Is a Donation a gift which keeps giving

It feels great to give back to the community or to a worthy cause. Everyone would have, at least once in their life, made a gift or donation to someone in need, or to an organisation that helps others.

You can be rewarded for your generosity when it comes to tax time. You are able to claim certain gifts or donations as a deduction in your tax return, provided you satisfy all the requirements.

For your donation to be deductible, it needs to:

Be made to an organisation who is a ‘Deductible Gift Recipient’ (DGR). To find out if a charity, non-profit or other organisation is a DGR, simply enter their name or ABN number into the ABN Lookup - https://abr.business.gov.au/
Be truly a gift with no benefit being received by you.
Be either money, or property (including shares)
Be over $2
Be paid within the income tax year of the relevant tax return. For example, a donation made in July 2018 cannot be claimed in the 2017/18 tax return.

Like with other deductions, you need to keep written receipts or proof of payment to be able to claim the deduction. However, if you donate between $2 and $10 to bushfire/flood bucket collection by approved organisation, you do not need to have written evidence of the donation.

What catches many people out is that you are unable to claim a deduction if you receive a benefit from making the donation/gift. Examples include: