State to return VAT to NGOs for last year’s SMS aid messages
State to return VAT to NGOs for last year’s SMS aid messages
The state will return non-profit organisations the tax money from humanitarian aid collected through SMS messages sent from January 1 to September 30 last year under the proposal by Justice Minister Pavel Nemec approved by the government today.
“As of January 1, the new system took effect based on the agreement between the mobile telephone operators and non- governmental organisations, under which no VAT will be imposed on humanitarian aid,” Nemec said after a cabinet meeting.
The tax money will be returned to humanitarian organisations that are entitled to receiving at least 50,000 crowns. The total sum that will be returned by the state will be 2.66 million crowns.
The idea of collecting money for humanitarian purposes through aid SMSs appeared in the Czech Republic. More than 4 million such SMS messages have been sent by Czechs since April 2004 in support of various humanitarian projects.
More: ceskenoviny.cz