Leistungen A-Z

Forms: yes

Online procedure possible: no

Written form required: generally yes, can also be created automatically in the electronic procedure

Personal appearance required: no

You can obtain this online or from the tax office. You must complete the sample from the attachment and then sign it and hand it to the donor or send it by post or email.

Donation receipts for purely monetary donations can, under certain circumstances, also be generated purely by machine and without a handwritten signature.

The donation receipt must fulfill the following requirements for the donation receipt issued by machine:

• Notification to the local tax office with details of fulfillment of the following requirements; approval is not necessary
• Machine-generated version corresponds to the official form
• Corresponding information about the notification to the tax office
• Signature is displayed as a facsimile or scanned signature during the printing process
• Procedure complies with the generally applicable security requirements
• Posting of the donation in the accounting department and creation of the donation receipt are linked in the system
• The creation and documentation process can be audited by the tax authorities with reasonable effort

none

none

Download the sample donation receipt.

• For analog creation:
  • First print out the appropriate form from the attachment.
  • Then complete the donation receipt and sign it.
  • Then make a copy for your retention obligation.
  • Finally, you can then send the donation receipt to the donor physically or by email
• For automatic creation:
  • First fulfill all the requirements necessary for automatic creation.
  • Then create the digital donation receipt in a read-only format (PDF).
  • Finally, send the certificate as in the analog process.

There are various retention periods for the donation receipt:

• For the donor:
  • For paper form: 1 year
  • In the case of electronic transmission by the beneficiary, the retention obligation does not apply
• For the recipient of the grant:
  • For paper form: 6 years in paper copy
  • For electronic transmission by the grant recipient: 7 years

The period begins at the end of the year in which the certificate was issued.

Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF)
Wilhelmstrasse 97
10117 Berlin

Tel.: 030 18 682 - 0
Fax: 030 18 682- 32 60
E-mail:poststelle@bmf.bund.de

The tax office responsible for your place of residence

• Authority finder

• § Section 10b of the Income Tax Act (EStG)
• § Section 50 of the Income Tax Implementation Ordinance (EStDV)

• Official sample for donation receipts on the website of the Bavarian tax offices
• Letter from the Federal Ministry of Finance on the digital donation receipt
• Article by the Federal Ministry of Finance on the possibility of sending donation receipts by e-mail
• Description by the Federal Ministry of Finance of the Act on the Modernization of the Taxation Procedure
• Official sample for donation receipts on the website of the Bavarian tax offices
• Letter from the Federal Ministry of Finance on the digital donation receipt
• Article by the Federal Ministry of Finance on the possibility of sending donation receipts by e-mail
• Description by the Federal Ministry of Finance of the Act on the Modernization of the Taxation Procedure

Federal Ministry of Finance