Have you made any tax deductible donations this financial year?
The recent bushfires have shown how generous many Australians can be. Throughout this financial year you might have given money to a charity, especially during the bushfires. And even though many donations were made without thinking of the tax deduction, you might as well see if you can claim it.
If you haven’t made any donations but would like to do so, there’s still time to get the tax deduction in this financial year.
But there are some important things to watch out for.
Firstly, the organisation you donate to must be a 'deductible gift recipient' (DGR). They are the only ones that can receive tax deductible gifts. This means you can only claim a tax deduction for gifts or donations to organisations that have DGR status.
Not all charities are deductible gift recipients. And that includes some of the organisations who received donations during the bushfires and droughts! So check carefully who you actually donated the money to.
To claim a deduction you must have:
made the donation to a DGR;
a record of your donation, such as a receipt or bank statement;
made a donation of money or property; and
comply with any relevant gift conditions.
The gift must truly be a gift or donation, with no expection of receiving a benefit in return
Bucket donations: If you made donations of $2 or more to “bucket collections” you can claim a tax deduction for gifts up to $10 without a receipt. To claim more than that you need a receipt.