[Osmf-talk] Taxing of donations to OSMF (was RE: Translations of the ODBL)

[Jaak Laineste]

> Am 26.07.2010 10:00, schrieb Jaak Laineste:
> >  I have more practical case also: I just got informed that according
> > to our law all the donations to some organization who is not in our
> > national list of "non-taxable" NGO-s need to be taxed quite heavily
> > (total ~50% of the given amount).
> 
> "Not applicable", because it is inconsistent with European Union law ...
> 
> You should inform the European Commission, DG Customs & Taxation.
> 
> What kind of tax is this?

It is called "corporate income tax". I was a bit wrong, it is about 22%, not
50. 

Maybe it actually makes sense over here: it is meant to avoid to smuggle
profits out of a company. Estonian companies do not have generally corporate
income tax, as it is usual in many other countries; only profits which are
cashed out (as dividends, salary or something) will be taxed. Until you do
not take money out of the business then there is no income tax at all.
Problem here is that donations are taken not as normal business cost item
for a company, but more like cashing out profits. However, our "Customs &
Taxation" has special list of "tax advantage" NGOs to whom companies can
donate money without need to pay the tax, these are different charity
organizations, Church etc. I'm just preparing application to get our OSM
Chapter also listed there too, but I'm not sure if we will succeed to show
that OSM is more like a general charity than a limited hobby group. And as
far as I know no foreign NGO can get to the list.

Btw, what is situation in Germany or UK - does company need to pay some
extra taxes if it gives money (or other support) to a NGO? If company anyway
needs to pay corporate income tax, then maybe there is just no need for the
extra taxing of donations.

Jaak