Legal Resource Library: CommunityCurrenciesLaw.org is Sustainable Economies Law Center's legal resource library on barter, time banks, and local currencies. It is a place to collaborate and share legal research and practical information related to these topics.

Legal Guides:

Money Soup: A Legal Guide to Bartering, Giving, and Getting Stuff Without Dollars, by Janelle Orsi

Practicing Law in the Sharing Economy, Chapter 5, New Kinds of Exchange, by Janelle Orsi

Legal Services: Beginning in 2013, SELC will offer limited legal advice and services to time banks, local currencies, and barter groups around the United States. For projects located in the SF Bay Area, visit our Resilient Communities Legal Cafe for in-person legal services!

Workshops: SELC has developed several workshops on the legalities of barter, time banks, and local currencies for legal professionals and community members. These workshops will be offered as webinars in 2014, so check our events page for upcoming learning opportunities. We also host frequent community teach-ins and conversations on various aspects of the local economies movement - visit our Resilient Communities Legal Cafe calendar for more information.

Legal Basics for Time Banks and Barter Exchanges

Legal Basics for Complementary Currencies (part 1)

Legal Basics for Complementary Currencies (part 2)

Governance is Life: Organizational Governance for the Next Economy

Q: How would a community currency strengthen our local economy?

A: Money can be understood in terms of its flow or its circulation within an economy. Every time a dollar is spent in your community, it allows for someone else to spend that dollar again somewhere else. In a resilient local economy, that dollar could be spent many times locally, maintaining and growing the wealth of that community. However, most of our dollars these days flow out of our communities as soon as they are used, enriching national and multinational companies far away from where the money is spent. A community currency is inherently limited to a particular place or group, so it incentives people to shop at locally-owned businesses and keeps wealth flowing within the community. This is called the multiplier effect.

Q: How are community currencies different from Bitcoin and other virtual currencies?

A: While Bitcoin is a potentially disruptive technology, it is primarily designed to be global and anonymous, while community currencies are designed to be rooted in a specific place and increase personal relationships. Likewise, Bitcoin's value is based in scarcity, and is subject to wild speculation and concentration in the hands of a few wealthy investors. Community currencies are designed to increase the circulation of goods and services and primarily function as a means of exchange, rather than an investment or store of value. 

Q: Do I still have to pay taxes on purchases made with a community currency?

A: Complementary currencies are subject to sales and income tax in the same way that dollars are, and those taxes are always paid in dollars. Particularly with the development of electronic currencies, online accounting systems make it easy to keep track of one’s expense, manage an account, and prevent tax evasion.

Q: Where can I find out more?

A: There are a variety of online resources with more information on local currencies. Visit these links for more information:

CommunityCurrenciesLaw - Sustainable Economies Law Center’s online legal resource library containing further information and links to a wide range of resources considering the legal aspects of community currencies and barter systems.

PluggingTheLeaks.org - Resources developed by the UK-based New Economics Foundation exploring the dynamics of a local economy and how currencies either keep money circulating locally or allow it to leak out.

Schumacher Center for a New Economics - Reference material, publications, and a directory of currencies across the US from the founders of the BerkShare.

bernard-lietaer.org - Homepage of Bernard Lietaer, one of the world’s foremost experts on community currencies and monetary systems.

For more resources and references, visit our Resources page at CommunityCurrenciesLaw.org