A charitable gift from a company: documents, taxes, a sample application

To formalise a charitable gift from a legal entity it is enough to have: (1) a letter of application or a charitable donation agreement with the fund's details; (2) a payment order with the purpose “Charitable gift for statutory activities, no VAT”; (3) the fund's extract from the Register of Non-Profit Institutions, which the fund itself provides. A handover certificate is drawn up at the parties' wish.

Under subparagraph 140.5.9 of the Tax Code, a business on the general system includes charitable gifts to non-profit organisations in expenses within 4% of the previous year's taxable profit. The excess is covered from profit. For single tax payers there are no tax benefits for donations, but there is no ban either.

An important detail: the recipient fund must have a valid non-profit code on the date of payment, which is why the register extract is part of the document package. This is general information, not tax advice: the final word is with your accountant.

A one-off gift is good, but monthly support works better: it gives the fund predictability, and the company a constant part in the lives of specific people whom a fund helper visits every month.