CONSIDERING SOME CHARITABLE GIVING, DO IT BEFORE THE END OF 2007

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    Tax deductible charitable gifts include
  • Money or other property
  • Gifts of ecologically sensitive land (get Certificate for Donation of Ecologically Sensitive Land)
  • Capital property-cottages, securities, land, buildings, equipment at their FMV
  • Listed personal property
  • Inventory of a business
  • Gift of certified cultural property to a designated institution or public authority under the Cultural Property Export and Import Act
    Federal and provincial credits can be claimed with official receipts
  • Claim eligible amount of gifts made in the year or you can carry forward for 5 years
  • Claim carried forward gifts first; then current year gifts
  • Gifts in kind: donation appraisal must be from knowledgeable appraisers and follow Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.
  • Gifts of less than $1000 usually do not require appraisal
  • File Schedule 9
    Deductibility:
  • 15% of the first $200; 29% thereafter plus provincial portion
  • Up to 75% of net income can be given; 100% in year of death or immediately preceding year
  • the individual's total Crown gifts
  • the individual's total cultural gifts
  • the individual's total ecological gifts
    Gifts can be made to:
  • A registered charity
  • Registered Canadian amateur athletic association
  • Tax exempt housing corporation providing low-cost housing for seniors
  • Government of Canada, province or territory, municipality
  • The United Nation and its related agencies
  • Prescribed university outside Canada
  • Charitable organization outside Canada to which our government has made a donation in the tax year or previous tax year
  • Gifts to US charities if you have US income
    Special Rules: Gifts of capital property:
  • FMV at time of gift can trigger capital gains consequences
  • Gifts of publicly traded shares should be initiated before December 21 and can be transferred on a tax free rollover basis to registered charities and private foundations (after March 19, 2007.
  • Zero inclusion rates for purposes of capital gains and losses apply if you donate:
    • Shares, debt obligations or rights listed on a designated stock exchange
    • Shares of a mutual fund corporation
    • Units of a mutual fund trust
    • Interests in related segregated fund trusts
    • Prescribed debt obligations
    • Ecologically sensitive land
  • Gifts can be made to a registered charity or after March 18, 2007 to certain private foundations.
  • Gifts of depreciable property can trigger recapture or terminal loss
  • Gifts of significant movable cultural property to Canadian heritage institutions or public authorities must be certified under the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board, which determines its FMV and provides you with a certificate for tax credit purposes (Form T871). In this case no capital gain is required to be recorded.
  • Artists: to qualified donee, the gift is a disposition from "inventory" rather than capital property. The value is calculated as the cost amount or an amount not greater than the FMV and not less than the cost and any advantage received.
  • Art or Antique dealers: objects donated are considered to be a disposition of inventory, not capital property and must be based on FMV at the time of donation.