don’t get fired. So be nice and work with them.  Be patient should they get a little mixed up, and work to keep them on your side as they work through the process.

Maintaining The Books

It is best practice to only pay with things by “physical instrument”, which is a check written against the bank account. Checks should be single-purpose so that later on there’s no question as to what was spent on what, how, and why. To be clear: If someone is getting re-imbursement for multiple items, for instance, it is best practice to write one check per submitted receipt.

Expenses generally must be pre-approved. So be sure to throw a red flag on reimbursing an expense for which a motion was not passed before the expense was incurred.

Be sure to log what every check was written for, how much, and to whom. Ideally, there will be receipts for those expenses, as well. Keep all of this. It’s good bookkeeping.

KREF Filing

To be populated…

Got Questions?

If you’ve got questions, ASK! The IRS is actually helpful when you’re trying to get an EIN/TIN. KREF is extremely professional. And the State Party has institutional knowledge as well. If you have a problem, ask for help! There’s no reason to let your party get socked with fines from KREF. As Treasurer, you can be personally responsible for failing to do the job. So just ask for help when you need it!