Logo on the poster: still a donation. Link to the website: already sponsorship
If your Swiss club puts a bank's logo on its poster, the bank's money stays a donation. If it adds a link to the bank's website, it becomes sponsorship. This is not a matter of interpretation but the published practice of the Swiss Federal Tax Administration. And the label decides the VAT, your backer's tax deduction and whether a promise made over the phone counts at all. Here are the 15 places where Swiss clubs show their backers, the check that classifies them and 12 letters for every case.
📄 Sponsorship request template: 12 letters in Word and PDF
The donation request here promises the donor something no other template collection mentions: explicitly no link. Depending on what you offer, you need a different letter: the sponsorship request with packages and benefits, the donation request with a neutral mention, the patron letter, the donation pledge for signature and the sponsorship agreement. Plus the follow-up, the thank-you and the renewal. The Word file is for filling in, the PDF for printing, and both come from the same text as the preview below. If a supplier lets your event down, there is the complaint letter.
12 templates for sponsorship, donations and patrons
Pick a template, fill in the fields, download as Word or PDF. No sign-up, no e-mail address.
The first request with something in return: logo on shirts, boards or the website with a link. Amount, benefit and VAT in one letter.
[Club / name] [Street, postcode, town] [Company] [Ms / Mr Name] [Street, postcode, town] [Place], [DD.MM.YYYY] Sponsorship request: [season / event / project] Dear [Ms / Mr Name], we are [Club / name] and we reach [e.g. 180 members, 1,200 spectators per home game]. For [season / event / project] we are looking for partners from the region who want to be visible with us, and we thought of you. For [CHF … / in kind] we offer an advertising package of your choice: Package · What you get · Amount [Main partner] · [logo on the shirts, mention at every home game] · [CHF …] [Partner] · [pitch-side board, logo with link on our website] · [CHF …] [Supporter] · [logo with link on our website] · [CHF …] VAT: [We are not registered for VAT. / Amounts include 8.1% VAT. / The advertising is excluded from VAT under Art. 21(2)(27) of the Swiss VAT Act.] We would be glad to present the project in a short meeting and look forward to your reply by [DD.MM.YYYY]. Kind regards, [name, role, phone, e-mail] [Club / name]
to fill in · to print
⚖️ Original templates by ConvivaPlus, checked against Swiss VAT law, the Federal Direct Tax Act, the Code of Obligations and the Tax Administration's practice. Not tax or legal advice.
🤝 Donation or sponsorship: the logo does not decide
The tax administration explained the difference with two posters. The first shows a regional bank with its logo: for the administration, that mention is not advertising, and the bank's money is a donation. The second shows a construction firm with its advertising slogan: that money is taxable, it is sponsorship. The law puts it in one clause: a contribution stays a donation if it is mentioned once or several times in a publication in a neutral form, even when the donor's company name or logo is used (VAT Act, Art. 3(i)(1), described, not an official translation).
Nothing in return except a neutral mention in a publication, even with a logo. No link, no slogan. For VAT purposes not consideration (VAT Act, Art. 18(2)(d)).
Contributions from passive members and patrons to associations are donations (Art. 3(i)(2)). A charitable organisation may grant patrons privileges if it states there is no entitlement to them.
Money or goods in exchange for advertising: link, slogan, shirt, boards, announcement, vehicle. Taxable at the standard rate if the club is registered for VAT, excluded for charitable organisations.
Neutral means, for the administration, without an advertising slogan. And it has to be a publication: festival programme, annual report, poster, newspaper, website. A shirt is not one, pitch-side boards are not, a loudspeaker announcement is not: there, the bare name is enough to make it sponsorship. Whether the backer gives money or goods makes no difference: equipment, drinks or prizes in exchange for advertising are sponsorship too.
Donation (VAT)
🧮 Sponsorship Check: 15 places, 7 consequences
In the annual report on a club's website, two companies appear one below the other, same logo, same size. A click on one of the two logos leads to the company's website. For the tax administration, the first is a donor and the second a sponsor. Same report, same page, same amount, and yet two worlds: one has made a donation, the other has bought advertising, with all that follows for VAT. The line is that fine, and it runs through every place where a club shows its backers. 7 of these 15 places leave a donation a donation, 8 make it sponsorship, and a link certainly changes 4 of 7 consequences. Tick where your backer should appear, and the check tells you which side of the line you are on, what you keep and which letter fits.
🤝 ConvivaPlus Sponsorship Check: place → donation, patron contribution or sponsorship
15 places, 7 consequences, each read against Swiss VAT law, the Direct Tax Act, the Code of Obligations or the Tax Administration's practice.
1 · Where should your backer appear?
2 · Do they pay as a patron or passive member?
3 · Is your club tax-exempt as a charitable organisation?
4 · Volunteer-run sports or cultural club, or charitable?
5 · Who is giving?
Turnover from supplies such as advertising or a food stall. Do not count donations, membership fees or excluded supplies. The previous year is what counts (VAT Act, Art. 14(3)).
Only for the deduction ceiling. Leave empty if unknown.
No advertising place ticked: the mention stays neutral.
- VAT
- not consideration, no VAT
- Counts towards the threshold
- no
- Club's input tax
- no reduction
- Deduction for a company
- no donation deduction
- Deduction for a private person
- no donation deduction
- Form of the pledge
- in writing (CO Art. 243)
- What the club may give back
- neutral mention, no slogan, no link
- VAT
- not consideration, no VAT
- Counts towards the threshold
- no
- Club's input tax
- no reduction
- Deduction for a company
- donation up to 20% of net profit
- Deduction for a private person
- from 100 francs, up to 20% of income
- Form of the pledge
- in writing (CO Art. 243)
- What the club may give back
- neutral mention, no slogan, no link
Matching template: Donation request to a company (neutral mention)
| Place | Label | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Programme, festival brochure | Donation | Publication, neutral mention: VAT Act Art. 3(i)(1) |
| Special print | Donation | Publication, neutral mention: VAT Act Art. 3(i)(1) |
| Annual report | Donation | Publication, neutral mention: VAT Act Art. 3(i)(1) |
| Newspaper, club magazine | Donation | Publication, neutral mention: VAT Act Art. 3(i)(1) |
| Poster | Donation | Publication, neutral mention: VAT Act Art. 3(i)(1) |
| Opening or closing credits of a film | Donation | Publication, neutral mention: VAT Act Art. 3(i)(1) |
| Website, without a link | Donation | Publication, neutral mention: VAT Act Art. 3(i)(1) |
| Link to the donor's website | Sponsorship | Advertising medium or service: Tax Administration, sector info 24, no. 15 |
| Mention with an advertising slogan | Sponsorship | Advertising medium or service: Tax Administration, sector info 24, no. 15 |
| Shirts, clothing | Sponsorship | Advertising medium or service: Tax Administration, sector info 24, no. 15 |
| Boards, advertising signs | Sponsorship | Advertising medium or service: Tax Administration, sector info 24, no. 15 |
| Scoreboard, game clock | Sponsorship | Advertising medium or service: Tax Administration, sector info 24, no. 15 |
| Vehicle | Sponsorship | Advertising medium or service: Tax Administration, sector info 24, no. 15 |
| Fan merchandise (scarf, pennant, umbrella) | Sponsorship | Advertising medium or service: Tax Administration, sector info 24, no. 15 |
| Loudspeaker announcement | Sponsorship | Advertising medium or service: Tax Administration, sector info 24, no. 15 |
⚖️ The check sorts what the law and administrative practice say. It does not decide any individual case and is not tax advice.
The check is a ConvivaPlus analysis of the law and the tax administration's published practice, read in the official versions. Its list of advertising media is expressly not exhaustive, and cantonal tax is not included. The check does not work out whether your club is charitable: your canton decides that, and "don't know" shows you both cases.
📜 Legal basis: VAT Act Art. 3(i)(j), 10, 14, 18, 21, 25, 27 · Direct Tax Act Art. 33a, 56, 59 · Code of Obligations Art. 11, 239, 243 · Tax Administration, VAT sector info 24, no. 9.9, 15, 16
places where a club shows its backer turn a donation into advertising under the Tax Administration's practice, even with just a name or logo. The others stay a donation as long as the mention is neutral.
🧾 Sponsorship and VAT: for most clubs, none at all
A volunteer-run sports club can sell CHF 249,999 of advertising a year without accounting for a single rappen of VAT, as long as it sells nothing else that is taxable. The old German version of this page claimed that sponsorship is in principle subject to VAT. For most clubs that is wrong. Four questions that come up on every committee, and what happens:
- 2002A football club
It named the members of its sponsors' association in every match programme, out of pure gratitude, as it put it. The court refused to split the money into an advertising fee and a donation share. Appeal dismissed, court fee CHF 10,000.
judgment 2A.175/2002, cons. 3.2 and 3.3 (in German)
- 2003Zurich Opera House
It argued that donors were only named in narrowly defined publications, without any addition. For the court, the link between the contribution and the advertising was obvious.
judgment 2A.43/2002, cons. 3.2 (in German)
- 2013A mountain railway association
It gave a winter sports club season passes at a quarter of the price, CHF 285, in exchange for its logo on clothing, vehicles and the website. The tax administration claimed CHF 74,367 in VAT. For the court, anyone who also wanted to donate should have written it into the contract.
judgment 2C_576/2013, facts and cons. 4.3 (in German)
All three cases were decided under the old law. The current wording of VAT Act Art. 3(i), which expressly treats a neutral mention in a publication, even with a logo, as a donation, has applied since 1 January 2018. The lesson stays: whatever is not in the contract, the tax administration presumes against you.
💚 Charitable organisation: advertising without VAT
A tax-exempt animal shelter can sell its sponsor a board covered in logos and owes no VAT on it. The non-exempt football club next door owes VAT on the same board once it is over the threshold. One word makes the difference: charitable. Three cases:
💸 Donation tax deduction: only for exempt recipients
The same CHF 5,000 from a garage: given to a tax-exempt Samaritan association it is deductible, given to a non-exempt gymnastics club not at all. So it is not your backer who decides whether they can deduct, but your club's exemption. This applies to federal tax; the cantons have their own rules, and the deduction goes into the tax return. Why donated time is not deductible at all: see tax relief for volunteering. Four cases:
🎟️ Patron contribution: a donation, even with privileges
A free ticket to the annual concert can turn a patron contribution into something given in return, or not. It depends on one sentence in the letter. A charitable organisation may grant its patrons privileges, and the contribution stays a donation if it tells them there is no entitlement to those privileges (VAT Act, Art. 3(i)(2), described). The patron letter here contains that sentence. For every association: contributions from passive members and patrons are donations. And for federal profit tax, membership fees are not profit, and profits below CHF 5,000 are not taxed at all (Direct Tax Act, Art. 66 and 71).
✍️ Donation pledge: not valid by word of mouth
The garage pledges CHF 2,000 on the phone, and three weeks later changes its mind. Legally, it promised nothing. Legally, a donation is a gift, and for that the law is short and blunt: a promise to make a gift is valid only in writing (Code of Obligations, described). The donation only counts once the money is paid. Sponsorship is the other way round: a handshake is enough, but only if the advertising matches the amount. A link for CHF 5,000 hardly does, and for the excess the written form applies again. That is why there is a sheet to sign.
📜 Legal basis: Code of Obligations Art. 11, 239(1), 243(1) and (3)
✉️ Writing to sponsors: what the letter needs
Of CHF 1,000 in sponsorship, a VAT-registered club keeps CHF 925.07 if the letter says "including VAT". That is why the VAT rate belongs in the first letter, not just on the invoice. The rest is craft: a name instead of "Dear Sir or Madam", your reach in figures, three packages instead of a plea, and a date by which you need an answer. And after the event, the thank-you, with evidence. To thank a sponsor for an invitation, the thank-you templates are ready.
⚠️ The mistakes that turn a donation into sponsorship
The first three turn a donation into sponsorship, the others cost money or the pledge.
Listing every backer with a link in the annual report. Under the administration's practice, the link is advertising.
Naming a donor with their advertising slogan. Neutral means without a slogan, even on a poster.
Printing the donor's name on the shirts and still calling it a donation. A shirt is not a publication but an advertising medium.
Accepting a donation pledge by phone without writing anything down. Without written form, the promise is not valid (CO Art. 243).
Promising a deduction although the club is not exempt as a charitable organisation.
Measuring the threshold on the till instead of on turnover from supplies. Donations and membership fees do not count.
Writing "CHF 1,000" in the letter without saying whether VAT is included or on top.
It is not the logo that turns a donation into sponsorship. It is the link.
🧭 The sponsorship request in five steps
From "what are we offering?" to the signed agreement.
Keep two lists in your annual report: Our sponsors, with logo and link, and Thank you for your support, with logo, no link and no slogan. It costs one heading and keeps every donation in the second list clean, for VAT and for the question of whether your donor may deduct it.
Where does your club show its backers today?
One click – anonymous, no sign-up required.
❓ Sponsorship questions
The questions that come before the letter, with the article or the Tax Administration passage behind each answer.
People also ask
Related questions from our magazine
Not in Switzerland. Donations to exempt organisations are deductible, donated time is not.
Tax relief for volunteering →Briefly, personally and with a reference to the event. More than a hundred templates in four tones are ready.
Thank you for the invitation →Facts, date, demand and deadline, in writing. The letter opens the door to the ombudsman.
Complaint letter →All information without guarantee. Found an error? → support@conviva-plus.ch
A company's logo on a club poster is a donation under Swiss tax practice. A link to its website turns the same contribution into sponsorship.
More templates
The letters around your club
Discussion
7 voices from the community
Ho mandato la lettera per il concerto del coro in italiano e in tedesco alla stessa banca. Mi hanno risposto in una settimana con un sì per la versione con il logo nel programma.
Mir hei dr Name vo üsem Houptsponsor ufs Trikot u i ds Programmheft ta. Ds Programmheft wär e Spende gsi, ds Trikot nid. Das hätt i nie dänkt.
Je trouve le check utile, mais attention : la question de l'utilité publique, ce n'est pas le comité qui la décide. Notre club de foot n'a jamais été exonéré, alors que tout le monde pensait le contraire.
Exactement, c'est pour cela que le check pose la question avec « je ne sais pas » et affiche alors les deux cas. L'AFC se fonde sur la confirmation de l'administration fiscale cantonale. Une demande par écrit à votre canton suffit pour savoir.
Unser Turnverein hat eine Spendenzusage von einer Garage bekommen, am Telefon. Das Geld kam nie. Jetzt weiss ich, warum man das schriftlich will. Die Vorlage zum Unterschreiben nehmen wir ab jetzt immer mit.
Mir händ im Jahresbricht immer alli Sponsore mit Logo und Link uf d Website ufglistet. Ich ha nöd gwüsst, dass de Link de Unterschied macht. Mir sind aber wiit under de Umsatzgränze, also ändert sich für üs bi de Mehrwertsteuer nüt. Guet z wüsse isch es trotzdem.
Genau so: unter der Umsatzgrenze kostet der Link keine Mehrwertsteuer. Er ändert aber die Einordnung, und die zählt beim Spendenabzug des Geldgebers und bei der Form der Zusage. Wer beides sauber halten will, trennt im Jahresbericht die Spender (ohne Link) von den Sponsoren (mit Link).
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