What is remuneration donation?

Many people volunteer in clubs and associations, organisations, and churches. This applies to board members, club members, sponsors, freelancers, and other service providers. However, unlike monetary and material donations, there is not automatically a tax benefit for personal work performance.

This is because the tax authorities generally assume that volunteer members of a club work for the club without payment and provide their services without any claim for reimbursement of expenses.

However, this assumption is - according to the Federal Ministry of Finance - rebuttable (BMF letter dated 25.11.2014). For this, however, there must be a written agreement between the club and the donor for contractual claims, made before the start of the activity. The work performance is tax-deductible if you have a legally valid remuneration claim and waive it. The donation is not the work performance itself, but the waiver of the agreed reimbursement claim.

The remuneration claim for the work you have done must be seriously granted and must not be agreed upon on the condition that you waive it. You must then waive this remuneration claim. The waiver must be unconditional and declared within three months for a one-off activity and within one year for a regular activity.

The remuneration donation or repayment is a (shortened) monetary donation. This is because it is not the remuneration claim that is donated, but the corresponding amount of money. It is not necessary for money to flow between the donor and the club. Therefore, the donation receipt does not need to specify the remuneration and the work performance, only the amount of money. However, the club must document this in its records. The donation receipt must confirm a "monetary donation".