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On Fri, 2011-03-25 at 20:36 +1300, Alistair Bush wrote: |
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> |
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> I know absolutely nothing of how the IRS operates so hopefully these questions |
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> are appropriate. |
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For any non US citizen, or in general. Please keep in mind, the IRS |
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website is public, and can be researched just as one would any technical |
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matter. |
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Its not complete, but does cover a good deal of territory in this |
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matter. |
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http://www.irs.gov/charities/article/0,,id=221600,00.html |
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> When you state that there will not be "serious consequences", is this |
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> personal opinion or based on law/irs policy. I would assume that IRS would |
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> have the power to confiscate all assets of gentoo and "close us down" in the |
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> worse case. Would you be able to give an indication of what "serious |
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> consequences" might entail. I'm assuming it will be a financial penalty that |
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> we are currently able to afford. Your personal opinion on this is sufficient but |
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> if you can give a range (ie < 5000) it would be apprieciated. |
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To my understanding, Gentoo would simply be treated as a for profit |
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entity, subject to back taxes on any revenue of any amount. Usually when |
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you have back taxes owed, there are some penalties, fines, can be |
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interest as well. |
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Its pretty extreme for the IRS to take any action beyond that. I am not |
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aware of them ceasing assets though that likely has happened to others |
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before in very different circumstances. For the most part they would |
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just run you into the ground, bankrupt you, and make sure any money owed |
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was paid back. Usually by draining bank accounts directly, but not |
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ceasing assets. They won't close your bank account, just empty it ;) |
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> Also, is there any visibility on the steps that need to be completed and |
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> estimated timelines for when each step may be completed. I realise that |
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> timelines could be very difficult to give and even harder to meet but it seems |
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> very important that we do. Would it be possible to allocate funding to speed |
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> this process along. where is the bottleneck? is it us? the US mail service? |
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> IRS/Goverment Bureaucracy? |
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The IRS is slow, but you can prod them, and an experienced CPA or |
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otherwise in this matter, should be able to deal with most things |
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relatively quickly. Though most anything dealing with the government is |
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slow. But the IRS really is not bad, if you do things correctly. |
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-- |
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William L. Thomson Jr. |
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Obsidian-Studios, Inc. |
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http://www.obsidian-studios.com |