{"id":1634,"date":"2025-08-20T09:29:36","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T07:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/uncategorized\/financien-verduidelijkt-beleid-inzake-anbis\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T10:34:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:34:58","slug":"finance-clarifies-policy-on-anbis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/financien-verduidelijkt-beleid-inzake-anbis\/","title":{"rendered":"Finance clarifies policy on ANBIs"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the ANBI decision<\/a> the State Secretary of Finance has clarified some aspects regarding ANBI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ANBI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An ANBI is a public benefit organisation. ANBIs are subject to an unlimited exemption in scope under both inheritance and gift tax. Donations by an ANBI are also subject to an unlimited exemption under gift tax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, donations to ANBIs are deductible as (periodic) donations for income tax purposes, provided the other conditions set for that deduction are met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crowdfunding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Or an institution acting as crowdfunder<\/strong> opt qualifies as an ANBI must be considered on a case-by-case basis. The following factors come into play for this, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Is there a clear, sufficiently concrete own general useful purpose?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Does the institution apply strict criteria to meet that own public benefit objective?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • What safeguards does the institution have in place for this?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Are donations paid through in tranches?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • To what extent does the institution exercise control over the progress of funded projects?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Does ex-post evaluation take place and any associated repayment obligation?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The crowdfunder is distinguished from the counter<\/strong>. A pure counter institution does no more than receive and pass on donations. Such an institution does not meet the public benefit requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is in contrast to the support foundation<\/strong>, which collects funds for the realisation of its own public benefit objective, being the support of one (or more) ANBI(s). The decree explains that public benefit also means supporting an ANBI financially or otherwise. A combination of its own public benefit purposes and supporting (other) ANBIs also qualifies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Welfare<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWelfare\u201d is seen as public benefit. However, institutions engaged in providing recreation and entertainment and\/or personal development focus on the private interest of the participants in the activities and contribute to public benefit only indirectly. Such welfare institutions therefore do not qualify as ANBI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If the activities are aimed at a specific vulnerable (target) group, where the activities are aimed at eliminating that vulnerability, it is more likely to be for the public benefit. The decision gives as an example: \u201corganising outings for elderly people and people with illnesses or disabilities who can no longer get out of their homes or nursing environments without supervision and are therefore socially isolated.\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Spending criterion (anti-oppo requirement)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    An ANBI may not hold more assets than are reasonably necessary for the continuity of its anticipated activities. In the first instance, it is up to the institution to decide how much capital to hold, but this must be well justified. This justification must, for each separate reserve held by the ANBI, be stated in the ANBI's financial records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The decision cites the following reserves as examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Continuity reserve work organisation<\/strong>: to form a buffer for fluctuations in income. This reserve may amount to 1.5 times the average cost level of the ANBI's own work organisation in the previous 3 years. A higher reserve may be maintained, provided the need for it is sufficiently substantiated in the ANBI's financial records.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Provisional work reserve<\/strong>: if there are concrete intended activities that will take place within a reasonable timeframe. The ANBI must substantiate this in its financial records with a description of concrete projects and amounts. A period of 2 years is in principle considered a reasonable time frame.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Stamina<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      An endowment asset exists if the donor or testator has attached the condition to the acquisition by the ANBI that the obtained assets must be maintained (has set a spending limitation). An ANBI cannot itself designate assets as core capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      If there is a conservation requirement set by the donor or testator, the anti-oppo requirement is applied with respect to the return achieved with the tribal assets. This return includes not only dividends, rents, leases and interest received, but also (un)realised price or other increases in value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Unrealised increases in value need not be taken into account if the conservation requirement established by the donor or testator relates to the asset itself (not to the monetary value of the asset). If the conservation requirement does not relate to a monetary amount or securities portfolio, it is assumed - unless the wording by the donor or testator indicates otherwise - that the obligation relates to the asset itself (and unrealised increases in value do not have to be taken into account for the anti-oppoition requirement). The decree does note that in all cases, the ANBI must meet the condition that it must sufficiently carry out generally useful activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The returns, after deducting management costs, any indexation and permissible reserves, must be spent on the ANBI's public benefit purpose within a reasonable period of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      A fixed spending percentage violates the spending criterion. However, the decree approves ANBIs to use a fixed spending percentage, provided it matches the average return over the previous 5 years and (projected) the next 2 years. This requires an annual (re)assessment of the fixed spending percentage, but adjustment is only required if that assessment results in a deviation of 30% or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Tribal assets may be indexed if this is done on the express condition of the donor or testator. If the ANBI deviates from the Dutch consumer index in doing so, the ANBI must substantiate this. Indexation is not an issue when the conservation obligation relates to individual assets, rather than their monetary value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      A specific rule applies if tribal assets already existed before 1 January 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Commercial activities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      The fact that an ANBI carries out commercial activities does not have to preclude its ANBI status. The decree explains this with the following example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u201cA foundation classified as a cultural institution operates a museum. To cover the costs of the museum (e.g. maintenance and restoration of the collection), the foundation acquires income in various ways. For instance, a museum shop and a catering facility are also operated within the foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The museum activity qualifies as a generally useful activity as it fulfils\/promotes the objective of the foundation. The balance of income and expenses related to this generally useful activity, together with any other generally useful activities, may not be positive on balance.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The shop and catering establishment do not achieve\/promote the objective of the foundation in terms of content (i.e. not generally useful activities). However, these activities are necessary to finance the general useful activities and can therefore in principle qualify as commercial (fundraising) activities. The performance of commercial (fundraising) activities does not prevent an institution from obtaining or retaining ANBI status provided the income from these activities is (almost) entirely for the benefit of the ANBI's general useful purpose and the institution otherwise meets all further ANBI requirements.\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Commercial rates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      Commercial activities occur when services are performed at commercial rates. These are rates that are higher than the integral cost price of the services rendered or goods supplied. The decree formulates the following principles for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      • No allowance should be made for notional volunteer costs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Whether an allocation to a provision may be taken into account depends on the purpose for which the provision was created and whether there is a sufficient causal link to the general useful activity in question.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Depreciation may be taken into account if the asset is used for the general useful activity in question.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • No allowance may be made for an addition to an accepted reserve (see above).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • If expenditure fits within the institution's public benefit objective, support expenditure from other ANBIs may be taken into account.<\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        In het Besluit ANBI heeft de Staatssecretaris van Financi\u00ebn een aantal aspecten omtrent de ANBI verduidelijkt. ANBI Een ANBI is een algemeen nut beogende instelling. Voor ANBI’s geldt een in omvang onbeperkte vrijstelling in het kader van zowel de erf- als de schenkbelasting. Ook voor schenking door een ANBI geldt een onbeperkte vrijstelling in het […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1634"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3646,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions\/3646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vwg.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}