How to achieve tax-deductable donations in Belgium

[Jelle Hermsen]

You're welcome :).

> I'm not sure on one specific point: can you explain this sentence a bit
> more:
> "spending no more than 20 percent of its means of subsistence of any
> kind to cover the costs for the general management, in advance
> compensated for subsistence that comes from other recognized
> organizations"

This part caused quite a headache to translate, but I'll explain what it
means. I think a better word for subsistence would have been "means of
existence". For a human being this would mean the costs for food, housing,
clothes, and I guess for an organization it means everything you'll need
to keep the foundation running smoothly, i.e. office rental, coffee :-),
private jets, cleaning, pretty much everything you spend that doesn't
directly go towards the charitable goal of the organization. I think I
have translated "general management" a bit too literal, because with the
general management they don't actually mean those people in suits, but the
stuff you have to do make sure you have all the basics in place, necessary
to do all the work that's actually needed to conquer the world, uhm, I
mean, promote Free Software and Open Standards.
With the 20 percent they'll probably want to make sure you don't have too
much overhead, so donations actually end up at the right place.

> Besides the "in advance compensated" part, which I'm not sure I
> understand what it means, I would be interested whether there is an
> useful definition of "costs for the general management".

Again, this part caused me to make another cup of tea. What they meant
with "in advance compensated" probably doesn't apply to the FSFE. I think
this part applies only when you have a group of multiple charitable
organizations working together. So when you work together with another
organization that has the official Belgian charitable "stamp of approval"
and they help you with your basic expenses (the 20 percent), you'll have
to subtract that help in advance. This is again to make sure you don't
create some sneaky construction that will make less money go towards the
charitable cause itself.

I hope this clarifies your questions (and my lousy translations).

Cheerio,
Jelle

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