Do teens have to pay tax for the funds they get from crowdfunding? So Kickstarter allows non-adults to start a fundraising campaign with parents agreement. But how about the taxes after they (teens) received their funds? What type of taxes does Kickstarter's funds count as. Do teens have to pay taxes for their fund (like maybe as income)?
Yes, money received from Kickstarter campaigns is usually considered taxable income. Who pays the taxes and how much (if any) they pay depends on how much the teenager makes, how old they are, and whether they are claimed as a dependant by someone else. For information about taxing children see IRS Pub. 929. As pointed out in the comments, certain campaign contributions could be considered nontaxable "gifts" by the IRS. There are also taxable gifts but the taxes are paid and reported by the gift giver. You will want to talk to a tax professional about these. It is worth noting that interest on gifts is taxable unearned income unless the gifts were set up under a UGMA trust, which has its own rules. You can deduct most expenses from income, as pointed out in the comments. This too is covered by Pub. 929.
This would likely be considered a derivative work. You would need permission from the copyright holder to make it, especially if you intend to distribute it for profit.
(This is not meant as personalized tax advice - consult a tax lawyer or accountant for advice on your own tax situation.) As background, it's helpful to remember why the gift tax exists - it's to close a loophole in the estate tax. If a wealthy parent dies and leaves all their assets to their child, the government collects estate tax on the amount of the estate. So the parent might think to circumvent this by gifting most of their assets to the child before they die. That would deprive the government of a lot of revenue, so the gift tax ensures that such gifts are taxed in a roughly similar way to inheritances. So yes, if a parent gives their children birthday presents whose value exceeds the annual exclusion, then the parent must report the gift to the IRS (Form 709), and pay gift tax if necessary. Note that they only have to actually pay tax once the total amount of the gifts over their lifetime exceeds a lifetime exclusion amount, currently about $12 million. This tax is really only meant to hit the &quot;1%&quot;. It doesn't matter whether the gifts are of money or other items of value. &quot;The gift tax applies to the transfer by gift of any type of property.&quot; If it only applied to money, there'd be another loophole: the parent could dodge the tax by spending all their assets on a $20 million dollar gold bar (or painting, jewelry, rare postage stamp, etc) and give that to the child instead, which the child could then turn around and sell. The &quot;kiddie tax&quot; is an income tax on children. Gifts are generally not taxable income to the recipient, so the child would not be liable for any income tax, no matter how large the gift or how it is given. (The gift tax is not an income tax and is imposed on the giver, not the recipient.)
In California, everything that counts as taxable income for federal purposes, and then some. The form is here, the corresponding explanation is here starting p. 18. It includes things that are income but not taxable (see p. 24), such as tax-exempt interest. Potential profit i.e. unrealized capital gains coming from increased value in a home or increased share values is not income in the relevant sense. FAM §4058 is the statutes that lists some of what counts as income, but it says &quot;includes, but is not limited to, the following&quot;. The courts' use of IRS tax forms as defining &quot;income&quot; is not mandated by the legislature, so if unrealized capital gains become taxable income at the federal level, the courts will have to decide how such &quot;income&quot; is to be treated.
Normally, payments between entities other than Corporations of more than $600 need to be reported to the IRS using form 1099-MISC. This is the obligation of the payer, not the payee. You should expect the company paying yours to request a Form W-9 from you at some point, and then by February 16 of the next year you should expect to receive a 1099-MISC declaring all the money they paid you. Regardless of whether they report it (not everyone does this correctly ... or on time), you are legally obligated to include payments received in your business taxes.
If you are utilizing the name of the characters just so users can rate them (by rate - I mean rank, review, critique) you should be fine. Copyrights are subject to "fair use" by the public. For purposes such as review, criticism, and comment - this is generally considered to be fair use. Is the site commercial or for-profit? That could impact the analysis, but only if you are making money flowing from the use of the actual copyrighted material(s), rather than advertising (like Adsense) or something similar (this should not suggest that those type sites cannot violate copyright, but it's part of the analysis). If it is something you are investing money into creating, you may want to get a formal legal opinion. But if the site if for fun, or hobby, you are likely fine if what's described is the only use. http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/copyright-fair-use-and-how-it-works-for-online-images/ This link is to a great, easy to read and understand article on fair use, what it is and what it allows. Keep in mind each case is fact intensive, however, from what you are describing this seems fine.
Who in the fraternity would be prosecuted if this became an issue? A lot of people could be held liable for this, including people who are not even in the fraternity. Anyone who has knowledge of the machine or the fact that it was possible for minors to access alcohol through it could technically be held liable if a prosecutor wanted to make that case. Presumably the building is owned by someone else and just leased out to fraternity members, and they very well could be held liable for sale to minors also. Would the machine be safer if it just accepted cash (so that no electronic paper trail was created), with a big warning sign WINK WINK that anyone under the age of 21 was strictly prohibited from purchasing from it? No. Payment method is irrelevant here. There are a number of states that legally allow vending machines to sell alcohol, but vendors are required to verify the age of any person accessing them and ensure that those cards aren't being used by people not authorized. What you describe is an extremely relaxed environment where admittedly no one is attempting to verify identities. The "accepting cash" scenario is no different than a liquor store selling alcohol to anyone that comes in just because they're willing to pay with cash instead of a credit card. Sales to minors laws are not "as long as you warn them, you're safe" laws. They require vendors to actively check IDs and ensure that alcohol is not landing in the hands of minors. Accepting cash just to erase the evidence doesn't meet that burden. There are a lot of legal troubles with the situation that could get a lot of people charged with multiple offenses. That you have underage fraternity members living there suggests you should not have alcohol readily accessible in the house at all, as most state laws expressly forbid providing access to alcohol, not just serving or selling. Them being there provides access to it, even if it's just a case in the fridge with a note on it. Not to mention, you technically cannot sell alcohol, as I highly doubt your fraternity has a liquor license to be able to do so. There's a big difference between asking everyone to pitch in to buy the case versus actively selling individual cans through a vending machine. The vending machine itself is violating liquor laws in your state merely by existing.
Oliver or his shell corporation could have directly forgiven the debt as a gift to the debtors. As a gift, it would not have to be reported as income, according to the IRS. In that case, he would need to file Form 709 and he would have to pay federal gift tax. There is an annual exclusion of $14,000 per donee, which probably is a drop in the bucket. It may not be required to pay tax on gifts to a 501(c)(3) organization, since the gift-bump is offset by the associated charitable gift deduction. The charity can then forgive the debt as a gift (and as tax-exempt, would not have to pay gift tax). In that sense, the second transfer was necessary, although it would not have been if RIP had directly obtained the debt (or if CARP were a 503(c)(3)).