A significant difference from the tax exemption under § 3 No. 26 EStG ("trainer allowance") is that the volunteering allowance does not limit certain activities. It can be claimed for any type of activity for charitable associations, church or public institutions.
The tax exemption also applies, for example, if you receive income for an activity
A club or corporation must note the following: Payments to members must not be unreasonably high; that is, they must not be higher than payments to non-members. If the board receives remuneration beyond pure expense reimbursement, the articles of association must explicitly allow payment.
Voluntary helpers in Covid vaccination centres can benefit from the so-called trainer or volunteering allowance, whereby remuneration for certain activities is tax-free up to a specified amount. The tax authorities determined this in February 2021.
Currently, it should be noted that the relief also applies if the vaccination centre is operated by a private service provider or if the helpers are employed in the central vaccination centres and district vaccination centres via a private personnel service provider (source: Ministry of Finance Baden-Württemberg, press release dated 20.08.2021).
According to tax regulations, it is actually necessary for the trainer and volunteering allowance that the volunteers are employed by a charitable or public employer - the state or a municipality - for the allowances to apply. However, the structure of the vaccination centres set up in a very short time is very different; not all vaccination centres are operated directly by a municipality, the state or a charitable organisation.
Following coordination between the federal and state governments, the trainer allowance applies to all those directly involved in the vaccination - i.e. in counselling sessions or the vaccination itself. This regulation applies to income in 2020 and 2021. The trainer allowance was 2.400 Euro in 2020 and was increased to 3.000 Euro annually in 2021. Income from voluntary work is tax-free up to this amount.
Those involved in the administration and organisation of vaccination centres can claim the volunteering allowance. For 2020, it was up to 720 Euro, and since 2021, up to 840 Euro is tax-free.
Both the trainer and volunteering allowances only apply to remuneration from part-time activities. This is usually the case if they do not take up more than one-third of the working hours of a comparable full-time position in the year. Helpers who do not have a main occupation, such as students or pensioners, can also work part-time. The trainer and volunteering allowances are annual amounts granted once per calendar year. For various eligible activities, the income is added together.
