The Tax and Customs Administration states on its website that the recently published Payroll Tax Newsletter contains a minor error: the amounts under the volunteer scheme will in fact be increased for 2023. This will be corrected in the new version of the newsletter, which is due to be published in mid-December.
Volunteer
For the purposes of payroll tax, a volunteer is someone who does not carry out the work as a profession. The allowances and benefits in kind received are not proportionate to the time spent on the work carried out. This is certainly the case where the total of the allowances and benefits in kind per hour does not exceed €5 (for volunteers aged 23 or under: €2.75). These amounts will remain unchanged in 2023.
Organisation
The volunteer scheme may only be applied by:
- an ANBI (organisation serving the public interest);
- a sports organisation;
- an entity not belonging to either of the previous two categories, which is not subject to corporation tax or is exempt.
Commercial entities that do not qualify as sports organisations are therefore not permitted to apply the volunteer scheme.
Maximum
Where the volunteer scheme is applied, the total amount of allowances and benefits in kind paid to the volunteer must not exceed:
- €1,900 per year (until 2022: €1,800);
- €190 per month (until the end of 2022: €180).
These amounts apply for the purposes of payroll tax. Volunteers do not need to include the volunteer allowance in their income tax return if the total of all volunteer allowances and benefits in kind received in a year remains below the amounts set out above (example: a volunteer who receives €1,900 from two organisations must include this €3,800 in income on their income tax return).