(2024) What are donations to promote charitable purposes?

The terms charitable and donation-eligible purposes are treated equally for tax purposes. These purposes are defined in the Fiscal Code and serve as the basis for claiming donations in the tax return. According to § 52 (2) of the Fiscal Code, these are charitable purposes:

• Promotion of science and research
• Promotion of religion
• Promotion of public health, particularly the prevention and control of communicable diseases, including hospitals as defined in § 67 of the Fiscal Code, and animal diseases
• Promotion of youth and elderly care
• Promotion of art and culture
• Promotion of monument protection and preservation
• Promotion of education, public and vocational training, including student assistance
• Promotion of nature conservation and landscape management in accordance with the Federal Nature Conservation Act and the nature conservation laws of the federal states, environmental protection, coastal protection, and flood protection
• Promotion of welfare, particularly the purposes of officially recognised associations of independent welfare services, their sub-associations, and their affiliated institutions and establishments
• Promotion of assistance for those persecuted for political, racial, or religious reasons, refugees, displaced persons, resettlers, late resettlers, war victims, war bereaved, war-disabled persons and prisoners of war, civilian victims and disabled persons, as well as assistance for victims of crime
• Commemoration of victims of persecution, war, and disasters, including the erection of memorials and monuments
• Promotion of the search service for missing persons
• Promotion of rescue from life-threatening situations
• Promotion of fire, labour, disaster, and civil protection, as well as accident prevention
• Promotion of international understanding, tolerance in all areas of culture, and the idea of international understanding
• Promotion of animal welfare
• Promotion of development cooperation
• Promotion of consumer advice and consumer protection
• Promotion of care for prisoners and former prisoners
• Promotion of gender equality
• Promotion of the protection of marriage and family
• Promotion of crime prevention
• Promotion of sports (chess is considered a sport)
• Promotion of local heritage and local history
• Promotion of animal breeding, plant breeding, allotment gardening, traditional customs including carnival, soldiers' and reservists' welfare, amateur radio, model flying, and dog sports
• General promotion of the democratic state within the scope of this law; this does not include activities that pursue only specific individual civic interests or are limited to the municipal political area
• Promotion of civic engagement for charitable, benevolent, and ecclesiastical purposes
• Promotion of the maintenance and care of cemeteries
• Promotion of the maintenance of memorials for non-burial children and foetuses