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On 19-06-29 05:18:13, Robin H. Johnson wrote: |
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> Usually I'd just put this on the agenda, but I wanted to ensure wide |
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> visibility. I think I've captured everything critical here, but there is |
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> a non-zero chance that I've gotten details wrong as I've very busy this |
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> week with family medical stuff and my desktop hardware also failed. |
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> |
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> TL;DR: |
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> Motion: The Trustees shall approve funds for the tax filing preparation |
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> costs, as specified by the first item of the RFP's Section 3 [1][3], for |
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> FY2016-FY2019 inclusive (4 periods). The initial sum for those costs is |
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> estimated at $6000USD. |
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> |
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> Motion specifics: |
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> - The quoted cost for tax filing preparation ONLY is $1500USD per fiscal |
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> year prepared. |
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> - A further discount MAY be available later based on follow-up actions |
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> (more years or other services rendered by Corporate Capital Inc. [2]) |
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> - The quoted fee by Corporate Capital includes some auditing of the |
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> books to ensure that the financial statements are correct enough to |
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> accurately prepare the tax filings. |
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> - This quote does NOT include any of the following costs, which are |
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> understood and accepted as ADDITIONAL costs that will become fully |
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> known after the preparation service is rendered: |
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> - IRS filing fees |
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> - Taxes owing to the IRS [5] |
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> - IRS late filing penalties [5] |
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> - IRS late payment penalties [5] |
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> - Interest on taxes owing [5] |
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> - Any other payments to State of New Mexico |
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> - FY2019 closes 2019/06/30, and the books still need to be processed & |
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> financial statements assembled. |
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> |
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> Background #1: |
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> The Financials Services RFP [1] was issued by the Foundation in |
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> December, and had multiple false starts and disappointed ends (primarily |
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> in the form of initial interest from CPAs that then stopped responding |
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> to the Foundation). However, the Foundation HAS found a CPA to undertake |
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> at least parts of the project: Corporate Capital Inc. [2]. |
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> |
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> The CPA thus far has entered a dialogue with the IRS to verify the state |
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> of our filings to date, and the actions required of the Foundation by |
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> the IRS. This cost the Foundation $350USD thus far (see bug #687898). |
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> |
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> The initial results of that dialogue are: |
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> 1) that the Foundation is both simultaneously a for-profit corporation |
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> to the IRS (due to missing filings), and a not-for-profit to the |
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> Public Regulatory Commission of New Mexico (due to regular filings). |
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> 2) that the Foundation need to file taxes at least starting for fiscal |
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> period FY2016 onwards, due to the income reported by third-parties |
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> for that year. |
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> 3) The matters of the earlier fiscal periods require other planning & |
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> approvals by the Foundation (covered in antarus' pitch in running for |
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> the Foundation again this election). The CPA has outline a range of |
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> options in that regard, but is blocked by completion of the initial |
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> FY2016 onwards filings. This would cover the third section of RFP |
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> Section 3. |
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> |
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> The CPA has also done a cursory review of the Financial Statements [4] |
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> as prepared by Robin H. Johnson (robbat2), and provisionally approved |
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> them as sufficient for preparation of tax filings. Some work is needed |
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> in missing sections, such as baseline estimation of in-kind donations. |
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> |
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> [1] https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-project/message/6f92491f28f15897e8e4fc392ef1b6ec |
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> [2] https://www.corporatecapitalinc.com/ |
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> [3] RFP, Section 3: "First and foremost the Foundation wants to get in good |
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> standing with the IRS including paying any back–taxes and penalties |
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> necessary. This will include assistance filing form 990 (or related |
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> forms.)" |
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> [4] https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Foundation:Financial_Reports |
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> [5] Based on the discussion with the CPAs, the Net Income estimates from |
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> the Financial Statements, and some free IRS tax-owning calculators, I |
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> have a more detailed estimate of the sums to pay to the IRS, rounded |
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> here to the nearest $100USD: |
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> FY2016 - $2400USD taxes, $600 in penalties & interest = $3k USD |
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> FY2017 - $1500USD taxes, $500 in penalties & interest = $2k USD |
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> FY2018 - $4000USD taxes, $300 in penalties & interest = $4.3k USD |
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> FY2019 - books not available yet. Filing deadline is 2019/09/15. |
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> |
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> Background #2: |
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> I had some direct inquiries as to the history of contacting the IRS & |
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> results of the earlier CPA searches. I'm deliberately omitting the |
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> personal names of the third parties here, because of privacy concerns. |
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> Much of this is a summary of prior IRC logs/motions. |
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> |
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> 2016/03: |
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> First public CPA RFP-like request. |
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> https://archives.gentoo.org/gentoo-user/message/2ef544c4d3541ed52d980ee71101c29b |
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> There are multiple initial email responses, however none of the email |
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> exchanges are sustained by the other parties. |
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> |
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> 2017/03: |
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> dabbott & robbat2 try to submit change of address & filing extension |
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> request to IRS, no responses ever received. |
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> |
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> 2016/05-2017/08: |
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> Foundation engages a volunteer CPA local & known to dabbott. IRS |
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> declines responses, and the volunteer CPA becomes unavailable later in |
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> the year for health reasons. |
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> |
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> 2016/08-2018/11: |
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> dabbott tries writing a letter to the IRS, and is told to file various Form |
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> 4506 variants. |
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> |
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> 2016/10-2016/11: |
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> dabbott files forms 4506-T: gets rejection notices. |
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> |
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> 2017/07-2017/09: |
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> prometheanfire files form 4506-A, gets a non-answer from the IRS. |
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> |
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> 2017/06-2017/08: |
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> robbat2 engages a local CPA at cost (see bugs with title "Accounting |
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> Services Invoice.*" to pay fees), who aids immensely in the financial |
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> statement preparation, and also has a draft financial statement & Form |
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> 990 for FY2005, as well as a brief dialogue with the IRS. The CPA also |
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> becomes professionally unavailable after 2017/10 for personal & business |
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> reasons. $1000USD total is spent on the CPA's services. |
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> |
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> 2017/06-2018/08: |
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> Large book-keeping project by robbat2, with significant data entry work |
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> by zlg, and some complex accounting questions answered by k_f as well as |
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> the previous CPA only a friendly basis only. |
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> |
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> -- |
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> Robin Hugh Johnson |
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> Gentoo Linux: Dev, Infra Lead, Foundation Treasurer |
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> E-Mail : robbat2@g.o |
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> GnuPG FP : 11ACBA4F 4778E3F6 E4EDF38E B27B944E 34884E85 |
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> GnuPG FP : 7D0B3CEB E9B85B1F 825BCECF EE05E6F6 A48F6136 |
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|
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I approve of the 6k spend for tax filings for the last 4 years. |
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|
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-- |
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Matthew Thode (prometheanfire) |