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Comment by johnchristopher | Hacker News Reader

Are you implying the government sees funding money as taxable ? If so, on what basis ? Incomes ?

Of course it's taxable - if you give someone $20 for their project and get a t-shirt in return, then that is taxable just as any other deal, and even if there is no profit/taxable net income, then VAT applies for the transaction.

If crowdfunding was like purchase of shares (which it isn't), then it wouldn't be taxable initially, but would have a capital gains tax when you sell those shares.

Most of the crowdfunding projects are in essence similar to preorders, and thus would be taxable as any other sales - if there are true donation projects, then they'd need to file for nonprofit status to be able to get tax-exempt donations.

Thanks.

To be honest, in EU most things are taxable. Most EU countries will tax you on your lottery winnings, which to me is just weird and unacceptable,but this is how things work here.

The trick is to know when the tax needs to be paid and what it needs to be paid on.

This is why accountants are important. They know the system and paperwork and words; they know how you can pay tax in one form cheaper and later instead of expensive and now.

I don't think UK taxes lottery winnings.

link showing DanBC is indeed correct (http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/help/playinginsto...)

though UK lottery winnings will still be taken into account for inheritance tax if the winner dies within 7 years.

that's for parents safety

Yeah I know UK doesn't, that's why I said "most" EU countries, and not all of them.

I believe you've got it backwards. The EU countries that don't tax lottery winnings are actually members of a pretty small club. Most of the world does tax lottery winnings.

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