Apple App Store

[Greg Marra]

Hi all,

Wanted to kick off a thread about publishing the TBA iOS app.

Apple requires you to agree to the app store guidelines either as an individual, or as an organization with a Tax ID. The simplest way for TBA to become an organization with a Tax ID is for us to become an LLC.

I'll probably investigate this option for us. It will incur some overhead (we'll have to pay a registration fee and file taxes every year (!)), but will also make some things less ambiguous for us.

Does anyone have any insight into how other small organizations like ourselves have handled this issue in the past?

-Greg

[Eugene Fang]

Unfortunately I don't have any insight or experience on the matter. I do have an additional question though.

How does becoming an LLC affect not-for-profit status and donations (from individuals and sponsors)?

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[Greg Marra]

We aren't currently a not for profit. We would have to register a 403c, which is a bit more complicated than being an LLC. I can research both.

[Phil Lopreiato]

It will definitely be interesting becoming an official organization, and I think a 501(3)(c) is closer to our alignment (being nonprofit and all, probably fits better with the sponsorship model). I don't know enough to make any definitive claims though.

I can ask around tomorrow and see what the differences are and how they apply to our scenario - we'll probably need to find a lawyer to help with the paperwork regardless.

If we do that, we can formalize how the organization is run (make a charter/board and stuff). We can look to some other free software organizations (FSF, Linux Foundation, Fedora) and see how their governance works.

Phil

[Greg Marra]

Phil is more correct about legal entity type names

[Sravan Suryadevara]

You can explore incorporation then filing for non-profit status. It's probably wise to invest a few hundred into a lawyer to work through the paperwork. Besides that it's just filing fees cost. I was told it cost around $400 to do this in Illinois.

I can temporarily suggest using a 501(c)(3) one of us has ties to but probably best to establish it for future.

[Zach Orr]

I know people that have gone through LegalZoom just to create LLCs - I don't know that our situation would be anything that complicated that we'd need an actual lawyer, right?

~ Zachary Orr

[Sravan Suryadevara]

I think a 501(c)(3) is a better fit and the process for applying for it is essentially trying to prove you are a non-profit to the IRS. Anyone know any lawyers? We can try to get it pro bono.

The initial filing for a llc or s Corp shouldn't be hard but I think the non-profit part is.

[Phil Lopreiato]

I really like the way the Fedora Project is run - they have a good board setup with great community involvement (something I think TBA should try and emulate if we formalize). This is a good read: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Council

Zach,

We'll need to do some research on the differences between an entity that is legally "for profit" and one that isn't. It will definitely affect how TBA operates. For example, with other media - typically there are some license differences between applications that are "commercial" and "non commercial" - the type of legal entity behind TBA could affect this.

Sravan,

I'm going to call some people tomorrow who helped my old team form a 501(c)(3) and I'll see if I can get some advice or help. I can also ask about using their EIN temporarily for Apple (can that be changed once it's set?), if we think that's a good idea.

Phil

[Andrew Lynch]

I've started two 501 (c) (3) organizations. 

 I would be happy to help with the paperwork to setup a non-profit.  

[Phil Lopreiato]

Awesome!

I think we should have a hangouts meeting this week and discuss what course of action to take.

I'll arbitrarily suggest Thursday evening, maybe 9 eastern so the west coast people can get out of work.

Any thoughts?

Phil

[Greg Marra]

My calendar is particularly rough in the next few weeks. I'm busy most weeknights this week, camping this weekend, busy most weeknights the next week, then on a 9 day trip to Europe.

I don't think this scheming is urgent, so let's wait until late May and get something scheduled for a weeknight or a weekend morning. I'll snooze this email and we can come back to it. :)

[Zach Orr]

Just wanted to follow up - any movement on this?

[Greg Marra]

Not yet, on my todo list to research in the next few weeks. Want to get it all resolved this summer.

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[ara...@google.com]

I've been able to push apps to the app store using a personal account if people are OK with that. IK for smaller cases apple''s ok with just listing an individuals tax EIN if we're not charging

On Wednesday, April 27, 2016 at 9:45:53 PM UTC-4, Greg Marra wrote: