Donations to charities, NGO's to be exempted from VAT

(Photo credit: HowardLake)

Donations of food, medication, clothes and other items to charities and nonprofits are now going to be exempted from Value Added Tax (VAT), Greek government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou said following the tabling of a regulation in Parliament. He noted that the obligation up to now to pay VAT on gifts to aid vulnerable segments of society deterred many companies from giving gifts, having them choose instead to destroy items that could be donated.

The Greek spokesman added that under the regulation products that were removed from shelves or not sold for various reasons - such as damaged packaging, company recall or proximity to expiration date - could also be distributed without VAT.

Prior to the move, the European legislation was consulted and solutions provided by other EU member-states were reviewed, he stressed.

     "This will provide an incentive to companies to offer them to philanthropy and nonprofits so that these products end up with our fellow citizens who truly need them, instead of being destroyed by companies," he stressed.