I\'d like to start this with a disclaimer that I realize that a full, clear-cut

Question

I'd like to start this with a disclaimer that I realize that a full, clear-cut answer should be sought out by a lawyer. I am more so curious about what other users of this community have done

Say that I had a small program that I had developed for fun, that I wished to release to the public. I'll drop it out there with one of the various open-source licenses, and probably put it up on SourceForge or Git in case if anybody should ever want to fork/maintain/check out code.

Also say that I wanted to accept donations for the project, with absolutely 0 expectation that people will send any money. However, if somebody donated in order to buy me a beer or a pizza for the work that they liked, I would accept gladly.

The question, then, is what are the general requirements of accepting donations? Can it go into a personal account with no questions asked as a "gift," or do I need to setup an LLC to avoid any taxation issues? (US citizen here).

Again, yes this should be lawyer discussed, but I also know that many projects that I see have the ability to donate, and assume that the community probably has a decent amount of experience in this regard.

Explanation / Answer

A donation is an income you must declare to IRS or any equivalent in other countries.

Unless you create a non-profit organization that is exempt of taxes in some countries, you will have to contribute to the community by paying the amount of tax defined by law.

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