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The Berlin tax office has revoked the non-profit status of the Change.org petition platform.
Change.org announced on Thursday in Berlin that the authority had already informed the association about the withdrawal on February 24th.
"As an association, we want to continue to support people to change the world in a positive way, regardless of their income and regardless of the addressee," said Change.org chairman Gregor Hackmack.
Together with other club representatives, he appealed against the decision.
According to Change.org, the tax office justified its decision by stating that petition platforms are only considered non-profit if they only allow petitions to government agencies.
Petitions, on the other hand, have to be deleted or subject to a fee if they are directed at non-state actors such as companies.
"We do not share the legal opinion of the Berlin tax authorities that petitions to non-state actors are not charitable," Hackmack continued.
"We refuse to delete petitions to corporations or to charge a fee." Such fees could prevent people from getting involved, warned Hackmack.
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Vivian Kube, a lawyer and expert on non-profit law at the Society for Freedom Rights, criticized the tax office's decision.
"Financial management shows a completely outdated understanding of how democracy works and what is non-profit," she said.
For the non-profit status of an organization it is not decisive whether a petition is addressed to a private or public body.
According to this, freedom of expression and assembly also protect political activities that target non-state actors.
In January 2021, the Federal Fiscal Court in Munich confirmed a decision by the Kassel Finance Court in a similar case, according to which the globalization-critical organization Attac was not a non-profit organization.
The organization operated "influencing political decision-making and public opinion," it said at the time.
This is not covered by the concept of political education.
Attac announced constitutional complaint.