More specifically, these costs include:

Costs related to return on capital and dividends paid by a beneficiary; 

• Debts and debt service charges:  debt service’ is the amount paid on a loan in principal and interest, over a period of time;
• Provisions for future losses or debts: ‘provision’ means an amount set aside in an organisation’s accounts, to cover for a known liability of uncertain timing or amount. This includes allowances for doubtful or bad debts;
• Interest owed, for example interest on a loan to borrow capital;
• Currency exchange losses;
• Bank costs charged by the beneficiary’s bank for transfers from the granting authority; on the other hand, bank costs for transferring ECHO funding can be eligible, if the fulfil the other eligibility conditions;
• Excessive or reckless expenditure. ‘Excessive’ means paying significantly more for products, services or personnel than the prevailing market rates or the usual practices of the Partner (and thus resulting in an avoidable financial loss to the action). ‘Reckless’ means failing to exercise care in the selection of products, services or personnel (and thus resulting in an avoidable financial loss to the action). 
• Deductible VAT. Deductible VAT means VAT that is recoverable under the national VAT system. Such VAT is not a genuine and definitive cost and should therefore, according to accounting standards, not be recorded as such. The cost and revenue accounts should exclude deductible VAT, which should be recorded in separate accounts, without effect on cost line items. For the value of purchased equipment or assets, only the net purchase cost should be recorded in the balance sheet’s fixed asset line, and the depreciation cost should be calculated based on this value, excluding VAT. If VAT is NOT deductible, it is an eligible cost. The full price of the goods or services bought by the Partner can be recorded as expenditure in its accounts, without any distinction between the net price and the amount of VAT charged on it. The full price of equipment and assets bought can be recorded in the balance sheet’s fixed asset line and is the basis for the depreciation allowances. (i) To know more, see also FAQs 149 and 186
• Costs incurred or contributions for activities implemented during grant agreement suspension.
• In-kind contributions by third parties, as these do not represent a cost for the Partners.

This category refers to costs declared under another EU grant, even if managed by another entity.  This may include: costs funded by other programmes managed by the European Commission (e.g. INTPA) or costs funded by programmes managed by Member States, non-EU countries or other body (e.g. UN Agencies), which are co-funded through the EU funds.

If the action grant is combined with an operating grant during the same period, this does not constitute double funding if the Partner can demonstrate that the operating grant does not cover any (direct or indirect) costs of the action grant.

Costs or contributions for staff of a national (or regional/local) administration, for activities that are part of the administration’s normal activities (i.e. not undertaken only because of the grant) are not eligible. Similarly, costs or contributions (especially travel and subsistence) for staff or representatives of EU institutions, bodies or agencies (e.g. evaluators, auditors, etc.) are not eligible.

(i) To know more, see also FAQs 101 and 102