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I would like to receive donations on a website instead of having commercials or subscription fees. I am an individual, not a non-profit organization and will not be giving tax-deductible receipts. Is it possible to use PayPal to receive donations/contributions?

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Yes, Paypal has such a button you can use, but to be clear, the money you receive is taxable income. Your website is providing 'value' to the readers, and while they may feel they are making a gift to you, it's earned income as far as the IRS is concerned.

(This assumes you are in the US, you may wish to add a tag to indicate your country)

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  • I have added a tag to indicate I am from Croatia.
    – ipavlic
    Nov 29, 2011 at 8:33
  • I will accept this answer, as there are no additional responses, and you provide valuable information for taxation. I still cannot get the Donate button for my account though. I have asked my question to Paypal directly.
    – ipavlic
    Nov 30, 2011 at 12:57
  • Much thanks. Paypal has its own rules about what transactions are allowed in each country. When you hear back, please update us.
    – JTP - Apologise to Monica ♦
    Nov 30, 2011 at 15:23
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An answer from PayPal stated that donations may be turned on only for Business PayPal accounts that are verified for its non-profit status.

Such PayPal Business account must be opened in the name of non-profit organization (not a single person) and go through verification process.

One must provide the following information:

  • A description of the organization.
  • A voided check that shows the name of the organization or a copy of a bank statement that the organization received in the mail within the last 6 months. (they do not accept online bank
  • A document confirms organization's status as a nonprofit organization.

That would mean that one cannot ask for donations as a private person, at least in Croatia, and probably in Europe.

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  • 1
    What about Patreon?
    – mkennedy
    Feb 6, 2015 at 18:41
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    Patreon may allow you to use a butyon labelled donate, but you'll still owe taxes on any money received unless you havd a tax exemption. Income is income.
    – keshlam
    Feb 7, 2016 at 16:40
  • Patreon looks like the current best answer/solution, assuming you don't have to be a non-profit or charity to set up an account there.
    – posfan12
    Jun 14, 2018 at 4:47
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Yes, PayPal allows you to add a donate button to your website. You're responsible for any tax record-keeping related to income from the donate button.

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    +1 There are some limitations. You can not reward random contributors (like a raffle or lottery). GUComics used to reward contributors with a monthly raffle of original panels until PayPal cracked down.
    – user4127
    Nov 28, 2011 at 16:34
  • Paypal allows me to create a donate button when logged-out. But when I am logged in, it redirects me to a page for button creation that only includes Shopping cart, Buy now, Gift certificates and Subscriptions.
    – ipavlic
    Nov 29, 2011 at 8:45
  • The linked page no longer exists
    – barteks2x
    Jun 16, 2017 at 21:53
  • Hey @ipavlic, how did you managed to solve this since then? I've seen that there is (maybe brand new) Donate buttons: paypal.com/donate/buttons . But I cannot find the info about the fees. I've also tried to integrate that button, but getting some error on the final step like: "Sorry, we weren't able to complete your request, please try again later". Not sure at all what's the problem.
    – М.Б.
    Jan 19, 2020 at 23:06

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