On Tuesday 17 November Minister of Finance, Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V), announced that companies that want to donate their surplus or non-calibrated products to charities or Food Banks will be able to deduct for tax purposes the costs associated with these operations (transport costs, …).
With this measure, the government wants to encourage donations to Food Banks and charities, which are in great demand this year due to the current crisis. This new decision of the government could help them to face the shortage of food. Watch the reportage from Belgian TV here.
At the moment, it is often more financially advantageous for a retailer to throw away his surpluses than to donate them.
“The costs related to donations, such as transport costs for example, are in fact borne by the donor“, explains Dominique Michel (Comeos, Belgian Federation for Commerce and Services). “Not long ago, I was in contact with a trader who had to destroy thousands of pants because it cost him more to give them away“.
To avoid such a situation, the government therefore intends to make these expenses tax deductible. This advantage comes on top of the VAT recovery measure introduced several years ago.
Original article (in French) here.
