Its all around us at the moment – Donations donations donations!!
It is a terrible situation that Australia is in with all the bushfires at the moment. But there has been amazing support from everyone all over the world. I am sure that almost every individual and business has donated in one way or another. But lets get a little technical now and decide if your donations is actually deductible.
1 – What is a Donation?
Firstly A Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) is an organisation or fund that can receive tax deductible donations.
- Not all charities are DGRs. Head of crowdfunding (its quite popular isnt it!) Well not many of these crowdfunding website are not run by DGRs, therefore your contributions are not tax deductible.
- Click here for a comprehensive list
2 – When is your donation deductible?
- It must be to a DGR (see above for what that is)
- It must truly be a gift or donation
- That is you are not receiving anything in return
- Must be money or property
TO CLAIM A DEDUCTION YOU MUST HAVE A RECORD OF YOUR DONATION, SUCH AS A RECEIPT
3 – Can you claim bucket donations
Ever put money into a collection box? Wondering if that is deductible? Well if you have made one or more donations of $2 conducted by an approved organisation for natural disaster, eg the current bushfires, you can claim a tax deduction of up to $10, (yes a whopping $10) for the total of those contributions WITHOUT a receipt
4 – What donations cant be claimed as a deduction?
In short, if you receive a personal benefit from providing your donation you cant claim it! Here are some examples;
- Membership Fees
- Donations to family or friends in need
- Raffle eg your local RSL raffle
- Items that have an advertised price eg chocolates hats
- School building fundraisers
The ATO website holds more information – Click here
Found this useful check out other topics we have discussed
- 3 Signs of Bad Bookkeeping
- How to choose the perfect bookkeeper for you
- Hazards of DIY Bookkeeping
- Financial Reporting 101: Can you afford to be doing it wrong?
What services do we offer;
- Bookkeeping Service
- Business Reporting
- Onsite Bookkeeping Gold Coast
- Payroll Processing
- Catch-up Bookkeeping
- Start-up Business Bookkeeping
