ARCHIVED - Line 340 - Charitable donations

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You can claim the lower of:

• the total donations made in 1995 plus any donations made in any of the previous five years that you did not claim before; and
• 20% of your net income (line 236).

Tax Tip

You can claim donations that your spouse made as long as your spouse will not claim them.

You can claim a tax credit of 17% of your donations up to and including $200, and 29% of your donations that are more than $200.

To qualify, the donations have to be made to:

• Canadian registered charities;
• registered Canadian amateur athletic associations;
• prescribed universities outside Canada;
• Canadian non-profit organizations that only provide low-cost housing for seniors;
• Canadian municipalities;
• registered national arts service organizations;
• the United Nations (or its Specialized Agencies); or
• charities outside Canada to which the Government of Canada has made a donation in 1994 or 1995.

Note

If you are a member of a religious order and you have taken a vow of perpetual poverty, claim your deduction on line 256 of your return.

Receipts

Attach to your return official receipts for all donations you are claiming, except for those shown in box 46 of your T4 or T4A slip, box 36 of your T3 slip, box 34 of your T5013 slip, or those allocated to you by a partnership in its financial statements. If you included such receipts with a previous return, please attach a note to tell us in which return this was.

We will not accept as proof of payment cancelled cheques, photocopies (unless the issuer certifies them to be true copies), credit card slips, pledge forms, or stubs.

Donations other than cash

You may be able to claim donations other than cash. For details, get the pamphlet called Gifts and Income Tax. If you donated land, see line 342 for more details.

Donations to U.S. charities

You can claim donations to U.S. charities that would be allowed on a U.S. return as long as they are not more than 20% of your net U.S. income, which you report on your Canadian return. However, you can use the limit of 20% of the net income on your Canadian return (line 236) if you lived near the border in Canada throughout the year and commuted to your workplace or business in the U.S. You can only use this limit if your main source of income for the year is from that employment or business.

Carrying forward donations

You do not have to claim the charitable donations you made in 1995 on your 1995 return. You can carry them forward and claim them for up to five years, as long as you only claim them once.

If you need more details on charitable donations, get Interpretation Bulletin IT-110, Deductible Gifts and Official Donation Receipts, and its Special Release.

Date modified:

2002-02-04