Re: GUADEC registration

[Ekaterina Gerasimova <kittykat3756 gmail com>]

On 22 July 2014 23:16, Michael Catanzaro <mcatanzaro gnome org> wrote:
> On Tue, 2014-07-22 at 16:41 -0400, Richard Stallman wrote:
> > [[[ To any NSA and FBI agents reading my email: please consider    ]]]
> > [[[ whether defending the US Constitution against all enemies,     ]]]
> > [[[ foreign or domestic, requires you to follow Snowden's example. ]]]
> >
> > This repression against Bitcoin seems to be arbitrary and
> > needs to be both investigated more and publicized more.
> > Can someone put me in touch with those accountants and lawyers?
> >
> > In the mean time, it would be good to urge people to pay cash
> > so as not to identify themselves.
>
> I wouldn't say "arbitrary" (they're concerned about tax fraud), rather
> "wildly unreasonable." Oh well. Anyway, Kat, this is a question for you.

Keeping in mind that I am not a lawyer, nor an accountant, albeit I do
accounting of some sort on a daily basis...

In my time on the board, the information came primarily from Karen,
who has been in contact with others about it (from what I remember of
the discussion). Karen is one of the lawyers who has been kind enough
to provide the Foundation with pro bono counsel, including on this
matter.

Estimates of costs regarding audits come directly from accountants who
could do the work and who have previously advised the Foundation
employees that the best way to avoid being audited is to not do
anything which may trigger an audit.

While I personally suspect that many taxation-related government
departments may frown on bitcoin due to its anonymity, I think that
only the IRS will be able to give you more information on why bitcoin
can be considered suspicious.

> Happy Tuesday,
>
> Michael