Work sessions

Many tennis clubs require their members to do a certain number of volunteer hours (“Arbeitsstunden”) per year. Racqt helps you plan work sessions (“Arbeitseinsätze”), assign members and keep track of the hours done.

Planning work sessions

Under Verwaltung › Arbeitsstunden (Administration › Volunteer hours) you’ll find all sessions at a glance. Each session has a status:

Status	Meaning
Veröffentlicht (published)	The session is visible, members can sign up
Abgesagt (cancelled)	The session was cancelled

Creating a new session

Click Neuer Einsatz (New session) to create a work session. Give it a title, enter date and time and optionally add a description.

Configuring required hours, deadline and compensation rate

In the settings you set these values:

• Pflichtstunden pro Jahr (required hours per year) — the target for each member.
• Stichtag (cut-off date) — by when the hours must be done. You choose day and month; without an entry, 31 December applies.
• Arbeitsstunden-Pflicht gilt ab (obligation applies from) — from when the obligation exists. When you first save the required hours, Racqt automatically sets the date to today; you can change it but not put it in the future.
• Ausgleichssatz je fehlender Stunde (€) (compensation rate per missing hour) — the basis for compensation payments for open hours.
• Mehrstunden vergüten (pay for extra hours) — a switch to turn on payment for extra hours, together with the Satz je Mehrstunde (€) (rate per extra hour), the allowed options (payout, donation to the club) and, if you like, payout as the default for members without their own choice.
• Spende mit Quittung (Donation with receipt) — legal basis, tax details and enabling this third option (see Donation with receipt).

The cut-off date defines the period in which hours count. If you choose 30 September, for example, each period runs from 1 October to 30 September of the following year. 29 February isn’t possible as a cut-off date because it doesn’t exist every year. You can settle as soon as the period is over and no check-ins or requests are still open.

Start date of the obligation

If you introduce volunteer hours mid-year, every member would otherwise pay the full target as compensation for a period that ended before the introduction. That’s why Racqt doesn’t settle a period that ends before the start date: it has no previous period and no switch. If there’s also no previously settled period, the Abrechnung (Settlement) tab says instead of “Keine Periode abzurechnen” (No period to settle): “Die Arbeitsstunden-Pflicht gilt erst ab TT.MM.JJJJ – die Periode bis TT.MM.JJJJ wird nicht abgerechnet.” (The obligation only applies from DD.MM.YYYY – the period up to DD.MM.YYYY isn’t settled.) If the period starts before the start date and ends after it, the preview shows the note “Die Pflicht gilt erst seit TT.MM.JJJJ; das Soll wird trotzdem voll angesetzt.” (The obligation only applies from DD.MM.YYYY; the full target is still applied.) It doesn’t block the settlement – the target isn’t reduced pro rata. If you clear the date, the obligation applies without restriction.

As long as no number of required hours is stored, a corresponding note with a link to the settings appears in the hours evaluation.

Compensation and paying for extra hours

You maintain two rates: the compensation rate for missing hours and, if you turn on the Mehrstunden vergüten switch, a rate per extra hour. If you leave the extra hours rate empty, the compensation rate applies. With the switch off, there’s no choice for extra hours; they aren’t paid.

As soon as you turn on the switch, you set which options your members may choose: Auszahlung (payout), Schenkung an den Verein (donation to the club) or both. At least one option must be allowed. You can also set payout as the default for members without their own choice (tick “Mitglieder ohne eigene Wahl bekommen ihre Mehrstunden ausgezahlt” — members without their own choice get their extra hours paid out); this is only possible if payout is allowed. A donation can never be the default: every member must choose it themselves. Announce the default to your members beforehand. Without a default, the extra hours of members without their own choice remain open; nothing happens for them in the settlement run. Extra hours no longer expire: anyone who doesn’t want them paid out donates them to the club.

If you switch payment off again while members have already chosen an option, the setting points this out. These choices are closed without an amount in the next settlement run. Your selection of options and the default are kept and apply again when you turn payment back on.

The legal notes are right next to the settings. In short: a compensation payment needs a basis in the statutes or fee schedule and isn’t a donation. You set payment for extra hours before the activity begins; for committee members it needs an explicit provision in the statutes. This isn’t legal or tax advice. Please have your arrangement checked by your tax adviser.

Donation with receipt

A tax-privileged club can issue a receipt for extra hours as a donation of reimbursement (“Aufwandsspende”). The member then waives their payment, and you issue them a donation receipt (“Zuwendungsbestätigung”) for it. The process has three steps:

1. The member chooses Spende mit Quittung (Donation with receipt). For now this is only an intention.
2. The settlement run fixes the claim: hours, rate and amount.
3. The member then explicitly declares the waiver, in the portal or in the app.

Only with the waiver can the donation be receipted. You download the waivers as a CSV file and create the donation receipts from it. Racqt doesn’t create a receipt itself.

Settings and requirements

Under Einstellungen › Allgemein (Settings › General), when payment for extra hours is on, you’ll find the Spende mit Quittung section. There you store:

• Rechtsgrundlage (Legal basis) — statutes or committee resolution, each with a date. It appears in the CSV, for example as “Satzung vom 01.03.2024” (statutes of 01.03.2024).
• Art des Bescheids (Type of notice) — exemption notice (“Freistellungsbescheid”), annex to the corporation tax notice (“Anlage zum Körperschaftsteuerbescheid”) or determination notice under § 60a AO (“Feststellungsbescheid”), with Datum (Date).
• Finanzamt (Tax office) and Steuernummer (Tax number).

You enable the option with the Spende mit Quittung freigeben (Enable donation with receipt) tick box. If one of the details is missing, it says below: “Für Spenden mit Quittung fehlen Rechtsgrundlage oder Steuerdaten.” (Legal basis or tax details are missing for donations with receipt.) The enabling then can’t be saved; Racqt reports the same sentence. The same applies if you clear a detail while the option is enabled. A donation with receipt can never be the default: every member chooses it themselves.

Members can only choose the option if their address is complete (street and house number, postcode, town). You maintain the address in member management; members can’t change it themselves. If something is missing, the member sees “Für eine Spendenquittung braucht dein Verein deine vollständige Anschrift. Bitte deinen Verein, sie zu ergänzen.” (For a donation receipt your club needs your full address. Ask your club to complete it.)

Run and waiver

In the preview these members show Spende mit Quittung – Verzicht folgt (Donation with receipt – waiver to follow). Two warnings are new:

• Anschrift unvollständig – Verzicht erst nach Ergänzung möglich (Address incomplete – waiver only possible once completed): the address became incomplete after the choice. This doesn’t block the run, but it does block the waiver until the address has been completed.
• Die Rechtsgrundlage für Spenden mit Quittung wurde erst nach Beginn der Periode festgelegt (The legal basis for donations with receipt was only set after the period began; above the table): the date of the statutes or resolution is after the start of the period. But the claim to payment must be fixed before the activity begins. Have the receipts for this period checked by your tax adviser. The note doesn’t block the run.

The run doesn’t pay out these extra hours and doesn’t record them as a donation to the club. It records hours, rate and amount and asks the member, with the notification Verzicht bestätigen (Confirm waiver), to declare the waiver. The legal basis that applies at the time of the run stays recorded for this run, even if you change it later.

The member sees a card with the waiver text in the portal and in the app and confirms it with one click. Members with an app older than version 1.7.0 declare the waiver in the portal.

Waiver deadline, reminder and fallback

An open waiver doesn’t stay open indefinitely, and a tacit waiver is ruled out. In the Spende mit Quittung section of the settings you set three values:

• Verzichtsfrist (Waiver deadline) — how many days after the settlement run the member has (14 to 90, default 56). The run records the deadline; if you change the setting later, existing deadlines stay the same. The waiver is still possible on the last day of the deadline.
• Erinnerung vor Fristende (Reminder before the deadline) — how many days before the deadline Racqt reminds the member once (default 7, 0 = no reminder). It must be before the deadline.
• Ohne Verzicht bis zur Frist (No waiver by the deadline) — the fallback: Betrag auszahlen (Pay out amount; default) or Vorstand entscheidet (Committee decides). The fallback also applies as it was set at the time of the run.

Below the waiver text the member sees the deadline, for example “Frist: bis 29.01.2027. Verzichtest du bis dahin nicht, wird der Betrag ausgezahlt.” (Deadline: 29.01.2027. If you don’t waive by then, the amount will be paid out.) With Lieber auszahlen lassen (Pay out instead) they can choose the payout instead of the waiver at any time. The payout then shows as pending in the run’s card and goes out with the next back payment.

If the deadline passes without a waiver, the fallback applies from the following day:

• Betrag auszahlen (Pay out amount): the extra hours become a pending payout, and the member gets the notification “Verzichtsfrist abgelaufen” (Waiver deadline expired). If a SEPA mandate is missing, the member and the committee also get the note “Auszahlung ausstehend” (Payout pending).
• Vorstand entscheidet (Committee decides): the waiver stays open, and you get the notification “Verzichtsfrist abgelaufen”. The member can no longer waive themselves but can still choose the payout. In the Freigaben (Approvals) tab the Abgelaufene Verzichte (Expired waivers) section appears with name, period, amount, deadline and mandate status. There you decide:
  • Auszahlen (Pay out): the payout then shows as pending in the run’s card.
  • Verzicht erfassen (Record waiver): only record a waiver if the member has declared it to you. A Notiz (Note; for example “schriftliche Erklärung vom 20.01.2027”, written declaration of 20.01.2027) and the Erklärt am (Declared on) date are required; the date lies between the settlement run and at most 90 days after it, never in the future, and is prefilled with today (or the last permitted day). The date appears in the CSV as the waiver date, the note in the “Vermerk” (Remark) column as “vom Vorstand erfasst: …” (recorded by the committee: …). The member’s address must be complete.

Both decisions are recorded in the club’s log.

If a member chooses Lieber auszahlen lassen, or the deadline expires with the Betrag auszahlen fallback, and a SEPA mandate is in place, you get the notification Auszahlung bereit (Payout ready). Then create the back payment file in the run’s card. Racqt no longer checks a payout that is only chosen after the run against the volunteer allowance warning from the preview.

Exporting waivers

The run’s card in the Abrechnung (Settlement) tab counts the waivers, for example “1 Verzicht erklärt · 45,00 €” (1 waiver declared · €45.00) and “2 Verzichte offen” (2 waivers open). As soon as at least one waiver has been declared, you download the file via Spendenquittungen (CSV) (Donation receipts (CSV)). It’s called something like spendenquittungen-2026-15.01.2027.csv (period and day of download) and contains only declared waivers, sorted by surname.

The file is semicolon-separated and opens directly in Excel with umlauts intact. Columns: Name, Straße (street), PLZ (postcode), Ort (town), Betrag (amount), Verzichtsdatum (waiver date), Stunden (hours), Satz (rate), “Verzicht auf Erstattung von Aufwendungen” (waiver of reimbursement of expenses; value “ja”, yes), Rechtsgrundlage (legal basis) and Vermerk (remark; empty or “vom Vorstand erfasst: …”). Every download is recorded in the club’s log. Anyone who may download the bank files may also download this file.

Data protection

The receipt export contains addresses. Only save it on club devices and delete it as soon as the receipts have been created. The note is right next to the button.

Legal notes

The notes on the donation of reimbursement and on the donation without receipt are in the settings in the Spende mit Quittung section, the data protection note next to the run’s CSV button:

• Donation against a donation receipt (Aufwandsspende, § 10b (3) sentences 5–6 EStG): only for tax-privileged clubs with a valid exemption notice; claim granted seriously and not on condition of the waiver; the club must be able to pay out all claims; waiver voluntary and timely; liability for incorrect receipts (§ 10b (4) EStG); the BMF letter of 24.08.2016 is authoritative.
• Donation without receipt: tax-neutral, no donation receipt.
• Data protection: the receipt export contains addresses; only save it on club devices and delete it once the receipts have been created.

This isn’t legal or tax advice. Please have your arrangement checked by your tax adviser.

Crediting hours

You confirm requests without location confirmation in the Freigaben (Approvals) tab (see below). On a session’s detail page (click the title in the session list) you see all participants. There you credit hours, change them or reject a participation with a reason — until the period’s settlement run. After that, participations are locked.

Approving check-in requests

Members check in at the session with the app. Normally location confirms the check-in automatically. A request arises when that doesn’t work: when no location is available or the member checks in outside the radius around the work site. Such requests land in the Freigaben tab (the number in brackets counts open requests and expired waivers together).

Check-ins with GPS confirmation don’t appear here — they’re credited automatically with the scheduled hours after the session ends. Requests from a year that has already been settled no longer appear in the list because they can no longer be confirmed. You correct deviations (for example someone left early) in the participant list on the session’s detail page.

For each request you see member, session, date and the distance to the work site. You have three options:

• Confirm individually: the hours are prefilled with the session’s scheduled hours and can be adjusted before confirming.
• Confirm in bulk: select several requests (or Alle auswählen, select all) and confirm them with one click with the scheduled hours.
• Decline: give a reason. The member sees this reason in the app; the participation then counts as “Nicht anerkannt” (Not accepted).

Notifications about volunteer hours

Racqt informs the committee and members by itself. Each notification comes as a notification in the app, as a push (if the member has turned it on) and as an email to the Racqt account’s address. Members without a Racqt account get no notifications. Each notification is sent only once.

What the committee gets. Recipients are everyone allowed to work in the Veranstaltungen/Events area, i.e. the people who can also approve requests:

• New check-in request: a member checked in without location confirmation. You get one note per session and day (not if you made the request yourself) and confirm or decline the request under Approving check-in requests (see above).
• Payout pending: after the settlement run, a member is missing the SEPA mandate for the payout. You learn to whom and how much.
• Waiver deadline expired: a member hasn’t waived by the deadline, and the fallback is Vorstand entscheidet (Committee decides). You decide in the approvals under Abgelaufene Verzichte (Expired waivers).
• Payout ready: a member chose the payout instead of the waiver, or the deadline expired with the Betrag auszahlen (Pay out amount) fallback, and a SEPA mandate is in place. Create the back payment file in the run’s card.

What members get:

• Extra hours done: as soon as a member goes above the target for the first time in a period, even if you correct hours afterwards. The notification only comes if you’ve set a cut-off date, pay for extra hours and the member hasn’t chosen yet. It names the cut-off date; if the period is already over, it asks them to choose soon. It also says what happens without a choice: with payout as the default, the extra hours are paid out, otherwise they’re not paid.
• 14 days to go: every day at 8:00, Racqt checks whether a cut-off date is at most 14 days away. It then reminds, once, members with extra hours without their own choice (only if payment is on) and members with missing hours (only if a compensation rate is stored and the amount is above €0). If the day was missed, for example because you set the cut-off date later, the reminder comes on a later day before the cut-off date; the title then reads, for example, “Noch 5 Tage” (5 days to go). There’s no reminder for periods before the obligation’s start date or for periods already settled. The reminder about extra hours says what happens without a choice; the one about missing hours names the compensation amount.
• Payout pending: if the SEPA mandate for the payout is missing, the member also gets a note to store a mandate. Then the payment is made later.
• Confirm waiver: after the run, if the member chose “Spende mit Quittung” (Donation with receipt).
• Waiver reminder: once before the deadline, as many days beforehand as set, for example “Noch 3 Tage: Verzicht bestätigen” (3 days to go: confirm waiver). If the reminder only comes on the last day, it reads “Heute: Verzicht bestätigen” (Today: confirm waiver).
• Waiver deadline expired: with the Betrag auszahlen fallback, the member learns that their extra hours will be paid out.

The reminder before the cut-off date is your safeguard for members who haven’t chosen: they learn in time what will otherwise apply. In the iPhone and Android apps, tapping the push opens the volunteer hours view.

Hours evaluation

The Stunden-Auswertung (Hours evaluation) tab names the period for which the hours count at the top. Three tiles summarise: total number of members, number who have met the obligation and number with hours still open.

Below, a table lists all members with the sessions completed, the hours done and open, a progress bar and the status (Erfüllt/met or Offen/open). The table doesn’t show which use a member has chosen for their extra hours; without their own choice, payout applies in the settlement run if you’ve set it as the default.

After the cut-off date, the evaluation first shows the new period. As long as the finished period hasn’t been settled, you switch to its hours with the Laufende Periode / Vorperiode (nicht abgerechnet) (Current period / Previous period, not settled) switch. As soon as the settlement run for the period has run, the previous period disappears, and members can no longer change how their extra hours are used for that period.

Annual settlement & SEPA files

Only people on the team with the Finanzen (Finances) area — the treasurer, for example — see the Abrechnung tab, the bank files, the file for the donation receipts and the decisions on expired waivers. They contain IBANs and addresses; anyone who only organises sessions plans sessions and approves check-in requests but can’t get at bank details. The notifications about payouts and waivers also only go to these people.

After the cut-off date you settle the finished period in the Abrechnung (Settlement) tab (once per period). Only the most recently finished period can be settled, as long as it hasn’t been settled yet; the tab only shows older periods with their run. The tab first shows a preview. On start, the run checks that nothing has changed since the preview — if, for example, a member has chosen their use in the meantime, it asks you to check the preview again and reloads it.

At the top, the preview summarises the totals: compensation claims, payouts and donations. Below, it says per member what the run does:

• Compensation: members with open hours get a claim (open hours × compensation rate). It appears like a membership fee among the open items. If the member has a SEPA mandate, it goes into the bank file as a direct debit.
• Payout: extra hours are paid at the rate per extra hour if the member chose payout or it’s the default. Without a SEPA mandate it says Auszahlung ausstehend – kein Mandat (Payout pending – no mandate); the payout isn’t lost but waits for a back payment.
• Donation: extra hours a member donates to the club are recorded.
• Spende mit Quittung – Verzicht folgt (Donation with receipt – waiver to follow): the run fixes the amount, and the member then declares the waiver (see Donation with receipt).
• Closed without an amount: payment is switched off or there are no more extra hours.

The preview warns you about individual members:

• keine Verwendung – wird nicht vergütet (no use – won’t be paid): extra hours without the member’s own choice and without a default are neither paid out nor donated. After the run, members can no longer choose for this period — so remind them before the run to choose their use.
• kein SEPA-Mandat – wird nachgezahlt, sobald eines vorliegt (no SEPA mandate – will be paid later once there is one): without a mandate there’s no transfer in the bank file; the payout then shows as pending.
• Anschrift unvollständig – Verzicht erst nach Ergänzung möglich (Address incomplete – waiver only possible once completed): only for donations with receipt; complete the address in member management.
• über der Ehrenamtspauschale (above the volunteer allowance): the payout is above the amount you set in the settings as the Ehrenamtspauschale je Mitglied und Jahr (volunteer allowance per member and year; default €960). If you leave the field empty, there’s no warning. Racqt only knows your payments; the allowance applies per person across all clubs.

Above the table, the preview warns if club bank details are missing in the payment settings:

• No direct debit file: the club’s creditor identifier, name or IBAN is missing. The claims are still created but not collected via a file.
• No payout file: the club’s IBAN is missing. As long as there are payouts, the run is locked until you’ve added it.

As long as there are still open items from the period (checked-in participations or requests without a decision), the run is locked. The preview names each item with session, date and member and links to the session, where you confirm or decline it.

If everything fits, tick Ich habe die Vorschau geprüft (I have checked the preview) and click Abrechnung durchführen (Run settlement). The tab then shows a card with the run’s totals and two downloads for your bank:

• Direct debits (pain.008) for the compensation payments,
• Payouts (pain.001) for the extra hours payouts.

Upload both in your club account’s online banking. Only members with an active SEPA mandate end up in the bank files — you handle all other claims manually as usual. You can still find periods already settled with their downloads in the Abrechnung tab.

Back payment for missing mandates

If a member had no SEPA mandate yet at the time of the run (or the IBAN couldn’t be read), their payout shows as ausstehend (pending): in the run’s card with amount and mandate status per member. The member sees the note in the portal and in the apps.

The card shows, for example, “1 Auszahlung ausstehend, davon 0 mit Mandat” (1 payout pending, 0 of them with a mandate). As soon as members have stored a mandate, click Nachzahlung erzeugen (Create back payment; the number in brackets is the number of payable payouts). Racqt creates a separate pain.001 file with only these members, which you download under Nachzahlungsdateien (Back payment files) with date, number and total and upload in online banking. The payouts then count as settled, and the note for the member disappears. Without a payable payout the button is disabled; if the club’s IBAN is missing, Racqt reports “Vereins-IBAN fehlt” (Club IBAN missing). The run’s own totals don’t change.

As long as the finished period hasn’t been settled, you can’t change the cut-off date once hours or choices have been recorded in it. The setting then says: “Erst die beendete Periode abrechnen, dann den Stichtag ändern.” (First settle the finished period, then change the cut-off date.)

Related articles: Member management · Dashboard for clubs