Crowdfunding: Startup Tax and Accounting Impacts

It seems that you can’t read about startup funding these days without hearing about someone’s wildly successful crowdfunding campaign. There’s also no shortage of cautionary tales either; just read the press around HealBe.

To be clear, I am talking about crowdsourced or peer-to-peer funding offered by sites like Indiegogo and KickStarter, not equity crowdfunding, which though technically legal since 2012, is still awaiting a legal framework for implementation.

Crowdsourced funding enables startup businesses or individuals to raise small amounts to fund anything from an upcoming project launch to medical bills, to product research. The contributions don’t result in equity positions but usually are recognized in some way, say via t-shirts, products, or name recognition.

Benefits of Crowdfunding

Raising funds in this way has several benefits:

• The obvious one is no-strings-attached funding: i.e., no dilution of ownership, board oversight, or mandatory financial reporting requirements to the contributors.
• Importantly, it also gives startups great visibility into existing/potential customer needs and the chance to gain valuable feedback to help test their potential market and fine-tune product and service offerings.
• The attention garnered from a wildly successful campaign might get you press mentions and attention from more traditional funding sources, e.g. investors or even, as in the case of Oculus, acquirers.
• It’s a good way to test proof of concept. If people are investing in your product/service early and often, it shows there is a demand for what you’re offering.

Crowdfunding Accounting Treatment:

• Using accrual accounting, you should report crowdsourced funds in the same period in which you earned them.
• Under cash basis accounting, you would report them when they are received.

Another accounting issue that arises is around when to recognize the income, associated expenses, and cost of goods sold (for example, credit card processing fees). I wrote a post recently on revenue recognition standards and how to apply them that’s worth reviewing.

As always, you should never mix business and personal funds. Crowdsourced funds for your business should be deposited into your business account and never commingled with your personal funds.

Crowdfunding: Tax Implications

Is crowdfunding taxable? This is the most common question most fundraisers have, and the answers can get complicated.
While the IRS has yet to opine formally, here are some things you need to know about crowdfunding taxation:
IRS rules define income in its Publication 334. It defines gifts as “Any transfer to an individual, either directly or indirectly, where full consideration (measured in money or money's worth) is not received in return.”

When it comes to crowdfunding taxes, depending on how you structure your campaign, contributions from crowdfunding might be considered to be gifts or donations. However, but funds offered in exchange for your product or for some other material consideration will likely be classified as income resulting from sales transactions and should be reported on Form 1099-K.

If you’re promising backers your product once it’s launched, that’ll count as advance purchases, aka income from sales, and crowdfunding taxes will apply. To the extent the IRS considers contributions to be income, you are allowed to offset your related business expenses, including those of starting up, against the taxable income. Either way, you should scrupulously record every contribution and tally it versus the associated costs.

You should also carefully consider the potential that you will incur sales tax liability. While some states, such as Washington, have issued guidance on their treatment of crowdfunding taxes most have not, so the picture is murky.
You can see crowdfunding taxes is a pretty complicated subject. Consulting an accounting and/or tax professional for support is the best way to make sure you’re properly tracking, categorizing, and planning for potential income tax liabilities for any funds you raised through crowdfunding.

Have you used crowdfunding to raise financing? Tell us about your experience in the comments section below or contact Early Growth Financial Services for a free 30-minute financial consultation.

Related Posts:

• Crowdfunding: The Pros and Cons of Raising Capital Online