Not necessarily. It really depends on specifics. Are you selling goods as in via kickstarter? I suppose there may be cases where someone abuses the service in

Not necessarily. It really depends on specifics. Are you selling goods as in via kickstarter? I suppose there may be cases where someone abuses the service in ways that don't increase tax liability. Are you crowdfunding by selling equity in your business (as allowed by the JOBS act)? That's not taxable income any more than it is income when you capitalize your own business. No income is accrued. Really, every startup founder should be familiar with the basics of double entry accounting. Then it is easy to figure out questions like this.