I'd say the (compulsory) donation was more of a tax dodge. If it were something that had been sold, it would be taxable. However, if it were just given, as a donation, it wouldn't have to be taxed. Of course, if it were also a registered charity, then the donations may also be offsettable against tax paid by the donor.
Not that receipts as such were given. And not that you could take PFAL without making the required donation.
I argued about that with the person who witnessed to me and persuaded me to take the class.
- If I have to pay this money, then it's not a donation, it's payment for the class and/or the materials.
- No it's not, it's just a contribution towards the cost of the books.
- Well what if I don't want the books?
- Can't take the class, then.
- So it's payment, not a donation!
And so on. But he ... I liked him. He was apprentice Corps doing his WoW year and the family was struggling to get a class together, under some pressure from interim Corps, and I wanted him to succeed ...
Little did I know what I was letting myself in for. You could say I walked right into their double-speak with my eyes wide open.
Classes at my church like Alpha, Beginings, Purpose Driven Life, etc are free including the meal, DVD's, books because the congregation bought the materials from the church budget for Christian Education. Now if individuals want to freely donate cash to offset the expenses, then fine. But no mandatory fees. But TWI was money hungry.
According to their nonprofit status, "donors" to PFAL should only have been able to deduct the portion of the donation that was beyond the cost of materials. When I took PFAL, the cost was $65, roughly the retail price of the books and syllabus, so it should not have been advertised as a donation or tax deductible. Ooops.
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Twinky
I'd say the (compulsory) donation was more of a tax dodge. If it were something that had been sold, it would be taxable. However, if it were just given, as a donation, it wouldn't have to be taxed. Of course, if it were also a registered charity, then the donations may also be offsettable against tax paid by the donor.
Not that receipts as such were given. And not that you could take PFAL without making the required donation.
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skyrider
Doesn't that very fact expose the "donation" label?
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Twinky
I argued about that with the person who witnessed to me and persuaded me to take the class.
- If I have to pay this money, then it's not a donation, it's payment for the class and/or the materials.
- No it's not, it's just a contribution towards the cost of the books.
- Well what if I don't want the books?
- Can't take the class, then.
- So it's payment, not a donation!
And so on. But he ... I liked him. He was apprentice Corps doing his WoW year and the family was struggling to get a class together, under some pressure from interim Corps, and I wanted him to succeed ...
Little did I know what I was letting myself in for. You could say I walked right into their double-speak with my eyes wide open.
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Thomas Loy Bumgarner
Classes at my church like Alpha, Beginings, Purpose Driven Life, etc are free including the meal, DVD's, books because the congregation bought the materials from the church budget for Christian Education. Now if individuals want to freely donate cash to offset the expenses, then fine. But no mandatory fees. But TWI was money hungry.
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shazdancer
According to their nonprofit status, "donors" to PFAL should only have been able to deduct the portion of the donation that was beyond the cost of materials. When I took PFAL, the cost was $65, roughly the retail price of the books and syllabus, so it should not have been advertised as a donation or tax deductible. Ooops.
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Ham
I remember the "requested donation" being implemented my wow year.. it was really difficult to spin the concept in easily understood words..
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