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Starting a Micro, Money & Taxes, Blog · January 31, 2014

What do I need to know about crowd funding and taxes?

You are here: Home / Starting a Micro / What do I need to know about crowd funding and taxes?
crowd surfer © by Photos by Mavis

Question: I’m interested in accepting donations from a crowd funding website. What do I need to know about the taxes?

I’ll do my best to answer your questions, but I have to include this disclaimer:

The Internal Revenue Service hasn’t published specific guidance on the tax consequences of receiving money through crowd funding sites like Kickstarter.

I’ll also explain that I am a very conservative CPA. I do not take risky or unsupported positions. You may get a different answer from another CPA or tax professional.

As the term suggests, crowdfunding is funding from a crowd of people; that is, many people provide small amounts of money to finance something. Crowdfunding has its roots in charitable causes, including the advent of micro financing to provide financial services to poor people, but has progressed to the online funding of creative and other projects via sites like Kickstarter and Rockethub.

Crowd funding income can be treated as the following:

  1. A donation to a 501c3 tax exempt charity.
  2. Investment in a business by an investor seeking a share of ownership (called equity owners)
  3. Gift given by an individual to an individual. Gifts are typical when no business or potential profit motive is evident. Examples of gifts include a wedding, funding an adoption, helping a family whose house was destroyed by fire or a person with a medical illness.
  4. Taxable income for a for-profit business. Most businesses give a reward in exchange for the income. This reward may be considered a sale of a good and subject to sales tax in your state (and you thought all you had to worry about was federal income tax!)

 

For a micro business owner, #1 and #2 do not apply. It is my opinion that #3 Gift does not apply to micro business owners either.

#4 taxable income is the only option that applies to micro businesses launching a crowd funding campaign.

 

Carol Topp, CPA

Here is my disclaimer:

Nothing contained in this email was intended or written to be used, can be used by any taxpayer, or may be relied upon or used by any taxpayer for the purposes of avoiding penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer under the Internal Revenue Code, as amended; (2) any written statement contained on this website relating to any federal tax transaction or matter may not be used by any person to support the promotion or marketing or to recommend any federal tax transaction or matter; and (3) any taxpayer should seek advice based on the taxpayer’s particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor with respect to any federal tax transaction or matter contained in this website. No one, without our express written permission, may use any part of this website in promoting, marketing or recommending an arrangement relating to any federal tax matter to one or more taxpayers.

 

Related posts:

  1. Using crowd funding to raise money for your book, music CD or film project
  2. What is crowdfunding and can a teenager get in on it?
  3. Taxes: Your own return or your parents?
  4. Money and Taxes in a Micro Business
  5. Teen Jobs and Tax Issues

Filed Under: Starting a Micro, Money & Taxes, Blog Tagged With: crowd funding

Carol Topp, CPA

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From a parent

Thank you for your e-book on teen micro businesses. Your valuable experience and wealth of knowledge is vast.

Your presentations at Cincinnati homeschool conferences and sharing with us over the years have benefited us well.

I can hardly believe we are at this point in our life-and here he is a young man ready to try his fortune with the world.

-Mandy S

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