(2023) How donations to political parties are subsidised

In the Bundestag election on 26 September 2021, far more than just the major well-known parties stood for election. Votes and donations bring the parties additional money from the state coffers.

• For the first four million votes, there is 1.05 Euro each and beyond that 0.86 Euro per vote (share of votes, as of 2020).
• And for every Euro you donate to a party in the form of donations or membership fees up to 3,300 Euro, the party receives an additional 45 cents from the state coffers (donation share). Donations exceeding the eligible amount of 3,300 Euro are permissible, but they are not taken into account when calculating the donation share and are only considered when determining the "relative upper limit".
• Since 2017, the above amounts for the share of votes have automatically increased each year by the percentage by which the price index for expenses typical for a party has increased in the year preceding the year of entitlement (§ 18 para. 3 of the Political Parties Act).

Not only donations but also membership fees to political parties are tax-privileged. Donations and membership fees are tax-privileged in two ways:

• The donations are directly deducted from the tax liability by half for single persons up to 1,650 Euro and for married couples up to 3,300 Euro. The tax saving is therefore up to 825 Euro or 1,650 Euro (§ 34g No. 1 EStG).
• Donations beyond this are deductible as special expenses, namely for single persons up to a further 1,650 Euro and for married couples up to a further 3,300 Euro (§ 10b para. 2 EStG).