Non profit org dealing with money, any legal obligities ?

[geek5354]

Viability of the business model aside, I'm not a legal expert so I don't have the answer to your original question. However, it crossed my mind what if non-profit B accepts donations from anybody and A donates to B? B would have to pay taxes (whatever the rules are for non-profit organizations) but now the link between A and B is less obvious and direct.

B doesn't accept donations, No Bank account to receive donations too... Given the circumstances A paying B's costs somewhat looks like A donating to B, but B doesn't deal anything relating to money. If some other company, lets say C wants to pay for B's costs, then also its fine, but B doesn't take cash donations.

FYI, even if non-profit B does not take monetary donation, donated assets need to be accounted for in bookkeeping (at least in the U.S.). Here's an excerpt from wikiHow:

When donations are given to an organization, usually a nonprofit entity, those donations have a "worth" and must be counted as an asset for that company. The value of assets that have been donated is normally based on what those assets would cost if purchased, or their "market value," or the price received if the assets are sold, or their "exit value." It is important that organizations are aware of how to post these contributions in their financial books because the assets of nonprofit organizations, especially, come under more scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service than do other organizations. There is also a difference in how to account for donated assets between for-profit and nonprofit organizations, and between donated assets being passed on to others, such as clothing, and those staying within the organization. You can easily record the receipt of donated items by following a few simple accounting rules and knowing how to determine specific values of items.

I guess the bookkeeping fee for non-profit B will be paid by company A as well. If I were the tax office, I'd be a bit suspicious/curious why B doesn't have a bank account and all the bills of B are paid by A. The next thing I'll check is if the same people sit on both boards, then I'll get even more suspicious/curious.

[geek5354]

This was the main question. for instance; Mr. Heinonen from Finland wants to built ios app but doesn't want to hire developers, he does UX by himself, he wants to hire somebody to code for him, so, he visits B-the-non-profit and likes Mr. Borrissov from Estonia's profile and asks him to code for some money. Mr. Borrissov does what Mr. Heinonen wants, and Heinonen pays Borrissov after the service. They have their own contract, contact, deal and method of payment. B-the non-profit is just a gateway. Now, does B have any legal obligations if Mr. Heinonen have paid VAT or Borrissov is good tax payer ?
According to my model, B really doesn't care about the Heinonen's or Borrissov's tax record.
Since B doesn't care about its users tax, will A get into any legal trouble ? (remember A is paying for B's cost initially)

My gut feeling says no but then my gut doesn't belong to a legal expert. Using your example, if Mr. Heinonen and Mr. Borrisov found each other through this forum, I don't expect the forum to be responsible and liable for any contractual obligations or disputes between the two parties regardless who is funding the forum or where the forum is hosted. The Terms of Service may also state that it's not liable for any 3rd party links and information posted by external contributors.