Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Charity Finance news article: Wikimedia UK denied charitable tax status
Full article copied below. As you can see the distinction between the Wikimedia Foundation and Wikimedia UK is explained further down: Organisation responsible for Wikipedia already turned down by HM Revenue & Customs Wikimedia UK is to have its application for charitable status reconsidered by the Charity Commission after its initial application to HM Revenue & Customs was turned down. Wikimedia UK is part of a global family of national associations that coordinate contributors to the Wikipedia website, based in the US, and seek permission for other information, such as national archives, to be posted. It applied for charitable status, under the heading of promoting education, to HMRC because its annual income is currently below the £5,000 threshold for registration with the commission. incompatible encoding But HMRC turned down the application on the grounds that the mere increase of knowledge without teaching or education is not charitable. Andrew Turvey, secretary of Wikimedia UK, said: "Museums and art galleries are recognised as charities; our argument is that what we are doing is analogous to that." He said HMRC had agreed to pass on Wikimedia's letter of appeal to the Charity Commission for adjudication, even though the organisation does not expect to have an income of £5,000 for another 18 months. Turney (sic) said he hoped for a response within a few months. End - "Thomas Dalton" wrote: > From: "Thomas Dalton" > To: wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Sent: Saturday, 6 June, 2009 17:00:14 GMT +00:00 GMT Britain, Ireland, > Portugal > Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Charity Finance news article: Wikimedia UK > denied charitable tax status > > 2009/6/6 Michael Peel : > > Also covered by ThirdSector: > > > > http://thirdsector.co.uk/news/Article/911135/Wikimedias-UK-charity- > > application-re-examined/ > > "Organisation responsible for Wikipedia" - that's about as bad as it > gets! I haven't read the full article (free registration required - I > never like the sound of that!), but the extract seems to start a > better description of what we are, but you should probably contact > them and try to get that lede fixed. > > ___ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org >___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Charity Finance news article: Wikimedia UK denied charitable tax status
2009/6/6 Michael Peel : > Also covered by ThirdSector: > > http://thirdsector.co.uk/news/Article/911135/Wikimedias-UK-charity- > application-re-examined/ "Organisation responsible for Wikipedia" - that's about as bad as it gets! I haven't read the full article (free registration required - I never like the sound of that!), but the extract seems to start a better description of what we are, but you should probably contact them and try to get that lede fixed. ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Charity Finance news article: Wikimedia UK denied charitable tax status
Also covered by ThirdSector: http://thirdsector.co.uk/news/Article/911135/Wikimedias-UK-charity- application-re-examined/ Thanks, Mike On 1 Jun 2009, at 13:41, Michael Peel wrote: > See http://www.charityfinance.co.uk/home/content.php? > id=2876&pg=15&cat=30 > > Mike > > ___ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Charity Finance news article: Wikimedia UK denied charitable tax status
2009/6/1 Michael Peel : > Credit the author. :-) I merely pointed out the issues, and explained > things. Nevertheless, good work! ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Charity Finance news article: Wikimedia UK denied charitable tax status
On 1 Jun 2009, at 17:28, Thomas Dalton wrote: > 2009/6/1 Michael Peel : >> The author has now corrected the article. I've also added a paragraph >> to our website to try to explain this a bit better in general; tweaks >> to that text would be more than welcome. > > Much improved! Do we credit you with that? Credit the author. :-) I merely pointed out the issues, and explained things. Mike ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Charity Finance news article: Wikimedia UK denied charitable tax status
2009/6/1 Michael Peel : > The author has now corrected the article. I've also added a paragraph > to our website to try to explain this a bit better in general; tweaks > to that text would be more than welcome. Much improved! Do we credit you with that? ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Charity Finance news article: Wikimedia UK denied charitable tax status
The author has now corrected the article. I've also added a paragraph to our website to try to explain this a bit better in general; tweaks to that text would be more than welcome. Thanks, Mike On 1 Jun 2009, at 14:53, Thomas Dalton wrote: > 2009/6/1 joseph seddon : >> We need to ask them to correct the point where they say >> "Wikimedia, which >> has income of less than £5,000 a year, has decided to stop >> referring to >> itself as a charity or an exempt charity, as it has up until now, >> and start >> describing itself as a ‘not-for-profit’ instead." We arnt wikimedia. > > The bit where they say we run the "Wikipedia UK" website is more of a > problem, I think. The fact that we don't run Wikipedia is extremely > important. > > ___ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Charity Finance news article: Wikimedia UK denied charitable tax status
2009/6/1 joseph seddon : > We need to ask them to correct the point where they say "Wikimedia, which > has income of less than £5,000 a year, has decided to stop referring to > itself as a charity or an exempt charity, as it has up until now, and start > describing itself as a ‘not-for-profit’ instead." We arnt wikimedia. The bit where they say we run the "Wikipedia UK" website is more of a problem, I think. The fact that we don't run Wikipedia is extremely important. ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Charity Finance news article: Wikimedia UK denied charitable tax status
We need to ask them to correct the point where they say "Wikimedia, which has income of less than £5,000 a year, has decided to stop referring to itself as a charity or an exempt charity, as it has up until now, and start describing itself as a ‘not-for-profit’ instead." We arnt wikimedia. > Date: Mon, 1 Jun 2009 13:46:32 +0100 > From: thomas.dal...@gmail.com > To: wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Charity Finance news article: Wikimedia UK > denied charitable tax status > > 2009/6/1 Michael Peel : > > See http://www.charityfinance.co.uk/home/content.php? > > id=2876&pg=15&cat=30 > > "HMRC had denied charitable tax status to Wikimedia UK, which runs the > Wikipedia UK website, stating that production of an encyclopaedia is > not a charitable purpose." > > They're not even trying... "the Wikipedia UK" website? > > Good quotes from Andrew though - well done! > > I thought we spoke to the WMF ages ago (in fact, I think I did it) and > they didn't know any useful lawyers, so where did that bit come from? > > ___ > Wikimedia UK mailing list > wikimediau...@wikimedia.org > http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l > WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org _ Share your photos with Windows Live Photos – Free. http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/134665338/direct/01/___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Charity Finance news article: Wikimedia UK denied charitable tax status
2009/6/1 Michael Peel : > See http://www.charityfinance.co.uk/home/content.php? > id=2876&pg=15&cat=30 "HMRC had denied charitable tax status to Wikimedia UK, which runs the Wikipedia UK website, stating that production of an encyclopaedia is not a charitable purpose." They're not even trying... "the Wikipedia UK" website? Good quotes from Andrew though - well done! I thought we spoke to the WMF ages ago (in fact, I think I did it) and they didn't know any useful lawyers, so where did that bit come from? ___ Wikimedia UK mailing list wikimediau...@wikimedia.org http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org
