Donation Deductions

You can claim a tax deduction for gifts and donations of $2 or more made to organisations registered as deductible gift recipients (DGRs). 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).