Tips on donations gifts
You can only claim a tax deduction for gifts or donations to organisations that have the status of deductible gift recipients
For you to claim a tax deduction for a gift, it must meet four conditions:
- The gift must be made to a deductible gift recipient. We call entities that are entitled to receive tax deductible gifts ‘deductible gift recipients’ (DGRs).
- The gift must truly be a gift. A gift is voluntary transfer of money or property where you receive no material benefit or advantage.
- The gift must be money or property, which includes financial assets such as shares.
- The gift must comply with any relevant gift conditions. For some DGRs, the income tax law adds extra conditions affecting the types of deductible gifts they can receive
- The amount you can claim depends on the type of gift. For gifts of money, it is the amount of the gift but it must be $2 or more. For gifts of property, there are different rules, depending on the type
- You cannot claim as a gift or donation items that provide you with some personal benefit, such as:
- raffle or art union tickets
- items such as chocolates and pens
- the cost of attending fundraising dinners, even if the cost exceeds the value of the dinner
- membership fees
- payments to school building funds made, for example, as an alternative to an increase in school fees
- payments where you have an understanding with the recipient that the payments will be used to provide a benefit for you
**The above material has been sourced from the Australian Taxation Office. For further information please visit their website