'Tears running down my face': farmers turn to crowdfunding for support

Over the past two weeks dairy farmer Jason Maloney raised $266,000 to save his business – then his accountants delivered bad news.

The farmer launched a Gofundme crowdfunding campaign for his property at Jamberoo, NSW, asking for support from his community “with tears running down my face”.

Maloney says he reached the point where his feeding creditors had pretty much “cut me off” and raising funds to buy food for his cattle was critical.

The campaign took off quickly and more than 4000 donations have so far been secured for the business.

However, Maloney says his accountants then raised an issue – they believed the proceeds of his campaign may be classed as business income, meaning he may have to pay a significant chunk of it to the tax office.“The accountants are looking right across everything. I’ve done this so I can help other farmers as well – it’s going to be a lot that’s going to the government now,” Maloney says. Read more

Emma Koehn - Brisbane Times - 6 August 2018