Where does a canteen's money show up on its tax return?
It shows up on line 10 of Part VIII of Form 990. Picture the house committee meeting. The treasurer says the bar did $160,000 last year. Somebody in the back asks why the post is still short. Both people are right, and line 10 is why.
Line 10 has three parts. Line 10a is gross sales, the money that went through the register. Line 10b is the cost of what you sold, like beer, liquor and food. Line 10c is what is left after that cost. The IRS Form 990 page has the form and its instructions.
Many posts run the canteen as its own nonprofit, with its own name and its own return. The post itself is usually a 501(c)(19) veterans organization. All five canteens below file as their own social club under 501(c)(7), per ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer. These returns are public. The IRS public disclosure rules say an exempt group must let the public inspect them.
Monday morning: ask your treasurer for the last return the canteen filed. Find line 10.
What did five real canteens sell, and what did they keep?
They kept between $62,296 and $169,741 each, after the cost of what they sold. Here are all five, straight from their returns. We list them by letter, not by name. Every return is public on ProPublica.
| Canteen | Sales (10a) | Cost (10b) | Kept (10c) | Per $1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | $320,535 | $258,239 | $62,296 | 19¢ |
| B | $162,309 | $71,450 | $90,859 | 56¢ |
| C | $161,250 | $78,070 | $83,180 | 52¢ |
| D | $469,102 | $299,361 | $169,741 | 36¢ |
| E | $177,044 | $87,501 | $89,543 | 51¢ |
Four of the five years end in December 2023. Canteen E's year ends in June 2023. These five are not a random sample. They are canteens that file a full Form 990 with line 10 split out, so the math can be shown. Search ProPublica for "VFW Post Canteen" and most of the results are in Pennsylvania, where many posts run the canteen this way.
To get your own number, divide your line 10c by your line 10a. That is your cents kept per sales dollar.
Why do some canteens keep 56 cents and others keep 19?
The return does not say. It gives the totals, not the reasons. At the low end, cost of goods ate 81 cents of each sales dollar.
A few things can move that number. A kitchen can cost more to stock than a bar. Low drink prices leave less after the cost. And treasurers do not all book costs the same way. One canteen might count kitchen supplies in line 10b. Another might list them under other expenses.
So do not read a low number as a bad canteen. Read it as a question to ask. Is it the menu, the prices or the books?
Ask your treasurer what goes into line 10b on your return.
Does the bar pay for the building?
Not in any of these five. What the bar kept covered between 22 and 70 percent of each canteen's total yearly expenses. Those expenses are the whole cost of the year, like wages, utilities, insurance and upkeep. The return lists them as total expenses.
The rest of the money has to come from other lines on the return. That is the real talk for a house committee. The bar may be the line everyone watches, but it does not carry the building alone.
Monday morning: put two numbers side by side. Line 10c, and total expenses. The gap between them is what the rest of the canteen has to raise.
How do you look up your own post, or the post down the road?
Use ProPublica's free search. It takes about five minutes.
- Go to ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer.
- Search your post number two ways. Try "VFW Post 1234" and then "Post 1234 Canteen". The canteen often files under its own name.
- Open the newest filing and find Part VIII, line 10.
Small canteens may show no numbers at all. A group whose gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less can file the short Form 990-N postcard, which has no sales lines. Groups under $200,000 in receipts and $500,000 in assets can file Form 990-EZ. On that form, the same three numbers sit on lines 7a, 7b and 7c.
Look up your canteen and one canteen near you. Write down their line 10 numbers.
What should you bring to the house committee?
Bring three years, not one. One year can fool you. A good year can hide a slide, and a bad year can look like a crisis. Only the trend tells you which it is.
Put these on one page:
- Sales, cost of goods and what was kept (lines 10a, 10b and 10c), for three years.
- Cents kept per sales dollar, for each year.
- Total expenses, for each year.
- What share of expenses the bar covered.
- The same numbers for one nearby canteen your size.
That one page turns "the bar is down" into a question the committee can act on.
Where can the rest of the money come from?
It can come from a new line that does not run through the bar. The bar does not carry the building alone, and none of these five returns says it does. Dues, hall rentals and fundraisers fill part of the gap. Foxfire can add one more line, in space the canteen already has.
Foxfire is a no-chance video game system. We place it in the canteen at no upfront cost to the post. We install it, we maintain it, and the post is paid out monthly. Every outcome is set in advance, and players can preview it before every play. See how it works.
It does not add to line 10b. There is no stock to buy and no shelf to fill. What it adds depends on your room, your traffic and your state, so we do not promise a number. We look at your room first and tell you what it can add.
Posts and fraternal clubs are a fit we know well. Read how Foxfire works for veterans and fraternal clubs, and check your state in the state legal guide.