Want to help refugees, overseas missions, or international environmental efforts? As technology increasingly provides vivid windows into the lives of people around the world, donors and tax-exempt organizations are more aware than ever of foreign needs to be addressed.
Looking ahead to retirement, an employee who meets one country’s basic social security eligibility requirements may receive benefits from that country. For example, a U.S. citizen will become qualified for U.S. social security benefits after earning forty credits (10 years total of work). If an employee or self-employed individual works long enough to meet the basic social security requirements of the U.S. and a foreign country, the employee may receive benefits from both countries, although benefits earned may be correspondingly reduced to prevent a windfall. What happens, however, when an employee or self-employed individual does not meet the basic social security requirements of any country because his or her time has been divided between working in the U.S. and working abroad?
Many U.S.-based nonprofit organizations have an international component to their operations. If your nonprofit organization provides charitable resources to organizations and individuals overseas, whether in the form of goods, cash grants, or services, it is crucial that you perform and memorialize certain due diligence procedures concerning where and to whom you are sending such resources. The U.S. imposes significant civil and criminal penalties on any person, including nonprofit organizations, who finances or otherwise supports terrorism.