[aur-general] Donations and upgrades

[w9ya]

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 12:44 PM, kludge <drkludge at rat-patrol.org> wrote:

> Bob Finch wrote;
> > IF you are not set up to accept money without paying taxes, then YES you
> > SHOULD fix that immediately. And I mean next week. I can think of NO
> > GOOD reason for you to be paying taxes on funds donated for such an
> > endeavor. NONE. Tell me where you live, and I will help you find a good
> > lawyer that does this. It should not cost much at all.
>
> speaking from experience, setting up a tax-exempt org is no minor
> undertaking.  in fact, it's a down-right p.i.t.a.  it's not a bad idea,
> but it takes a lot of work and more than few hours with a lawyer.  it
> entails organization by-laws, a board of directors, and keeping books.
>
> a better option might be to seek project status with a "fiscal sponsor."
>  that's an already-established tax exempt non-profit that technically
> keeps yr books for you.
>
> -kludge
>

Yes, and excellent point and that should be an opinion worth considering. I
like to ask these kind of questions of my lawyers when they come up.
Sometimes it is a matter of which type of organization as to whether it
should be "project status" as you describe or even a third way of doing
things. (I am not smarter than my lawyer when it comes to the mechanics of
such things !!)

One thing I think is appropriate to consider is how much more it might cost
in the future if Aaron does NOT seek to set SOMETHING such as this up. I am
pretty sure people like to set these things up sooner rather than later in
part because of the additional costs of waiting too long and thereby
creating a bigger problem by waiting. After all, ALL of the large distros,
are set up to shield their principle staff from these kinds of tax (and
liability) issues. AND Arch is now at this crossroads in it's growth if for
no other reason than this proposal is about growth and the future and
affording resources.

So, yeah, now is the time for Aaron to consider such an approach. And IMHO
it is something to consider BEFORE asking us to consider the current
proposal from Allan/Lou. HECK , I can't even get Aaron to ask me for money I
said I would donate.

Regards;

Bob Finch
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