Can't. Not allowed. However, under the Berne Convention, you hold copyright to all of your creative works. If you donate that copyright through assignment to a 501(c)3 or other qualified organization, the fair-market value of that donation is deductible.
Not that the latter is easy to value. But it *does* have a non-zero value.
You can take a write-off for your expenses, however. If you have, for example, purchased a computer which you only use for improvements to software owned by a 501(c)3 (and you assign copyright to them), then 100% of that computer is deductible. Same thing if you bought tools to work on your church's garden. Or your camping gear if you have to go camping as a scout leader.
All true. However, all the software you write has a fair market value, even if you GPL it, because you could also license it on a proprietary basis. You can assign the copyright to a 501(c)3 and deduct the fair market value, just as you can any other donation of property.
If you hold the copyright to software, that's intellectual property. If you assign the copyright to a 501(c)3, you can deduct the full market value of that piece of software. Granted, it can be difficult to determine that value. But whatever it is, it's deductible.
The IRS expects you to try to reduce your taxes within the law. They expect you to make interpretations that favor yourself. Doesn't make it tax fraud.
And anyway, you can deduct your expenses if you're donating your time to a 501(c)3 or other qualified organization. You can't deduct the value of your time. Nothing fraudulent there. Now, I will grant you that the OP didn't say that the software to which he was contributing was owned by a 501(c)3. But he didn't say not, either.
It depends on the contributor agreement. If you assign copyright, as the FSF requires, then you're making a donation of property. If you retain copyright but give the project a license to use it, you're just donating your time.
Lemme see. 501(c)3's: The Free Software Foundation, Software in the Public Interest, the Gnome Foundation, the Open Source Initiative, the Perl Foundation, the Python Foundation, the Apache Software Foundation, the Public Software Fund. I'm sure I've missed some.
You can't swing an open source cat without hitting a 501(c)3.
If you assign copyright, you are donating property. That gets you a tax write-off. So yeah, yer talkin' smack. Yes, it's difficult to put a value on the value of copyright on open source, but if you own the copyright, you always have the potential to sell it to somebody, or donate it to the FSF.
If you write software, hold the copyright, and donate that software to a 501(c)3 by assigning the copyright, you have made a donation of property. Exactly how much is a bit tricky to figure out. But that's just a detail. You're allowed to deduct the entire fair-market value of your donation from your taxes (although you can't donate more than half of your income in any one tax year).
When you write anything, and retain the copyright, that is an asset. You can donate that asset to a charity and claim a deduction of the fair-market value. How much is a document, or your software worth? I dunno, but there are companies you can pay to give you an opinion. They charge a percentage of the value.
So, yeah, all that software your wrote for the FSF after executing their copyright assignment form? Deducation!
That's why we need a freedom of trade amendment to the Constitution. Without it, people want trade to be tilted their way, and then there goes your freedom to trade.
Go back thirty years. Tell me that telephone service is a natural monopoly. No one would disagree with you except a few economists. Fast-forward to now and make the same assertion. You'll get laughed at.
I notice that I won the monopoly game, since nobody was able to name a single market monopoly.
London had competing private water companies. Today, the government (monopoly) water system in Mumbai sucks, so people buy their water from competing water companies who truck in the water. Businesses and apartments have a water tank on the roof to provide the water pressure.
Centralized water treatment competes with septic systems. But there's no market there because whenever a government installs a sewer system, they don't let you compete by installing a septic system. In some areas, they don't even let you install a composting toilet. And an outhouse is right out.
I get both my points back. So, I win your monopoly game, and you didn't even bother playing mine. Are these facts going to change your mind? I doubt it, because you believe in Faith-Based Economics. Fairy-tale economics.
I notice there are a couple of round buildings. Maybe the blurring done by New York State is just looking for round buildings and considers them all to be tank farms?
it would be like saying that any state, at a whim, could determine a national nomination deadline by setting a ballot deadline.
Um, yes, that's how it works. What's wrong with that? This is not a democracy, it's a republic, and it's a union of states. The states run the federal government, through their senators and representatives, and the process of electing the president.
Way back when, the states also enacted most laws. These days, we've been invaded by an occupying power. We used to fear the USSR coming in and telling us what to do. Now we have the USA coming in and telling our states what to do.
Slashdot Mirror
How exactly do you propose writing off your time?
Can't. Not allowed. However, under the Berne Convention, you hold copyright to all of your creative works. If you donate that copyright through assignment to a 501(c)3 or other qualified organization, the fair-market value of that donation is deductible.
Not that the latter is easy to value. But it *does* have a non-zero value.
You can take a write-off for your expenses, however. If you have, for example, purchased a computer which you only use for improvements to software owned by a 501(c)3 (and you assign copyright to them), then 100% of that computer is deductible. Same thing if you bought tools to work on your church's garden. Or your camping gear if you have to go camping as a scout leader.
Noting controversial here.
All true. However, all the software you write has a fair market value, even if you GPL it, because you could also license it on a proprietary basis. You can assign the copyright to a 501(c)3 and deduct the fair market value, just as you can any other donation of property.
If you hold the copyright to software, that's intellectual property. If you assign the copyright to a 501(c)3, you can deduct the full market value of that piece of software. Granted, it can be difficult to determine that value. But whatever it is, it's deductible.
The IRS expects you to try to reduce your taxes within the law. They expect you to make interpretations that favor yourself. Doesn't make it tax fraud.
And anyway, you can deduct your expenses if you're donating your time to a 501(c)3 or other qualified organization. You can't deduct the value of your time. Nothing fraudulent there. Now, I will grant you that the OP didn't say that the software to which he was contributing was owned by a 501(c)3. But he didn't say not, either.
It depends on the contributor agreement. If you assign copyright, as the FSF requires, then you're making a donation of property. If you retain copyright but give the project a license to use it, you're just donating your time.
Lemme see. 501(c)3's: The Free Software Foundation, Software in the Public Interest, the Gnome Foundation, the Open Source Initiative, the Perl Foundation, the Python Foundation, the Apache Software Foundation, the Public Software Fund. I'm sure I've missed some.
You can't swing an open source cat without hitting a 501(c)3.
If you assign copyright, you are donating property. That gets you a tax write-off. So yeah, yer talkin' smack. Yes, it's difficult to put a value on the value of copyright on open source, but if you own the copyright, you always have the potential to sell it to somebody, or donate it to the FSF.
If you write software, hold the copyright, and donate that software to a 501(c)3 by assigning the copyright, you have made a donation of property. Exactly how much is a bit tricky to figure out. But that's just a detail. You're allowed to deduct the entire fair-market value of your donation from your taxes (although you can't donate more than half of your income in any one tax year).
When you write anything, and retain the copyright, that is an asset. You can donate that asset to a charity and claim a deduction of the fair-market value. How much is a document, or your software worth? I dunno, but there are companies you can pay to give you an opinion. They charge a percentage of the value.
So, yeah, all that software your wrote for the FSF after executing their copyright assignment form? Deducation!
Well? Did we die?
Why does a free market economy need czars? Aren't they an invention of the same country that adopted communist central planning to such poor effect?
Silly A.C., economics is the study of choices. Money has almost nothing to do with economics.
Adam Smith was a Scot, not an Irishman.
Ha! As if the US spends its tax money wisely! 900 billion here, 900 billion there, pretty soon you're talking about real money.
I asked my Representative to vote against the failout.
That's why we need a freedom of trade amendment to the Constitution. Without it, people want trade to be tilted their way, and then there goes your freedom to trade.
Go back thirty years. Tell me that telephone service is a natural monopoly. No one would disagree with you except a few economists. Fast-forward to now and make the same assertion. You'll get laughed at.
So, I name telephone communications.
Tell that to Countrywide. They bragged about their compliance with CRA and they're bankrupt.
I notice that I won the monopoly game, since nobody was able to name a single market monopoly.
London had competing private water companies. Today, the government (monopoly) water system in Mumbai sucks, so people buy their water from competing water companies who truck in the water. Businesses and apartments have a water tank on the roof to provide the water pressure.
Centralized water treatment competes with septic systems. But there's no market there because whenever a government installs a sewer system, they don't let you compete by installing a septic system. In some areas, they don't even let you install a composting toilet. And an outhouse is right out.
I get both my points back. So, I win your monopoly game, and you didn't even bother playing mine. Are these facts going to change your mind? I doubt it, because you believe in Faith-Based Economics. Fairy-tale economics.
I notice there are a couple of round buildings. Maybe the blurring done by New York State is just looking for round buildings and considers them all to be tank farms?
So is the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory:
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=42.82034,-73.86572&z=17&t=S
New York State blurs tank farms, but you can see the blurring on their imagery, so no, it's not Google.
Tell that to the Whigs.
it would be like saying that any state, at a whim, could determine a national nomination deadline by setting a ballot deadline.
Um, yes, that's how it works. What's wrong with that? This is not a democracy, it's a republic, and it's a union of states. The states run the federal government, through their senators and representatives, and the process of electing the president.
Way back when, the states also enacted most laws. These days, we've been invaded by an occupying power. We used to fear the USSR coming in and telling us what to do. Now we have the USA coming in and telling our states what to do.
I think he's trying to get votes. Isn't that what you do when you're running for office?