Fund
Lawyer office Kelleners and Аlbert
The short historical inquiry on Funds
From the historical point of view, German Funds are stability islets in our traditionally instable country. The well-known churches and castles of Germany are the proof of the early activity of funds. Fund "Bürgespital" in the city of Vemdige, in Bavaria was based in 10 century AD On a verge of 13 century when Eastern Roman Empire tried to influence the development of the German state, the social structure changes and there was an active urbanization of the country.
Funds became especially attractive during the change of usages, or disintegration of the states. It had to do with their acting as a mean of the public integration. Directly after the 30-years-old the Frankijsky Union of Funds was based in Halle, and after the disintegration of Old Empire the Shtedelsky Institute of Art was built.
After the First and the Second World Wars new Funds weren't created in Germany for some time. The hyperinflation of the year 1923, domination of nationalists, so-called «hour- zero» in 1945, and communistic domination in GDR had negatively affected and activity of existing Funds. The property of Funds had been confiscated, their leaders had been destroyed, and there were also other methods of negative influence on the organizations.
New Funds have been built in the beginning of the 50-s', at first only in the Western Germany. In East Germany the first post-war Fund has been organized already in the nineties. Changes of German laws, in a combination to deep public discussion about the purpose of Funds, made it possible that within one year came so many new funds like during the decade before. Important change was the fact that not only private persons, but also the enterprises, the unions, trade unions, banks etc. have begun to reflect on opening of Funds.
Legal bases
Funds can represent themselves as legal bodies (full Funds of the civil, or the Funds of public right), can carry out their activity under the control of a board of guardians (dependent Fund) as well.
Unlike the organizations which are based on membership dues, or from what have users, independent Funds have Property and work for interests of a certain group of persons. In the tax plan, Funds are considered as the tax subject, and are the object of the taxation. The Fund which activity is recognized as socially useful could be an exception. Funds can serve any legal purpose, which doesn't harm public utility (that it it is necessary to distinguish from public utility in understanding of tax departments) (§80 Abs. 2 BGB).
Rules of behavior of Funds at the federal and the regional levels, and especially the state tax policy, put to funds a number of conditions among which there is a very important one. The purposes of Funds should be registered so that their wide interpretation by officials is possible. This rule has been made for expansion of possibilities of development of Funds. Funds, meanwhile, aren't the commercial organizations; trade and participation in advertizing campaigns are forbidden.
The Fund founder transfers to the Trustee property which the Trustee operates for achievements of the purposes of Fund.
The purposes of Fund are fixed in the Charter which is a component of the contract with the Trustee. Often the Fund creates a board which solves questions of application of financial and other means of the Organization. External contacts are carried out by the Trustee.
The independent Fund is ruled on the basis of the civil code, and isn't the subject of a tax field. It isn't subject to obligatory control by officials. Tax exemption is carried out on the basis of filing of an application on recognition of public utility of the enterprise. The fund can be dismissed at any moment; the consent of officials to it isn't required.
