If someone sets up a gofundme do they need to report the income?

Lots of details. Start here link

Quick answer: Sometimes.

You might want to read for yourself as it seems like a slippery slope to me that gives the IRS wiggle room to determine who needs to pay taxes & who doesn’t.

Definite maybe. Ask a Tax attorney.

^^I don’t have a gofundme account. I was just curious.

You must report the income. Check your tax forms/instruction books for exact details.

@kritiper It seems to be in a grey area. Why do you say it must be reported?

Depends on the amount. Ask a tax expert.

@JLeslie If the IRS finds out that any tax wasn’t paid, when it should have, they issue a fine on top of the tax due. Best to err on the side of caution.
(Honesty is ALWAYS the best policy!)

@JLeslie In Alberta we have a rule that your charity doesn’t need to register or pay tax if the charity earns less than $10,000. Maybe your jurisdiction has similar laws?

@kritiper I agree. The penalties are huge, plus you pay interest if time passes. Sometimes the penalty is the amount of what’s owed, so basically doubling what is owed, which is ridiculous in my opinion, but fighting it is a scary prospect. I usually err on the side of not taking deductions I probably could, because I don’t want to risk it. Too nerve racking for me to worry about an audit, I don’t want to go to sleep at night with that on my mind. It’s not like you can hide gofundme money, it’s all electronic. If it was taxable I would think people are crazy not to pay the tax.

Do you think I’m lying? I don’t have a gofundme account, but I know other jellies do, so I was curious about the tax consequences. Don’t you think if I had a gofundme I would be asking my jelly friends for help?

Ever pay the IRS the wrong amount? I have. It gets corrected ASAP usually. Twice in my life I paid the wrong amount by accident. One was an adding error, and one was I forgot I had paid in an estimated tax. When I got my refund weeks after filing there was an explanation from the IRS for the different amount I received.

The tax burden of gift giving is on the giver usually, but also charity donations can be tax deductions, it made me curious when I thought about it. But these aren’t formal charities, it’s really a gift technically I guess.

I’ve been reading up on a lot of tax law lately, and I was looking at charitable donations and then a jelly recommended to another jelly to make a gofundme account so it had me thinking.

Charity / Not for Profit in the eyes of the IRS are required to 501 ( C ) 3 – - CORPORATIONS with Board of Directors and at least an annual meeting with notes and voting outcomes.

@JLeslie: GQ. Ask an accountant and let us know.