Art helps compatriots: the artist received volunteer status and avoided double taxation

Publication date: June 8, 2023

The Ukrainian artist, who conducts master classes in Denmark, directs the proceeds to charity, and also personally helps shelters and the elderly in Zhytomyr oblast, was able to obtain the status of a volunteer, correctly pay taxes abroad and avoid double taxation. She got help from a paralegal of the NGO “Ukrainian Paralegal Association”.

– We met Daria in October 2022. She said that she lives in Denmark, and with the beginning of the full-scale invasion, she started volunteering in support of Ukraine, says Maryna Tsarapaieva, a paralegal of the NGO “Ukrainian Paralegal Association” in the Semeniv community of Zhytomyr oblast.

The artist Daria Kondratska, originally from the village of Kykyshivka, Berdychiv district, Zhytomyr oblast, began to help her compatriots from her Semeniv community from the very beginning of the full-scale invasion.

• When full-scale war broke out, my dad and uncle volunteered to defend the country. I also decided to help in any way I could. As I am an artist, and my main activity in Denmark, where I have lived for six years, has been art, I have decided to donate all my previous works, as well as some new ones that I have created since the beginning of the war. Therefore, I sold all my paintings and went to Ukraine to help with the collected funds. On May 1, 2022, I was already in the Motherland. Then I started volunteering. My main donation went to the animal shelter and the elderly who need it. Later, in order to continue helping, I started holding painting workshops in Denmark and continued visiting Zhytomyr oblast to take aid to the shelter, says Daria.

The paralegal heard such a story from Daria Kondratska when the artist turned to her for advice while she was once again in Ukraine. She said that in the middle of 2022, she received a letter from Tax Denmark regarding her volunteer activities. In particular, the letter contained the question of whether she has the status of a volunteer in Ukraine. The Danish tax office also focused on the fact that Daria must pay tax from the collected funds after the end of the year, if she does not confirm her volunteer status (that is, submit a declaration in Denmark and pay tax).

Therefore, the artist turned to the paralegal for clarification and at the same time to the village council regarding the issuance of a certificate of her volunteering.

• After studying the provisions of the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding exemption from paying income taxes, I advised Daria to submit documents for her entry into the Register of Volunteers of Ukraine and provide this information to the Danish tax authorities. I helped her fill out an application for the tax office, to which we attached copies of her passport and identification code, as well as a certificate from the bank where the funds that the artist spends on charitable activities go, explains Maryna Tsarapaieva.

Daria submitted a package of documents and a few days later received a letter from the Ukrainian tax office about entering her into the Register of Volunteers. The letter was translated into Danish, and upon her return to Denmark, the Ukrainian gave it to the local tax authorities.

The artist turned to the paralegal for the second time already in April 2023, when the State Tax Service of Ukraine published a public clarification regarding the annual reporting of volunteers: by May 1, it was necessary to submit the annual income declaration for 2022 and indicate the received financial assistance, which the person spent on charitable activity. So, Daria had a question: how to properly submit such a declaration?

• At this stage, I provided the volunteer with information about her tax obligations and how to avoid double taxation, adds Maryna Tsarapaieva.

Thus, both of Daria’s issues were resolved professionally and promptly, even without the involvement of a lawyer.

The material was created with the support of the international charity platform GlobalGiving and the Legal Empowerment Fund (Fund for Global Human Rights program) and the Legal Development Network. The content of the publication is solely the responsibility of the Legal Development Network and does not necessarily reflect the views of the previously mentioned organizations.

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