Create a donation receipt

Donations for the promotion of tax-privileged purposes can be deducted by the donor up to a total of 20% of the total amount of income or 4‰ of the total turnover and wages and salaries spent in the calendar year) as part of income, corporation or trade taxation. For this purpose, a donation receipt (previously donation receipt) issued by the recipient of the donation in accordance with the officially prescribed form must be submitted to the tax office.

Tax-privileged donations include donations and, under certain conditions, membership fees including levies and admission fees.

Donations are voluntary contributions in cash or in kind that are made without any legal obligation and do not constitute payment for a service in return.

Benefits and services (e.g. unpaid work for an association or the free use of premises or vehicles) are not tax-privileged donations.

Tax-privileged purposes according to the German Fiscal Code (AO) are

• charitable purposes
• charitable purposes
• ecclesiastical purposes

Non-profit purposes are, for example

• the promotion of science and research,
• the promotion of religion,
• the promotion of public health and public health care, in particular the prevention and control of communicable diseases, including through hospitals, and of animal diseases,
• the promotion of youth and elderly care;
• the promotion of art and culture;
• the promotion of the protection and preservation of historical monuments;
• the promotion of education, popular and vocational training, including student aid;
• the promotion of nature conservation and landscape management within the meaning of the Federal Nature Conservation Act and the nature conservation laws of the federal states, environmental protection including climate protection, coastal protection and flood protection;
• the promotion of welfare, in particular the purposes of the officially recognized associations of independent welfare, their sub-associations and their affiliated institutions and establishments;
• the promotion of aid for people persecuted on political, racial or religious grounds, for refugees, displaced persons, ethnic German resettlers, ethnic German repatriates, war victims, survivors of war, war-disabled persons and prisoners of war, civilian victims and disabled persons as well as aid for victims of crime; the promotion of the memory of persecuted persons, victims of war and disasters, the promotion of aid for people who are discriminated against on the basis of their gender identity or gender orientation;
• the promotion of the tracing service for missing persons;
• the promotion of rescue from mortal danger;
• the promotion of fire, occupational, disaster and civil protection as well as accident prevention;
• the promotion of an international mindset, tolerance in all areas of culture and the idea of international understanding;
• the promotion of animal welfare;
• the promotion of development cooperation;
• the promotion of consumer advice and consumer protection;
• the promotion of welfare for prisoners and former prisoners;
• the promotion of equal rights for women and men;
• promoting the protection of marriage and family;
• the promotion of crime prevention;
• the promotion of sport (chess and e-sports are considered sports);
• the promotion of local history, local lore and local beautification;
• the promotion of animal breeding, plant breeding, allotment gardening, traditional customs including carnival, Shrovetide and Mardi Gras, support for soldiers and reservists, amateur radio, free radio, model flying and dog sports;
• the general promotion of the democratic state within the scope of this Act; this does not include endeavors that only pursue certain individual interests of a civic nature or that are limited to the local political sphere;
• the promotion of civic engagement for the benefit of charitable, benevolent and ecclesiastical purposes;
• the promotion of the maintenance and care of cemeteries and the promotion of the maintenance of memorials for children and fetuses that cannot be buried;
• the promotion of charitable purposes; this is the concessionary provision of housing to persons within the meaning of Section 53 of the German Fiscal Code (AO). § Section 53 no. 2 AO is to be applied with the proviso that the remuneration may not be higher than five times the standard rate of social assistance within the meaning of Section 28 of the Twelfth Book of the German Social Code; in the case of single persons or single parents, six times the standard rate replaces five times the standard rate. The need for assistance must exist at the beginning of the respective tenancy.