The Arbeiterwohlfahrt in Frankfurt has surprisingly left the news that the tax authorities have deprived it of its non-profit status.

This decision was to be expected.

But it not only has significant financial consequences - the tax authorities are currently demanding back taxes in the six-figure range for three years - but also damage the reputation as a welfare institution.

This could have a very negative impact on the still considerable amount of donations.

According to the tax code, an association or organization is recognized as non-profit if its activities are aimed at "unselfishly promoting the general public in material, intellectual or moral areas".

Even if the AWO and the tax authorities are bound by tax secrecy, there is hardly any doubt that the business conduct of the former AWO management under Jürgen Richter was anything but selfless economic activity: astronomical, largely self-approved salaries, the fleet of expensive company cars , high severance payments - for the tax authorities all indications of a profit-oriented business enterprise.

Clarify relationships with the city

The scandal is now hitting the AWO office.

The new point is to be credited with the fact that it is doing its best to clear the rubble aside.

However, the good intention is one thing, the other is the objective facts, according to which a decision is made as to whether the AWO may again issue donation receipts on the basis of a notice of exemption.

It will certainly not be a sure-fire success.

It will be all the more important to clarify relationships with the city in particular as quickly as possible.

Over the years, for example, when looking after refugees, a veritable tangle of contracts had emerged, some of which were concluded with outsourced AWO companies.

The tax office will presumably only grant the tax privilege for social institutions again when everything has been cleared up.

The deprivation of the charitable status of the workers' welfare is at the same time a warning to other organizations who believe that they can dress like a company in the dress of the association. In connection with mysterious payments that were intended to promote the bid for the 2006 World Cup, the German Football Association has also experienced how humorless the tax authorities can be. But the summer fairy tale is a story of its own.