Add the tax exemption notice

In the Tax exemption notice step, you upload your community's current tax exemption notice (Freistellungsbescheid) and enter its details. They later appear on every donation receipt (Zuwendungsbestätigung). Our team reviews the notice and then confirms your community's charitable status (Steuerbegünstigung).

Tax exemption notice or notice of determination

At the top, choose which notice you have:

The two notices lead to different sentences on the donation receipt. So choose exactly the notice you're uploading. The Studio no longer accepts a “provisional certificate” (vorläufige Bescheinigung) from the tax office.

If your notice of determination names a later year from which the tax exemption applies, enter it under Tax exemption from (year). The Studio then won't issue receipts for donations made before that year, because the tax office wouldn't recognise them.

How it works

1. 1Step 1:
   Click Upload and choose the notice as a PDF or photo of up to 10 MB. The Studio uploads the file straight away.
2. 2Step 2:
   Enter the Tax office (Finanzamt), for example “Köln-Altstadt”.
3. 3Step 3:
   Enter the Tax number (Steuernummer) exactly as it appears on the notice, for example 214/5678/0912.
4. 4Step 4:
   Choose the Date of notice.
5. 5Step 5:
   For a tax exemption notice, enter the years it covers under Period, for example 2021 to 2023. For a notice of determination, this field doesn't apply.
6. 6Step 6:
   Under Tax-privileged purposes (steuerbegünstigte Zwecke), choose the purposes from your notice, for example “der Religion” (religion). If a purpose is missing, add it in German with Custom wording. Below, you'll see the sentence as it appears on the receipt, which means in German.
7. 7Step 7:
   Click Continue.

Until when receipts are possible

Below the details, it says “Receipts possible until” with a date. That's five years after the date of the tax exemption notice, or three years after it for a notice of determination. After that, the Studio stops issuing donation receipts until you add a new notice. 60 days beforehand, the setup guide reminds you with “Renew the tax exemption notice”. The Studio doesn't accept an older notice.

Confirmation by our team

Next to the deadline, the Studio shows where things stand with your charitable status:

Who can do this

Only “Owner” and “Finance” can maintain the tax exemption notice, and only once your community has been activated.