FAQ employees

1. What is Payroll Giving?

With Payroll Giving you give a monthly donation to charities of your choice, straight from your paycheck. 100% of your donation goes to your charities. Did you know that you can also get a tax benefit? This way it costs less to give more and together we can make even more impact!

2. How can I sign up?

Payroll Giving is facilitated through your employer. Does your employer already offer Payroll Giving? Ask your HR department and they will give you the link to sign up. Applying takes you only 5 minutes!

1. Choose your charities, your amount and donation type
2. Fill in your personal details and activate your donation
3. Your donation will be deducted directly from your monthly pay
4. Each year, you will receive your tax benefit - we'll help you with that!

3. What is the minimum donation I can make?

A minimum donation amount of €1 applies per charity. Do you want to support one charity? Then you can give from €1 per month. Do you want to support two or three charities? Then the minimum donation starts at €2 or €3 per month.

4. What are the advantages of Payroll Giving compared to donating yourself directly?

The benefits are:

Easy and fast: You can arrange your donation online within 5 minutes. Do you want to change or cancel? You can easily do this in a few clicks in your own dashboard, after which your change will take effect the following month. You are in control!
With Payroll Giving, the administration costs are paid by an investor or your employer, and the charity has no fundraising costs. This way, nothing of your donation will be lost and the charity can use 100% of your donation for their activities. Charities are very happy about this!
Enter your donation when you file your income tax return and receive your tax benefit afterwards! To be eligible for a tax benefit, you must pay Dutch income tax. We ensure that all documentation is ready, and help you with a reminder and a brief instruction.
The charity will only send you information if you have given permission for this. In addition, the charity will never ask you to increase your donation.
Together we make more impact, because Payroll Giving is not only offered to you but also to your colleagues.
Employers have the option of matching donations. This means that your employer can double or add on a percentage of your donation, so that together you can make even more impact!

5. What do the different Payroll Giving types entail?

You can choose between Max Flex and Max Impact. Read more about this by clicking on this link.

6. What if I choose Max Impact and then leave my employer within 5 years?

You will then receive an email from us at your private email address with the following three options:

Continue your Payroll Giving donation with a new employer: Are you starting with a new employer and do you want to continue your Payroll Giving donation there? Let us know! This is free of charge for your new employer.
Continue your donation outside of your salary: You can do this by setting up a monthly transfer yourself. You will receive the correct details from us for this.
Cancel your donation: Are you doing this within 5 calendar years? Then it is good to know that, by ending your donation early, your tax benefit belonging to Max Impact will expire. Also retroactively. This means that you only retain the right to tax benefit on all your Payroll Giving donations made on the part above 1% of your gross salary, and no longer on every euro donated.

7. How can I cancel my donation?

You can easily do this in a few clicks in your own dashboard. Your donation will stop the following month. Log in on platform.thesocialhandshake.com/werknemers.

8. Does 100% of my donation go to charity?

Absolutely! Normally charities pay fundraising costs, which means they have to pay a lot to recruit you as a donor, for example through campaigns or street fundraising. With Payroll Giving, the charity has no fundraising costs and the administration costs are paid by an investor or your employer. In this way The Social Handshake can make Payroll Giving technically, legally and administratively possible. So none of your donation is lost and the charity can use 100% of your donation for their activities.

9. How do I know that the money is being well spent?

Only charities with ANBI status can participate in Payroll Giving. This means that the charities serve the public interest with 90% of their activities, are not profit-making and meet certain integrity requirements. In addition, our larger charities have the CBF quality mark. The CBF has strict quality requirements, so that you can be sure that your donation contributes to a better world.

10. Will I be kept informed of what is happening with my money?

When registering, you can indicate whether you want to be kept informed by email about the developments and results of your charity. After your registration you can adjust this preference in your Payroll Giving dashboard. Or you can unsubscribe directly from your charity's newsletter by clicking on the unsubscribe link in any emails you receive.

11. How do you handle my personal data?

We believe privacy is important and we handle your personal data with the utmost care. We only process your personal data when it is necessary to facilitate the donation between you and your chosen charity. The salary administration of your employer can, for example, see how much your donation is each month. However, your employer may not share this information with third parties and cannot see which charity your donation is going to. Read more about this in our Privacy Policy (in Dutch).

12. Is my donation deducted from my gross or net salary?

Your donation is deducted from your net monthly salary. For example, if you donate €26 per month to charity, you will receive €26 less salary in your account than before. The following year you can receive part of this amount back as a tax benefit, if you pay Dutch income tax. This way, your donation of €26, for example, will ultimately cost you only €16 per month! Do you want to know how this works? Then read the answer to the question below.

13. How much tax benefit can I get back?

You pay Dutch income tax every month on your gross income. However, donations to charities require less or no tax. Because you paid too much tax on your donation every month, you will receive a refund of this overpaid tax in the following year. Suppose you give €26 per month this year. Then next year you can get €120 back (€10 per month), while the charity has still received €26 per month! The tax authorities therefore contribute to your donation, so that it costs you less to give more to charities.

14. How can I get my tax benefit back?

To be eligible for a tax benefit, you must pay Dutch income tax. All you have to do is enter your annual donation amount in your annual tax return. We will send you a reminder at the beginning of the year with brief instructions on how to do this, so that you easily know what to fill in where. Before the summer, you will receive your tax benefit back from the previous year!