Patreon Accounting Post

[rolanni]

Here is the promised accountability post for the first completed Patreon month in support of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

By April 30 end-of-day, 203 kind people had pledged a total of $1,493

Six people pledged in May, and were not billed for April by Patreon, nor should they have been.  The system works!

Two pledges were denied -- which is to say that the credit card company denied the charge, or the patron declined the opportunity to continue.

One pledge for $0.50 produced a $0 payout to the artists -- the entirety of that pledge went to fees

Of the $1,493 pledged, Patreon collected a total of $1,467.50, deducted $80.86 in credit card fees, and deducted its own fee of $73.39

The artists will receive (on May 5, it says here):  $1,313.25

Once the artists receive their payout, they will deduct 33% or $434 and place it into the account from which they pay their taxes

$879.25 will then be available to buy cat food, people food, coffee!, to keep the lights on while we finish Alliance of Equals (due May 31!) and get ready for the Grand Northeast Book Tour, starting on June 2.

Thank you all so very much for your support, your good humor, and your continued presence in our lives.

Sharon and Steve
Scrabble, Trooper, and Sprite

Comments

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

When you're a freelancer, gifts of money are very tricky. You may give me a gift from the fullness of your heart, and I may receive it as such, but in the eyes of the IRS, what I will be receiving is income. Even things like gift cards to BN or Hannaford or whatnot are kind of risky. You can hardly blame the IRS -- as far as they're concerned, I do more or less nothing to receive income. If people start sending me money for doing more nothing, then -- income's income.

And, honestly, the fees aren't the worst of the deductions from the Patreon pledges -- it's that 33% off the top for our Gentle Uncle that really chews up the check.

Which is how we got into the mess in the first place. Simply put, and according to the lights of the IRS and the ACA -- we made too much money last year, and at an inconvenient time. Thus, the money we would normally be living on for the first quarter of this year went, not into the house checkbook, but largely to the Gummint. Which now wants estimated taxes for this year at a rate that...eek.

It's a stupid system we have, but it's the system.