i am sorry if i have wasted your time on non-profit formation and taxation issues when i put my CPA hat on. i originally meant to point out some banking alternatives and how to make certain you could qualify and control such with the non-profit formation as a means and California as a low-cost conduit. if you are already set up in DE, you can take advantage of the free in-/out-ACH, web API's, and mass-pay at dwolla (tied to any existing bank account(s) you have now or in the future) and internationally-scoped banking through Citi or some such. i suggested Ally Bank only because they offer free services: in-bound SWIFT, in-/out-bound domestic US wire transfers, and checking. also, their $10 fee for out-bound SWIFT is the lowest i know of for non-analysis (low running-balance) checking acct's. -- Thank you, Johann v. Preu?en On 2016.May.11 14:15, Steve Marquess wrote: > 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. > > > -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: smime.p7s Type: application/pkcs7-signature Size: 3825 bytes Desc: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature URL: <http://mta.openssl.org/pipermail/openssl-users/attachments/20160511/abc46e6f/attachment-0001.bin>
