BERLIN, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- The German Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) ruled on Tuesday that the alter-globalization activist group Attac should have its non-profit status withdrawn due to its "generally political activity".
The BFH came to the conclusion that Attac's campaigns do not count as charitable political educational work. BFH President Rudolf Mellinghoff explained that the focus of non-profit organizations should be on non-profit purposes and not on political campaigns.
The BFH stressed that the decision is not connected to the political content of Attac's campaigns but is based on the question of whether Attac's "generally political activity" could be compatible with its non-profit character.
Dirk Friedrichs, member of Attac's coordination group, said the decision "is a devastating signal for the entire critical civil society in Germany". His colleague, Stephanie Handtmann, added that the non-profit law must not be allowed to "degenerate into an instrument for restricting civil society organizations."
Attac is not the only NGO in Germany that lost or was denied non-profit status. A 2018 study by the Otto Brenner Foundation (OBS) looked at over 400 tax offices to determine whether the German non-profit law was applied uniformly. The results showed "politically charged requests" were often rejected or declared inappropriate for non-profit purposes by the responsible German tax authorities.
Attac's non-profit status in Germany has been under discussion since 2014, when the tax office in Frankfurt denied the association its non-profit status because it was "too political". The first instance finance court in the German federal state of Hessen ruled in favor of the Attac in 2016. Two years later, however, Germany's finance ministry instructed the court in Frankfurt to have the case revised by the highest finance court in Munich.
Non-profit status affects the tax status of organizations in Germany, most notably by allowing donors to deduct contributions from their tax bill.
The ongoing legal dispute meant that for several years, donations to Attac were not tax-deductible.
