On Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:45:47 -0700, Darren New wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> There's no guarantee he'd need to pay income tax on it.  I don't know
>> what the tax law is in Australia, but here in the US, you can register
>> as a nonprofit organization.  I suspect you can in Australia as well.
> 
> That's probably pretty expensive right there. :-)

I don't know; our local community organization recently submitted 
paperwork to reinstate their non-profit status as a 503(c)(4) non-profit, 
and I don't know that there was any cost.

>> But if the contributions are low enough, they're not taxable anyways. 
>> I know this is the case in the US - income < $600 doesn't have to be
>> reported (I collected about $50 last year in book royalties).
> 
> Note that "doesn't need to be reported" != "not taxable".

A minor distinction, since the low income isn't required to be reported 
even - but even if it is reported, it in and of itself isn't taxed.

I went through this whole thing when my first book was published, because 
the advance was taxable but the taxes weren't taken off the top.  :-)

>> Financing development isn't really the issue, I think.  It's that Saul
>> would like to give back in some way.  I think the sentiment is a good
>> one with any "free" development effort.
> 
> A fund to help pay hosting fees, or against rainy days like the server
> dying, would seem to be reasonable.  I don't know that there's any
> reasonable way to split up donations directly to the contributors.

I would say that the "rainy day" fund makes the most sense to me.

Jim

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