According to the Australian Taxation Office, for a gift or donation to be deductible, it must be given to an organisation endorsed as a deductible gift recipient (DGR).
“If you made one or more donations of $2 or more to bucket collections conducted by a DGR, you can claim a tax deduction of up to $10 for the total of those contributions for the year without a receipt,” the ATO’s assistant commissioner, Karen Foat, said.
A DGR is a not-for-profit organisation – and includes some charities – that is entitled to receive gifts that are tax deductible.
Notable examples of DGRs that you may have donated to over the past year include: NSW Rural Fire Service, The Trustee for Queensland Volunteer Rural Fire Brigades Donation Fund, Queensland State Emergency Service, Australian Red Cross Society, the Trustee for the Salvation Army, and Cancer Council Victoria.
A comprehensive list of DGRs can be found here.
It’s worth noting that not all charities or crowdfunding campaigns are endorsed DGRs. This means Australians should confirm the DGR status of an organisation they have donated to by checking on the organisation’s ABN before claiming a deduction.
But for larger donations, Ms Foat has instructed that “it is important to keep receipts to support your claim for all other donations beyond this $10 annual limit”.
“Over half of the claims we disallow is because taxpayers haven’t kept a record to support their claim,” the assistant commissioner revealed.
“Charities do good work all over Australia, so we want to make supporting the charity of your choice simple,” she added.
“But remember, you can’t claim a deduction for purchasing tickets in a charity raffle or where you receive any goods or services in return for your donation.”
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