[arin-ppml] Policy Proposal: IPv4 Recovery Fund - Revised

[Lee Howard]

Counsel will provide a detailed analysis at some point.

I understand why you might be concerned about these kinds of transactions affecting ARIN's tax-exempt status as a not-for-profit organization.  My reading of http://www.irs.gov/charities/nonprofits/article/0,,id=169366,00.html suggests that as long as ARIN's primary purpose is to promote the common business interest of our community, financial transactions (including sales) are acceptable.  

So, based on that preliminary reading of the unofficial IRS guidelines, don't let concern for ARIN's tax status be the sole reason not to support this proposal.  If a better reading comes with official review, you're free to change your mind. 

Lee



----- Original Message ----
> From: David Farmer <farmer at umn.edu>
> To: arin-ppml at arin.net; Leo Bicknell <bicknell at ufp.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 1:04:47 PM
> Subject: Re: [arin-ppml] Policy Proposal: IPv4 Recovery Fund - Revised
> 
> Leo, Staff, or Counsel,
> 
> Since, payments are made to ARIN in this proposal, beyond the usual fees, 
> does this create an additional tax liability for ARIN?  Does the size of the 
> payments matter?  Even for a not-for-profit, not all kinds of income/revenue 
> are tax free.  
> 
> Conversely, even if it doesn't create a tax burden, since ARIN makes 
> payments to other entities in this proposal, does this create a reporting 
> burden on ARIN?  Again, does the size of the payments matter to the 
> answer?
> 
> Would this kind of activity, create any problems for ARIN's tax exempt 
> status?
> 
> What kind of accounting burden would these transactions create for ARIN?
> 
> I really don't know the answers, I'm not even claiming to, but I think these 
> are important questions to know the answers to, before I could support this 
> direction.  In the end, these are really matters for the Board, but I would hate 
> 
> to go all the way down this policy road and find out in the end it is completely 
> 
> unworkable for some kind of tax or accounting reason. 
> 
> Even if you can't provide an immediate answer, when would it be reasonable 
> to get an answer?  Also, even if you can't provide authoritative answers, an 
> initial impression could be helpful too.  Like, are these probably big 
> problems, probably not problems, or something in between?
> 
> Leo, I think this is a creative solution to some of the problems of the other 
> transfer proposals, and I'm really attracted to the logic behind it.  But, I'm a 
> 
> little worried that it might create more problems than it actually solves, and 
> that those problems might be more intractable than the problems other 
> proposals have.
> 
> 
> =======================================================
> David Farmer                     Email:    farmer at umn.edu
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