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Expense Policies and Limitations

While we try to accommodate every request, we work within some limits defined by the IRS, the human capacity of our staff, and technical limitations.

Expense Basics

  • OSC will only process payouts approved by an admin of the collective.
  • Payouts must be broken down into individual expenses that detail the money spent. We do not pay out undifferentiated chunks of money and can not issue funds for future expenses.
  • All expenditures must be permitted under 501(c)(6) regulations and adhere to our mission statement 'to promote a sustainable and healthy ecosystem to sustain open source technology for the future.'
  • Due to IRS regulations, we may need to collect W9 forms before we can pay someone. If this applies to you, we will let you know.
Collective admins can set additional expense policies to give guidance to expense submitters.

Permitted Countries and OFAC Checks

  • OSC cannot pay people in territories in the following sanctioned countries: Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, and Venezuela.
  • In addition, we may be unable to pay people in: Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Republic of South Sudan, Yemen.

Methods of Payment

  • The payment method must be owned by the person submitting a claim to be paid.
  • OSC only makes expense payments via PayPal and bank transfers.
    • We can't make direct payments via cashapp, venmo and similar services (because they don't allow nonprofits like OSC to sign up, among other reasons).
  • Collectives can use OSC-issued virtual cards for expenses (more info here).

PayPal Limits

  • We limit PayPal expense payments to a maximum of $5,000 USD. For expenses larger than $5,000 USD, payments must be made by electronic bank transfer via Wise. This allows us to prevent potential risks and protect our community and its financial assets.

Paying Upwork, Fiverr, or Kofi contractors

You can create a reimbursement or use a Virtual Card to pay for these services if it is easier. Fiverr, Kofi, and Upwork all issue a 1099 for their contractors/users.

Outstanding or Incomplete Expenses

The responsibility for ensuring payment completions lies with the collective and/or payee. In case of a payment error
  • OSC will notify the collective and payee by commenting on the expense ticket and marking the ticket as 'incomplete.'
  • Should payment still be required once the expense is marked as 'incomplete,' the collective and/or payee should edit the expense accordingly.
  • If the collective and/or payee fails to respond and rectify the issue within 30 days, OSC will proceed to close the expense request. If payment is still required, the submitter should resubmit the expense request.
By declining unresolved expense requests after 30 days, OSC is able to avoid having many unresolved tickets pile up. This will help the OSC team avoid confusion, inaccurate financial reporting, and potential budgetary complications.
To address pending 'error' payments predating 2023, OSC will make one final attempt to reach out and confirm the necessity of the payment. The expense will be closed if no response is received within 30 days.