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IRS Looking at Google/Mozilla Relationship
ric482 writes "With the release of the Mozilla Foundation's 2007 financial report, questions have been raised by the IRS, who are due to perform an audit on the non-profit organization behind the massively popular Firefox browser.
Last year, the Foundation received $66 million of its total $75 million revenue (88 percent) from search engine maestros Google, so the IRS are looking for blood over the organization's tax exempt status. Back in 2006, Mozilla got $59.5 million from Google — around 85 percent of the organization's revenue.
Google and Mozilla are part of a 'you scratch my back, I'll pay your bills' sort of agreement, with the Google search bar firmly placed in the toolbar, and on the default homepage. Things were a bit rocky a couple of months back when Google unveiled the Beta-run of its Chrome browser, but Mozilla and Google hugged it out and sealed a deal that will last for another three years. That deal will expire in November 2011."
My version of Firefox just has a regular "search bar" that defaults to Google.
If I want another search, e.g., AbeBooks.com, I just change it to that. Does it become an "AbeBooks.com search bar" then?
Would it kill you to put a link in there somewhere?
http://www.mozilla.org/foundation/documents/mf-2007-audited-financial-statement.pdf
Or... They are just doing their job and investigating possible suspicious activities. If Microsoft did the same thing you would be all up in arms on how Microsoft is trying get out of paying more taxes. But Google with Mozilla, that has to be different. Innocent until proven guilty, they are investigating it as it looks fishy but that is.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Actually, having done bookkeeping for a 501(c)3 on a voluntary basis, I can say that there really aren't that many differences. Basically, a 501(c)3 is required to followed GAP accounting methods -- just as any other IRS-recognized corporation. They have to donate a certain minimum percentage of their annual income to charity. And they have to show that they are organized for the purposes which a 501(c)3 may be organized. Since a 501(c)3 is basically a 'miscellaneous charity status' with the IRS, this means pretty much anything that benefits the community or the greater good, except politics -- they can't directly or indirectly support a particular candidate or ballot initiative. (How non-profits often get around this is by saying "We don't endorse a particular candidate, but many of our members say they are voting for X." )
The important thing that IRS will be looking for is this: Is Mozilla money co-mingling with Google money? Are they keeping it separate? DOes it look like Mozilla is just a front for Google? And so forth. They'll do that by auditing the books, piling through receipts and conducting interviews with appropriate personnel. Mozilla as a non-profit can, believe it or not, sell almost anything. Selling things is not at all illegal for non-profit and actually 'making a profit' is not illegal -- the profit just has to go into a specific fund set aside for purposes that Mozilla is organized for. Such as, in this case, funding Firefox and Thunderbird development.
My blog
Damn, I was hoping that'd be a link to the wikipedia page for wikipedia.
"linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
Generally speaking -- and I'm not specifically accusing Mozilla -- non-profit status is rarely what it seems. Usually the motivation in setting this status up is to avoid certain rules or taxes. It's only proper that this is investigated in Mozilla's case, if most of their income does come from a large highly-successful company.
The IRS should also be taking a very, very close look at Wikipedia. For those reasons, and also the fact that there have been individuals in that organization that have shady financial histories.
> Why is it that Firefox has been out since my
> early college days
Because you're very young.
Honestly, stop with the Debian bullshit already. Mozilla doesn't want others altering their software and still keeping their trademarks intact (which is what Debian wants to do). Debian places the *EXACT* same restrictions on their own trademarks.
Portable versions of Firefox, GIMP, LibreOffice, etc
Exactly. The issue here is that Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit organization, but Google clearly is not. Presumably IRS could be interested in exactly how close ties they have.
Yeah, but doesn't Google qualify for tax-exempt status as a religious organisation?
"The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
I believe you are thinking about Apple.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
The problem I have with it is that there are thousands of bugs opened against Firefox, Seamonkey, Thunderbird, etc that have been open for years that don't get addressed because there aren't enough developers. The Mozilla foundation should be using those millions of dollars to hire programmers (especially in this economy) to fix those bugs and add those long sought-after features. The last thing they should be doing is investing in the stock market!!!!!!!!!
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart