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On Wed, 2011-03-23 at 15:23 -0400, Rich Freeman wrote: |
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> |
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> Is there a clear statement somewhere of the actual legal requirements? |
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|
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Yes, visit the IRS and State of New Mexico's website. But anyone living |
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in the US should be aware of legal requirements for individuals, much |
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less business entities, be it for profit or not. |
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|
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I spent time before providing such information and documentation. At |
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this time its not my duty or requirement to do such. Thus I will leave |
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that up to others, who's duty it is ;) |
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|
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> I'd recommend just having a simple webpage that lists each |
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> requirement, and how it was met for auditing purposes - keep fluff to |
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> a minimum. |
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|
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This stuff is not simple and it why the Gentoo Foundation should have a |
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CPA, long ago. An effort I was actively working on just like the bank |
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account and the rest. |
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|
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> Is there any controversy over the requirements, or is there a |
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> consensus that we have a problem here? |
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|
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I am sure the IRS and state of New Mexico would care the mandated |
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requirements are not being fulfilled. |
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|
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> Certainly interested in an answer to this. The way I read it was that |
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> sometime in the past there was a problem and the correction just makes |
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> the register reflect reality. That might not be something we can fix. |
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|
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At what point in the past? There needs to be specifics there, not just |
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some general statement. This is not anyones money, but alls money. |
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Therefore there needs to be accountability for all to see, and there |
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won't be any questions. |
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|
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> Any suggestions as to solution? Hiring a CPA as a part-time treasurer |
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> might be a solution - if we can afford it. |
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|
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If the foundation wants to remain as such and have control over it's |
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assets and IP, remain a legal entity. Then it must retain a CPA, and |
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file the mandated annual reports and financial statements. |
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|
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Back when I was on the board, I was talking to Danial about using his |
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CPA. Which given that Gentoo can afford to buy hardware, and received |
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$20k in donations last year. I think it can easily afford a CPA, which |
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is crucial to Gentoo remaining a legal entity. |
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> Not having time to submit a report is one problem. Issuing checks and |
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> not recording it in the register is a different problem. The latter |
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> is something we really can't accept. I'm not sure that is the actual |
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> problem here. |
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|
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There has been many problems. |
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|
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> The lack of reporting probably stems from one of a few possible causes: |
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> 1. There is not agreement the work needs to be done (perhaps rightly |
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> or wrongly). |
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|
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Who is questioning the federal and state requirements? This is not |
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something to disagree on, and anyone who does disagree, clearly is |
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unqualified. |
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|
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> 2. There is not a clear and agreed-upon owner for the task. |
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|
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Um, Treasurer.... That is an officer's role, title, and duties fall |
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within. Since the foundation has a horrible structure, Trustees end up |
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serving as officers. But that should not be the case. They should be two |
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different bodies. |
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> 3. The owner has not carried out the task (which itself can have a |
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> few root causes). |
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|
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Again this was the reason I resigned. I knew this was not going to get |
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done, and others were standing in my way of getting things done. Wasting |
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my time, giving me grief about various things, which ended up effecting |
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my behavior as frustration mounted up. |
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|
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I was accused of hurting Gentoo, suspended etc. All the while ignoring |
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major things that were even more harmful to Gentoo as a whole, both then |
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and now. |
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> One thing we should strongly consider is that if we don't have time to |
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> legally document an action, then we probably shouldn't perform the |
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> action. |
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|
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You have no choice on this stuff. You are running for the board and you |
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should know this stuff. Or not run for the board if you are not |
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qualified for such. |
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> If accepting a check involves 18 hours of paperwork, then we |
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> might consider whether the check ought to be accepted at all. |
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|
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Then why does the foundation exist at all? |
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The flip side is how will that money be spent, and what impact that will |
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have over what period of time. You will likely find out that the benefit |
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completely outweighs the cost. Which is some what the entire idea behind |
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a non-profit foundation. |
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> Also,where possible we should do the paperwork first (update the total on |
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> the reports, then accept the check). |
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To someone who is familiar with accounting, doing those tasks is |
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mundane. |
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> Kind of like stable the dependencies before you stable the package. |
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Some what, but if your unfamiliar with that process it could take |
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considerable time and been seen as a burden. While others just do it so |
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fast, its moot to them ;) |
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> A report is easy at the start of the reporting period - copy balance |
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> forward from last period, activities are all zero, end balance is |
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> equal to start. |
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Problem is neglect has gone on for so many years. Each year that passes |
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is just one more to play catch up up. Things were quite behind in 2008, |
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and now in 2011, only more so. |
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> Might not hurt to use something like Google docs with backups to |
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> facilitate/etc. |
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Thats pretty irrelevant, but many things could be leveraged. |
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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 |