Administrative services A-Z

Forms: yes

Online procedure possible: no

Written form required: in principle, yes, can also be created by machine in the electronic process

Personal appearance required: no

This is available online or from the tax office. You must fill out the sample from the attachment and then sign it and hand it over to the donor or send it by post or e-mail.

Under certain circumstances, donation receipts for a pure monetary donation can also be created purely by machine and without a handwritten signature.

For the machine-generated donation receipt, the donation receipt must meet the following requirements:

• Notification to the local tax office with details of the fulfilment of the following requirements; a permit is not required
• Machine 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 printing
• Procedure complies with generally applicable safety requirements
• Posting the donation in accounting and creating the donation receipt are connected in the system
• Preparation and documentation process can be audited by the tax authorities with reasonable effort

none

none

Download the donation receipt template.

• For analog creation:
  • First, print out the form that suits you from the attachment.
  • Then fill out and sign the donation receipt.
  • Then make a copy for your retention obligation.
  • Finally, you can then send the donation receipt to the donor physically or by e-mail.
• For machine creation:
  • First, meet all the prerequisites required for machine creation.
  • Then create the digital donation receipt in a read-only format (PDF).
  • Finally, send the certificate as in the analogous procedure.

There are various retention periods for the donation receipt:

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

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

Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF)
Wilhelmstrasse 97
10117 Berlin, Germany

Phone: 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

• § 10b Income Tax Act (EStG)
• § 50 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 of the Federal Ministry of Finance on the possibility to send the donation receipt by e-mail
• Description of the Federal Ministry of Finance of the Act on the Modernisation of the Taxation Procedure

Federal Ministry of Finance