Claiming a lump sum for voluntary work

If you do voluntary work, you can earn tax-free income up to a certain amount. Find out more here.

If you carry out an activity in the service of or on behalf of a tax-privileged corporation (e.g. association or foundation) or a legal entity under public law (e.g. local authority, state, federal government) that does not meet the requirements for the exercise leader allowance, the income up to an amount of EUR 840.00 (until December 31, 2020: 720.00 euros) per year are tax-free (lump sum for voluntary work).

Beneficiary activities include:

• Board member, treasurer
• grounds or equipment manager
• Office worker
• Cleaner

The following are not beneficiaries

• Amateur athletes
• Helpers at the club festival
• Helpers with the collection of old materials

If you have general questions on the subject of taxes, you can call the service hotline of the State of Hesse free of charge on 0800 522 533 5 (Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.). Please note that the service hotline is not permitted to provide tax advice. Furthermore, it is not possible to deal with specific individual cases. If you have any questions about your personal tax return (e.g. queries about your tax assessment notice), please contact the tax office responsible for you.

You can find out which tax office is responsible for you below.

In addition, the client (association, foundation, legal entity under public law) must be informed about the possible income tax consequences of claiming the lump sum for voluntary work. If you have any questions in this regard, the tax office responsible for the client can also help.

You are engaged in one of the above-mentioned favored secondary activities

• in the service of a legal entity under public law or
• for a tax-privileged corporation (e.g. association or foundation) for the promotion of charitable, benevolent or ecclesiastical purposes

The activities must directly serve charitable, benevolent or ecclesiastical purposes. In the case of tax-privileged corporations, tax exemption is therefore granted for activities in the non-material area and as part of a special-purpose business.

In contrast, tax exemption is not available for activities in taxable commercial operations (e.g. club festivals). The activities carried out there serve only indirectly (via the forwarding of income) to realize charitable, benevolent or ecclesiastical purposes.

Note: An activity is carried out on a part-time basis if it does not take up more than a third of a comparable full-time job.

Claiming the lump sum for voluntary work and exercise leaders

You can only claim the lump-sum allowance for voluntary work and the lump-sum allowance for exercise leaders in parallel if they are 2 different activities (with the same or different corporate bodies). These activities must

• be carried out on a part-time basis,
• be separable from each other,
• be remunerated separately,
• be clearly regulated and
• actually be carried out.

You can claim the lump sum for voluntary work in your income tax return. If you carry out the activity in question as part of an employment relationship, the lump sum can already be taken into account in the wage tax deduction procedure.