Hi, This is a resolution for today's meeting to possibly open a bank account in Canada, to meet SPI-related needs such as those of DebConf17 (occurring next August in Montreal) and the Debian sysadmin team. We would first confirm the important details with Canadian legal and/or accounting professionals and verify with the SPI treasurer that the compliance burden will fall within acceptable levels.
I'm very sorry that I'm submitting this roughly 10 hours before the meeting, but I was swamped with preparing for a cross-country move this past Friday. Despite the last-minute nature, I think it's worth proceeding to a vote unless concerns exist: the topic was discussed at last month's meeting and proved non-controversial, and the resolution is so focused on consultation before action that we can change course if something proves inappropriate. Further, since DebConf17 is in under a year, it would be good to start work on this soon so that they can begin receiving Canadian funds early enough. I'm certainly open to amendments if people find those necessary, but I'd really prefer not to wait until October's meeting. If we need some time to tweak it and think we can then end up with full unanimity, we can approve by email voting. ---- Resolution 2016-09-12.jrk.1: Canadian bank account for SPI WHEREAS 1. Debian has expressed multiple needs for a Canadian dollar account with a Canadian bank, including a time-sensitive need for the 2017 Debian conference; 2. Such an account could be useful to other SPI projects once it exists; 3. Preliminary explorations specific to Canada indicate that the way to accomplish this with the least hassle is for SPI to open the Canadian bank account directly, rather than creating a separate legal entity; 4. Preliminary explorations further indicate that SPI can rely on the US-Canada tax treaty to file for exemption from Canadian income tax; 5. At the August 11, 2016 SPI board meeting, SPI directors generally expressed a consensus that having a presence in Canada would be useful; 6. Jimmy Kaplowitz and Luca Filipozzi are the SPI directors who have expressed the most interest in having this account exist; THE SPI BOARD RESOLVES THAT 1. Subject to paragraphs 2 through 4 below, Jimmy Kaplowitz and Luca Filipozzi, acting jointly on SPI's behalf, are authorized and directed to: a) Gather any needed professional advice and informal information on what time committment, obligations, and expenses would be incurred by SPI increasing its nexus with Canada through the opening of a Canadian bank account; b) Gather the corresponding answers with respect to Quebec specifically, since Quebec is the only province in Canada that operates its own separate tax authority, and since DebConf17 will be taking place in that province; c) If the answers seem acceptable to them, consult with the Treasurer (and preferably Martin Zobel-Hélas as Assistant Treasurer) to ensure that the Treasurer is okay with the answers; d) If the answers seem acceptable to the Treasurer as well as them, file any necessary paperwork with the Canadian and Quebec tax authorities to claim exemption from income tax, and identify one or more suitable Canadian bank account options denominated in Canadian dollars; e) If subparagraph d) has been completed, consult with the Treasurer (and preferably the Assistant Treasurer) to make a choice of one or more bank account(s); f) Once the choice of bank account(s) has been agreed with the Treasurer, open the bank account(s), with each of them individually, as well as the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer individually, having signing authority. 2. The authorization from paragraph 1 shall expire on August 31, 2017. It shall allow expenditure from SPI general funds of up to 2000 US dollars for purposes such as professional advice and government filing fees. The existing practice of reimbursing reasonable administrative expenses such as postage and photocopying shall not count against the $2000 limit. Any other authorities for expenditure shall remain similarly undisturbed and separate, including Resolution 2004-05-04.dbg.2.iwj.1: Expedited financial problems solving. 3. Since the current needs are exclusively for the Debian project, Jimmy Kaplowitz and/or Luca Filipozzi will ask Debian if it would be willing to reimburse SPI's general fund for some of the above expenses, accepted at the discretion of the Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer. The account will nevertheless be useful enough to SPI projects broadly that this is not a prerequisite to proceed. 4. The new Canadian bank account will be opened with such SPI general funds as the Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer deems appropriate, and with such associated project funds (likely Debian) as the corresponding project liaisons deem appropriate. - Jimmy Kaplowitz ji...@spi-inc.org _______________________________________________ Spi-general mailing list Spi-general@lists.spi-inc.org http://lists.spi-inc.org/listinfo/spi-general
