Status: 02/23/2023 5:16 p.m
The willingness to donate for the earthquake victims in the Turkish-Syrian border area is high, but those who get involved often struggle with bureaucratic hurdles. A federal catastrophe decree is intended to remedy the situation. But that is not enough for those affected by the flood disaster of 2021.
Donations to earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria should become less bureaucratic. A disaster decree is currently being coordinated with the tax authorities of the federal states, according to the Federal Ministry of Finance in a conversation with the German Press Agency.
The decree is to apply to fundraisers retrospectively from February 6, 2023. Specifically, it is about organizational and tax relief. The starting signal for the decree has not yet been set.
Disaster Decree should be available online in the future
According to the Federal Ministry of Finance, it intends to publish the planned disaster decree for earthquake victims on its website in the future. It applies throughout Germany until the end of this year.
“It contains administrative simplifications for companies, associations and committed people – such as simplified proof of donations, collecting and using donations outside of the statutory purpose, income tax relief, exemptions from the taxation of a gratuitous value tax,” according to the ministry.
Music and sports clubs, for example, could also use this to collect donations for victims of the earthquake outside of their statutory purpose.
Those affected by the Ahr flood demand permanent simplification
At the same time, after the flood disaster in 2021, people from the Ahr Valley are pushing for a permanent simplification of the donation law. Those affected send a video message to Finance Minister Lindner (FDP) and call for a higher speed and more legal certainty for donations in crises. Disaster relief is still generally not non-profit.
Marc Adeneuer, winemaker and chairman of the flood donation association “AHR – A Wineregion needs Help for Rebuilding”, said, for example, that he once wanted to help his colleagues in the Ahr Valley, some of whom were more severely damaged by the flood – initially in vain. It was only after a long struggle with the authorities that he was able to negotiate a special arrangement in order to be able to pay out the income from the sale of “flood wine”, i.e. bottles that were partly soiled with dirt and with undamaged contents, to the affected wineries.
“Otherwise, our donation association, which was founded in an expedited process, could have been revoked its non-profit status. That would have meant high tax payments from my private assets. I would have been liable,” says the winemaker.
In response to the demand for a general simplification of the right to donate, the Federal Ministry of Finance stated that catastrophes are “temporary events” to which a rapid and needs-based response must be made. A nationwide decree is “a tried-and-tested approach in disasters that has been tried and tested for years.”