Donation Deductions
Tax deductions for gifts and donations of any amount to organisations registered as deductible gift recipients (DGRs).
You can claim a tax deduction for gifts and donations of any amount made to organisations registered as deductible gift recipients (DGRs). The long-standing $2 minimum gift condition was abolished by the Treasury Laws Amendment (Delivering an Efficient and Trusted Tax System) Act 2026, with retroactive effect for gifts made from 1 July 2024. DGRs include most registered charities, public hospitals, school building funds, environmental organisations, and disaster relief funds. The DGR must be endorsed by the ATO — you can check an organisation's DGR status on the ABN Lookup website (abr.gov.au).
To be deductible, the donation must be a genuine gift — you must not receive any material benefit in return. Payments that are partly a donation and partly for goods or services (e.g., a charity dinner ticket where $100 is for the meal and $50 is a donation) can only be deducted for the donation component. Raffle tickets, fundraising event entry fees (where entertainment is provided), and membership fees are generally not deductible unless the organisation specifically states the deductible amount.
Donations of property (such as shares or artwork) are also deductible at their market value, subject to specific rules. For shares listed on an approved stock exchange that have been held for at least 12 months, you can claim the market value as a deduction and no CGT applies. There is no limit on the total amount of donation deductions you can claim, and any excess can be spread over up to 5 income years for certain types of donations (such as gifts of property).
How it works
Donation deductions apply to gifts made to organisations endorsed as deductible gift recipients, and any amount now qualifies — the long-standing $2 minimum gift condition was abolished by the Treasury Laws Amendment (Delivering an Efficient and Trusted Tax System) Act 2026, with retroactive effect for gifts made from 1 July 2024. To be deductible, a payment must be a genuine gift — you can't receive any material benefit in return, which is what disqualifies a lot of well-intentioned charitable spending.
In practice, you check an organisation's DGR endorsement on the ABN Lookup website before donating, and keep a receipt to support your claim. Where a payment is only partly a gift — such as a charity dinner ticket that's partly the cost of the meal and partly a donation — only the donation portion is deductible, and the organisation typically states that split on the receipt. Raffle tickets and fundraiser entry fees that include entertainment are generally not deductible unless the organisation specifically nominates a deductible amount.
Property donations, such as gifts of shares, are also deductible at market value under specific rules. For shares listed on an approved stock exchange and held for at least 12 months, you can claim the market value as a deduction, and no CGT applies to the shares given away. There's no overall cap on total donation deductions, and for certain gifts of property, any excess beyond what you can use in one year can be spread across up to five income years.
Example: a cash gift and a share donation in the same year
A taxpayer donates $500 in cash to an endorsed DGR and separately gifts $2,000 worth of shares, held for 18 months on the ASX, directly to a different DGR.
The $500 cash gift is a straightforward deduction. The $2,000 in shares is deductible at market value, and because the shares were held over 12 months on an approved exchange, no CGT applies to the donated shares. Total deduction for the year: $500 + $2,000 = $2,500.
Related Terms
Taxable Income
Your assessable income minus allowable deductions — the figure used to calculate your income tax.
Income Tax
Tax levied by the federal government on your taxable income, calculated using progressive tax brackets.
Tax Return
An annual form lodged with the ATO reporting your income, deductions, and tax payable or refundable for the financial year.
Capital Gains Tax (CGT)
Tax on the profit made from selling or disposing of an asset, such as property, shares, or cryptocurrency.