MANSFIELD, Conn. (AP) – A Connecticut high school teacher who raised $ 41,000 to help hundreds of neighbors fight during the COVID-19 pandemic has received an unpleasant surprise for his charitable efforts: a form stating he could owed $ 16,031 in income taxes.
Louis Goffinet, 27, of Mansfield, began collecting food for elderly neighbors who feared going to the store in the early days of the pandemic, often spending their money. In view of the great need, he later organized two fundraisers on Facebook over a year and helped hundreds of families with food, rent and holiday gifts, Hartford Courant reported, setting a limit of $ 200.
Goffinet said that both financial support for his efforts and the demand for assistance have become higher than expected for the first time. He watched 140 trips to the grocery store on a spreadsheet, noting that he also offered meals for 125 families on Friday night, holiday gift cards for 20 families, so they could buy gifts for their children, 31 Thanksgiving meals and rental assistance for five families. Some local companies donated food.
“It has become dramatically bigger than I thought,” he said. “My initial goal was to raise $ 200 to help a family with food. I was already doubting myself when I decided that the people in the city don’t want to pay for someone else’s food. “
In January, Facebook sent Goffinet a 1099 form stating that he owed taxes on the money he had raised. Facebook warns users that the money generated from a fundraiser on the social platform can be taxable if more than $ 20,000 is raised and that a 1099 tax form will be issued.
“I was so shocked,” Goffinet told Courant. “When I think of the mental state I was in at the end of January, coming from a second fundraiser that was quite a lot of work – busy weekends coordinating Thanksgiving, holiday gifts – to get what I perceived as a $ 16,000 mail-in bill was just shocking. ”
Goffinet is now working with a local accountant to determine how to resolve the situation. His bill is due on May 17 and he expects to pay “some kind of tax burden”, but he doesn’t know exactly how much. Meanwhile, some people in the community are now trying to help him with the tax bill, so far sending $ 2,000 in checks to a mailbox – not via Facebook.