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When you do a Kickstarter do you have to pay taxes on it?


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I'm thinking it is a gift and no taxes. Or am I wrong?

And if wrong, I guess you need to add the tax bill to the Kickstarter goal as well as the commission fees.

I am going to submit a Kickstarter for purchase of a cheap Lasergraphics Archivist sound film scanner / and some extra $$ to acquire more films. (Or use the excess to pay taxes if I owe them.)  Maybe $85K - $90K is the goal. 

I contacted Kickstarter and informally ran the project by them as it is a problem child. They prohibit porn in the Kickstarter, and about 35% - 40% of my film Archive is ancient porn. I have one of the most diverse and inclusive open content underground / above ground film archives in the world! And it is not because I'm a dem. It is because I have no prejudice and have a wide range of interests within my scope of social documentary collection. To me it makes no difference if the person is having sex with a dog or baking bread...it is all social documentary.

I've never met anyone with less prejudice for archival work than me. The only prejudice I have is for low res garbage. But I may not go into all that detail with the Kickstarter crowd. (They will have to search for it here.) Surprisingly artists are very prejudicial many times. You would think artists would be free wheeling. And they are, but only within their narrow worldview. And to make things clear, I am not without prejudice. I got lots of personal prejudices, but I check it at the door. If I hate a person or thing...I archive them better because of the hate. Prejudice does not enter my archival work.

Kickstarter didn't shoot the proposal down outright, they said to submit it for approval. So will do that. 

I checked out GoFund Me and it looked like it is not that good for my project. Plus I could not find a contact email or form to ask them questions.

I wrote to a few patrons of the arts to see if they had an interest in underground film preservation, but never heard back anything. Not a surprise. Seldom get replies in this day and age even if not asking for $$. And evn if they did have an interest, being connected with me would look bad for them.

...if you have any suggestions about submitting a Kickstarter proposal, feel free to chime in.

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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Ran out of edit time. Just wanted to make one thing clear...

They got better film archives in the world. But they are not hi res open content and I doubt as 'diverse and inclusive' as mine...due to their prejudice. (Or as they like to call it...their scope or mission.)

 

 

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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  • 1 month later...

Well, started the Kickstarter last night. I have to get banking info and submit for approval. Just depends if they accept it as some of the Archive contains prohibited sexual material. I found out you have to pay taxes on it, so if you do try Kickstarter, figure in taxes and commissions. 

If your company / project has any of the following people involved you are in luck...you get special consideration.

Black

Indian (American)

Woman

Queer

Disability

Refugee / displaced person

Sadly I am at the bottom of the totem pole...actually not even on the totem pole...I'm an old white guy. Well, white guys and old people are not too popular nowadays. Hopefully I'm judged on my work. and if not, I just suck it up and keep plugging as I've done for 52 years.

 

Down%20with%20old%20white%20men%20D.D.%2

Photo: D.D. Teoli Jr. 

So will see what happens when I get it submitted. It is somewhat similar to applying for a Guggenheim Fellowship. Pretty straight forward. 

I recommend it for those seeking some funding. Whatever $$ you ask for has to be funded within 60 days max or it fails.  I'm looking for $135,000 to fund a sound scanner, taxes, scanner accessories and any leftover to acquire short subject films. It is hard for an open content non profit archive on a low budget to compete against stock footage companies that bid up films to sell the footage by the second.

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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  • 4 weeks later...

Now this Kickstarter is a little harder than I thought. Doing it only took 1.5 days. But I hadn't realized you have to offer contributors a reward. With no rewards, Kickstarter won't review the proposal for approval. 

My problem is I sell nothing to speak of. If I deaccess something in the Archive, I may sell some odd thing here or there, but as an Open Content Archive I give it all away for free already. 

I wrote them back and asked if I can mention people in the credits as a reward. So will see what happens.

I think Kickstarter is more for people that will ship them all a DVD after the film is made or something like that.

I could offer them a print of The Lost Princess 2013 (Candid) 

lost-princess-copyright-2013-daniel-d-te

It is a photo that appeals to most people and offends the least amount of them. But GD, sending out hundreds or thousands of prints is just drudgery. If I wanted drudgery...I'd get a GD job! All my energy goes into producing what I produce, not in doing jobs that others demand.

BTW...my foot is on the spoon...I work up close!

Edited by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.
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