The EFC and TGE have launched a study that offers recommendations and ideas which could potentially ease tax-effective cross-border philanthropy in Europe. “Boosting cross-border philanthropy in Europe – Towards a tax-effective environment” aims to highlight good and bad existing practice and to develop recommendations which could lead to a simplification of the procedures for implementation of the non-discrimination principle. Tax experts from across Europe contributed to the publication.
Cross-border philanthropy in Europe is growing. Philanthropic organisations are both investing more across national boundaries as part of their asset management strategy, and individual and corporate donors are increasing their philanthropic giving outside of their home countries.
But the fiscal environment for cross-border philanthropy, even within the European Union, is still far from satisfactory. Although the EU’s non-discrimination principle, which applies to philanthropy, some legislators and authorities still discriminate against comparable foreign EU-based philanthropic players. And processes to gain equal treatment – where they are indeed available – are burdensome, lengthy and costly.
This paper is not an academic paper but rather a practitioner-driven view on the matter, which will need to be further developed and discussed with fiscal experts and policymakers in the field of philanthropy taxation. The paper is hence a recommended read for legislators and authorities, as well as for philanthropists and the wider non-profit sector.
The publication was presented to Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament, and will feature at the EFC’s annual conference set for 31 May-2 June in Warsaw. The analysis and recommendations contained in this publication follow on from a joint EFC-TGE study released in 2014, “Taxation of cross-border philanthropy in Europe after Persche and Stauffer – From landlock to free movement?”.
For more information, please contact Hanna Surmatz at [email protected].
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Boosting cross-border philanthropy across Europe