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I agree, after reading all these comments and links it has to be viewed as charity donations. They need to sever ANY expectation of outcome and can't offer any
by dmfdmf 11y ago
I agree, after reading all these comments and links it has to be viewed as charity donations. They need to sever ANY expectation of outcome and can't offer any inducements or incentives or promises to buy, etc. In essence a Kickstarter project says "Here is my project, please give me money" as long as that is clear then the govt may leave it alone but perhaps there are different regs on charities. Also, the IRS might have something to say about the tax status of gifts over $10K, so recipient will have to pay income tax upfront.
- _delirium 11y agoFwiw if they're legally gifts (which is not always obvious, consult your tax professional etc.), gift tax in the U.S. is payable by the gifter, not the recipient: http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Frequently-Asked-Questions-on-Gift-Taxes#1 http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employ... I believe this is because it's mainly aimed at wealthy estates who're trying to end-run the estate tax by conveying large amounts of money to would-be heirs via gifts instead.
- dmfdmf 11y agoI agree these are questions for a tax pro. Also, I think the gift tax and rules are different for related vs non-related parties. If you pulled $100K in "gifts" from a Kickstarter project I'd bet the IRS would rule that as income, if they haven't already.