Around €305 million was donated to charities through people's last wills in Flanders last year – slightly more than the year before, when around €295 million was donated, figures by Flemish Finance Minister Mathias Diependaele showed.
The amount of money donated to charity in 2022 was at the same level as in 2017 and 2018 again, when the duo legacy (which allows you to reduce the tax burden on your next of kin by donating to charity) was still in place. But in 2021, that scheme was abolished.
"We found that this scheme was mainly used by wealthy people as a tax planning technique," Diependaele said. "There were fears that charities would receive less revenue as a result, but these fears now appear to be unfounded based on our 2022 figures."
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"We have already set the rate of donations and bequests to charities at 0% this legislature. In this way, we want to continue to encourage the social added value of supporting charities," Diependaele said.
Still, the 2022 figure is below the 2019 and 2020 figures, when donations of up to almost €400 million were made, still under the duo legate system. But according to Diependaele, the boost in 2020 is also partly explained by Covid-19 excess deaths.
