On 05/11/2016 04:56 PM, Johann v. Preu?en wrote: > i am somewhat surprised your attorneys have not mentioned the most > simplistic solution. if the sole purpose for incorporating is to > implement banking, there is actually no need to register for an IRS > letter. if you satisfy the state regulations and obtain an EIN you are > fine. the IRS letter does give safe harbor to donors that the amounts > given are federally deductible. of course, to your major donors who > provide moneys under grants and/or contracts there is no practical > tax-wise difference between "gift" and "business expense". > > ... State taxation isn't a problem; OpenSSL Software Foundation is incorporated in Delaware which has no tax. U.S. tax deductibility is largely irrelevant to our donors, most of which are outside the U.S. > > all of that said, there are plenty of examples of open-source org's that > are already IRS-recognized under IRC 501(c)(3) such as Software in the > Public Interest, Apache, Eclipse Foundation, Open Source Initiative, > Linux Foundation, Software Freedom Conservancy, and many more. i have > noticed, though, what your attorneys have related to you in that the IRS > has recently seemed to turn a blind eye to the "public benefit" clause > when it comes to open-source software. this is a trend of just a couple Bingo. > of years and turns from the path they had followed for decades in > granting acceptance. if someone took the time to copy/edit one of these > org's by-laws and submitted to the IRS they would be hard-pressed to > deny based on the facts and would have to reveal a decidedly > philosophical reason which would be wide open to appeal. naturally, i > have no idea if any of this extra effort would yield anything meaningful > to openssl. ... Be my guest and go for it, but I do have a good idea if it would yield anything meaningful because I've been working this issue in detail for a couple of years now. Our attorneys (we've checked with several, and with ones experienced with 501(c)) don't see a viable path worth the substantial investment it would cost us. -Steve M. -- Steve Marquess OpenSSL Software Foundation 20-22 Wenlock Road London N1 7GU United Kingdom +44 1785508015 +1 301 874 2571 direct marquess at opensslfoundation.org stevem at openssl.org
