2016-2017 CSL Funds Distribution

[rmzelle]

Hi all,

Sebastian recently received a $5000 donation from Mendeley/Elsevier
for 2017 to support the CSL project. We never came around to
distributing funds from their 2016 $5000 donation, so Sebastian and I
would like to propose the following budget for these funds from both
years, to be paid out in the next few weeks. We also had $1,229 left
from 2015 (post-tax).

Sebastian typically pays about 40% tax on independent contractor
income, so his post-tax budget is ca. $7229 ($10,000*0.6 + $1229). If
people can invoice him before the end of the year, he might be able to
pay people the pre-tax amount.

We would like to propose the following split of this budget:

Rintze Zelle (styles repo maintainer, CSL website update, mailing list
migration) - $1500
Sebastian Karcher (styles repo maintainer) - $1000
Patrick O'Brien (CSL style requests) - $600
Michel Krämer (mailing list migration) - $250
Pablo Melchor (CSL website update) - $250
Libor Ansorge (CSL style requests) - $100
Philipp Zumstein (CSL style requests) - $100
CSL editor maintenance bounty - up to $1500
CSL test suite maintenance bounty - up to $1250
Margin/savings (margin for Sebastian's tax liabilities, and/or to roll
over to next year) - $680

We haven't checked yet whether everybody listed above wants to or can
accept a payout, but will reach out in private. We're also open to
suggestions if you think the budget can be better or fairer spent. We
tried to come up with a fair distribution to recognize those who
worked on CSL infrastructure in the past two years and incentivize
future contributions. We'd like to finalize this budget on December 28
at the latest and receive invoices from all those who can before the
end of the year.

(the distribution of funds in 2015 is discussed at
http://xbiblio-devel.2463403.n2.nabble.com/Use-of-Sponsorship-Money-and-Governance-td7579338.html)

Best,

Rintze and Sebastian

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[David Lawrence]

After a quick conversation with my accountant she recommends that CSL project donations be made through a tax exempt foundation. Then all of the funds could be distributed to "contractors" listed below for the tasks they perform. Under U.S. tax law and standard accounting rules, money donated to the organization could be specifically dedicated / earmarked to the CSL project and all money could only be spent on CSL. Payment to contractors would be made by check or PayPal from the existing non-for-profit. I would need to do a bit more talking with my accountant but if she agrees I (representing the SafetyLit Foundation) would be willing to be the pass-through for this process and there would be a savings to the CSL project for whatever is currently lost to taxation.  

There is one possible wrinkle to this idea (but the problem also applies to Sebastian): the services performed must be clearly done by a contractor if the amount exceeds US$600 in a year. Above that amount the entity or person who hires a person to do work must file tax form 1099 and will incur a tax liability. So, if Sebastian hires a U.S. citizen to work on a CSL task he must demonstrate that the person is a contractor or must file tax forms and withhold Social Security (and possibly other taxes) and send those funds to the government. In the worst case the contractor would be considered an employee. A foundation is perhaps better equipped to have employees than an individual. I don't know how these rules and laws apply to payment for services performed outside the USA by non-U.S. citizens. I'm sure that other countries have similar laws to protect people who work. The requirements that distinguish a contractor from an employee are clearly in favor of the work-doers being contractors (they do the work at their own place, using their own equipment, at a time of day of their own choosing, etc.)

As far as the foundations tax report, these amounts are below the threshold that requires detailed reporting and listing of contractors to the U.S. government. In the USA the amount paid to contractors or employees must be detailed in an individual's tax return for the amounts to be deductible and that will require tax id numbers for the individuals who are paid. This is complicated. Sebastian, I don't want you to get into trouble for trying to do a good deed. 

David 

—

David Lawrence, Ph.D., Director

SafetyLit Foundation, Inc

Delivery Address: Mailing Address:

4438 Ingraham Street P.O. Box 19130
San Diego, CA 92109 USA San Diego, CA 92159-0130 USA
v: +1 858.391.4400 | Skype: dwl-sdca | [hidden email]
SafetyLit: Preventing injuries by providing information http://www.safetylit.org

On 21, Dec2017, at 18:32, Rintze Zelle <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hi all,

Sebastian recently received a $5000 donation from Mendeley/Elsevier
for 2017 to support the CSL project. We never came around to
distributing funds from their 2016 $5000 donation, so Sebastian and I
would like to propose the following budget for these funds from both
years, to be paid out in the next few weeks. We also had $1,229 left
from 2015 (post-tax).

Sebastian typically pays about 40% tax on independent contractor
income, so his post-tax budget is ca. $7229 ($10,000*0.6 + $1229). If
people can invoice him before the end of the year, he might be able to
pay people the pre-tax amount.

We would like to propose the following split of this budget:

Rintze Zelle (styles repo maintainer, CSL website update, mailing list
migration) - $1500
Sebastian Karcher (styles repo maintainer) - $1000
Patrick O'Brien (CSL style requests) - $600
Michel Krämer (mailing list migration) - $250
Pablo Melchor (CSL website update) - $250
Libor Ansorge (CSL style requests) - $100
Philipp Zumstein (CSL style requests) - $100
CSL editor maintenance bounty - up to $1500
CSL test suite maintenance bounty - up to $1250
Margin/savings (margin for Sebastian's tax liabilities, and/or to roll
over to next year) - $680

We haven't checked yet whether everybody listed above wants to or can
accept a payout, but will reach out in private. We're also open to
suggestions if you think the budget can be better or fairer spent. We
tried to come up with a fair distribution to recognize those who
worked on CSL infrastructure in the past two years and incentivize
future contributions. We'd like to finalize this budget on December 28
at the latest and receive invoices from all those who can before the
end of the year.

(the distribution of funds in 2015 is discussed at
http://xbiblio-devel.2463403.n2.nabble.com/Use-of-Sponsorship-Money-and-Governance-td7579338.html)

Best,

Rintze and Sebastian

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[rmzelle]

Hi David,

We've also been talking to the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC;
https://sfconservancy.org/) as a possible not-for-profit umbrella for
CSL, although progress has been a bit slow. We'll keep your offer in
mind, but we'll probably first exhaust our options with SFC. It's
indeed our understanding that a not-for-profit pass-through could save
us some taxes (and could also make the original donation itself
tax-deductible), so there would definitely be some benefits.

As for the current budget, I think Sebastian feels reasonably
comfortable with his tax return, is doing his best to do things by the
book, and is generally erring on the side of overpaying taxes rather
than underpaying them.

Rintze

On Fri, Dec 22, 2017 at 5:17 PM, David Lawrence <[hidden email]> wrote:

> After a quick conversation with my accountant she recommends that CSL
> project donations be made through a tax exempt foundation. Then all of the
> funds could be distributed to "contractors" listed below for the tasks they
> perform. Under U.S. tax law and standard accounting rules, money donated to
> the organization could be specifically dedicated / earmarked to the CSL
> project and all money could only be spent on CSL. Payment to contractors
> would be made by check or PayPal from the existing non-for-profit. I would
> need to do a bit more talking with my accountant but if she agrees I
> (representing the SafetyLit Foundation) would be willing to be the
> pass-through for this process and there would be a savings to the CSL
> project for whatever is currently lost to taxation.
>
> There is one possible wrinkle to this idea (but the problem also applies to
> Sebastian): the services performed must be clearly done by a contractor if
> the amount exceeds US$600 in a year. Above that amount the entity or person
> who hires a person to do work must file tax form 1099 and will incur a tax
> liability. So, if Sebastian hires a U.S. citizen to work on a CSL task he
> must demonstrate that the person is a contractor or must file tax forms and
> withhold Social Security (and possibly other taxes) and send those funds to
> the government. In the worst case the contractor would be considered an
> employee. A foundation is perhaps better equipped to have employees than an
> individual. I don't know how these rules and laws apply to payment for
> services performed outside the USA by non-U.S. citizens. I'm sure that other
> countries have similar laws to protect people who work. The requirements
> that distinguish a contractor from an employee are clearly in favor of the
> work-doers being contractors (they do the work at their own place, using
> their own equipment, at a time of day of their own choosing, etc.)
>
> As far as the foundations tax report, these amounts are below the threshold
> that requires detailed reporting and listing of contractors to the U.S.
> government. In the USA the amount paid to contractors or employees must be
> detailed in an individual's tax return for the amounts to be deductible and
> that will require tax id numbers for the individuals who are paid. This is
> complicated. Sebastian, I don't want you to get into trouble for trying to
> do a good deed.
>
> David
>
> —
>
> David Lawrence, Ph.D., Director
> SafetyLit Foundation, Inc
> Delivery Address: Mailing Address:
> 4438 Ingraham Street P.O. Box 19130
> San Diego, CA 92109 USA San Diego, CA 92159-0130 USA
> v: +1 858.391.4400 | Skype: dwl-sdca | [hidden email]
> SafetyLit: Preventing injuries by providing information
> http://www.safetylit.org
>
>
>
>
> On 21, Dec2017, at 18:32, Rintze Zelle <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Sebastian recently received a $5000 donation from Mendeley/Elsevier
> for 2017 to support the CSL project. We never came around to
> distributing funds from their 2016 $5000 donation, so Sebastian and I
> would like to propose the following budget for these funds from both
> years, to be paid out in the next few weeks. We also had $1,229 left
> from 2015 (post-tax).
>
> Sebastian typically pays about 40% tax on independent contractor
> income, so his post-tax budget is ca. $7229 ($10,000*0.6 + $1229). If
> people can invoice him before the end of the year, he might be able to
> pay people the pre-tax amount.
>
> We would like to propose the following split of this budget:
>
> Rintze Zelle (styles repo maintainer, CSL website update, mailing list
> migration) - $1500
> Sebastian Karcher (styles repo maintainer) - $1000
> Patrick O'Brien (CSL style requests) - $600
> Michel Krämer (mailing list migration) - $250
> Pablo Melchor (CSL website update) - $250
> Libor Ansorge (CSL style requests) - $100
> Philipp Zumstein (CSL style requests) - $100
> CSL editor maintenance bounty - up to $1500
> CSL test suite maintenance bounty - up to $1250
> Margin/savings (margin for Sebastian's tax liabilities, and/or to roll
> over to next year) - $680
>
> We haven't checked yet whether everybody listed above wants to or can
> accept a payout, but will reach out in private. We're also open to
> suggestions if you think the budget can be better or fairer spent. We
> tried to come up with a fair distribution to recognize those who
> worked on CSL infrastructure in the past two years and incentivize
> future contributions. We'd like to finalize this budget on December 28
> at the latest and receive invoices from all those who can before the
> end of the year.
>
> (the distribution of funds in 2015 is discussed at
> http://xbiblio-devel.2463403.n2.nabble.com/Use-of-Sponsorship-Money-and-Governance-td7579338.html)
>
> Best,
>
> Rintze and Sebastian
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most
> engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot
> _______________________________________________
> xbiblio-devel mailing list
> [hidden email]
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xbiblio-devel
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most
> engaging tech sites, Slashdot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot
> _______________________________________________
> xbiblio-devel mailing list
> [hidden email]
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/xbiblio-devel
>

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