On 17 August 2026 the Estonian Tax and Customs Board decided to enter School Aid MTÜ in the national list of non-profit associations, foundations and religious associations benefiting from income tax incentives. The decision carries reference 12.2-6/00115-2. Entry takes effect on 1 September 2026.
It is the most consequential thing that has happened to this charity on paper, and it is worth explaining properly rather than announcing and moving on.
What the decision actually says. Four lines, in Estonian, and no more than that: “Maksu- ja Tolliamet (Lõõtsa 8a, 15176 Tallinn; MTA) kannab School Aid MTÜ (registrikood 80646408) tulumaksusoodustusega mittetulundusühingute, sihtasutuste ja usuliste ühenduste nimekirja alates 01.09.2026.” — the Tax and Customs Board enters School Aid MTÜ in the list with effect from 1 September 2026. It was signed by Anastassia Saar, Lead Tax Auditor. The legal basis given is the Income Tax Act § 11, subsections 2, 8 and 9. No conditions are attached and no reservations are recorded.
Who decides this, and what they actually checked. This is not an award, and nobody applied for it on our behalf. The list is a statutory register maintained by Estonia’s tax authority, currently holding some 2,837 organisations. Entry requires an association to satisfy six cumulative conditions in § 11(2) of the Income Tax Act: that it operates in the public interest rather than for a narrow group; that it is charitable, giving goods or services mainly free of charge; that it distributes nothing to its founders, members, board or recent donors; that its constitution directs residual assets on dissolution to another listed body; that its administrative costs are proportionate to its activity; and that nobody it pays is paid above the market rate for that work. One failure is enough to refuse the application.
It was not a formality. We filed the application on 20 July 2026. Four days later the Tax and Customs Board came back with eight clarifying questions — on what our charitable activity consists of, what we have actually delivered, who benefits, who our target group is, what outcome we are pursuing, which partners we need, what benefits flow to whom, and why we want to be on the list at all. We answered all eight in Estonian on 27 July, digitally signed, inside the deadline. The decision followed on 17 August: 28 days from application to decision, against a statutory limit of 30.
If you are an Estonian resident taxpayer. From 1 September 2026 you may deduct gifts to School Aid from your taxable income. Two limits apply and both matter: the deduction is capped at €1,200 a year — a ceiling you share with your own training expenses under § 26 — and it cannot exceed 50% of your taxable income for the year. You do not need to keep receipts or fill anything in. We file declaration form INF 4 each year by 1 February, and the Tax and Customs Board pre-fills your return from it. Please do check your own position with the Tax and Customs Board or your accountant rather than relying on this page.
If you are an Estonian company. From the same date you may give to School Aid within the tax-exempt limits in § 49 — up to 3% of the payroll on which you paid social tax, or 10% of your previous financial year’s profit, whichever suits you better. For companies with retired laptops or tablets, this is the route that makes an equipment donation efficient as well as useful. Our refurbished IT programme exists precisely for that.
What it changes for the charity itself. Rather more than most people would guess. Off the list, an Estonian association handing equipment to a beneficiary is, by default, making a taxable gift under § 49(1). On the list, the handovers that are the entire point of this organisation fall within the exemptions in § 49(6). It also lifts a real constraint on volunteering: unlisted, an association may cover volunteers’ food, transport and lodging only up to €50 a month; listed, it may meet those costs without limit. Our missions run on volunteers who pay their own way into the mountains. That change is not abstract to us.
What it does not mean, stated plainly. It is not a rating, a prize, or anybody’s assessment of how good our work is. It is a compliance status, and it is a door rather than a room — the same distinction we drew when Goodstack verified us. It does not make gifts from outside Estonia deductible: we still cannot offer UK Gift Aid or a US 501(c)(3) receipt, and we are not going to imply otherwise. And the date is a real date, not a formality — gifts made before 1 September 2026 fall outside the relief, because entry takes effect on the first day of the month following the decision.
We are not on the published list yet, and we are not going to pretend we are. The Tax and Customs Board publishes the list as a PDF on its own website. The current version is dated 31 July 2026, which is before our decision, so School Aid does not appear on it. We will appear in the version published on or after 1 September. Until then, the decision document is the evidence, and we are happy to send it to any donor, funder or partner who asks.
What it costs us, since nothing is free. Staying on the list means filing form INF 4 by 1 February and form INF 9 by 1 July every year, on top of our annual report to the Business Register. Repeated failure to file is a ground for removal. We would rather publish that obligation than have it discovered later — the whole argument of this website is that a stranger should be able to check us instead of trusting us.
One thing we did not expect to be writing. Tax authorities are not usually thanked in public. But an application filed on 20 July, questioned on 24 July, answered on 27 July and decided on 17 August — through the case officer’s own annual leave — is a piece of public administration that deserves saying out loud. The questions we were asked were specific, fair and clearly aimed at establishing whether we are what we say we are. We have written to the officials concerned to thank them, which we suspect happens rarely enough to be worth doing.
Verify it yourself. School Aid MTÜ is Estonian register code 80646408. The list, the conditions for entry and the obligations of listed associations are all published by the Tax and Customs Board. We would rather you checked than took our word for it.
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