Give them a sporting chance

PEAK giving season has arrived and Australians are being urged to consider charitable donations and the handy tax benefits attached to them.

For many charities, June is their strongest month, and donations above $2 to charities registered as a “deductible gift recipient” allow people to claim a tax deduction. This is worth up to 47c for every dollar donated, depending on an individual’s marginal tax rate.

It’s a tough market for charities competing for people’s generosity. While the bestknown charities get much of the money, others battle for recognition, and some present donation opportunities that many people don’t know exist.

Patrick Walker, CEO of the Australian Sports Foundation, said 40 per cent of its donations came in the last six weeks of the financial year. The non-profit foundation is an umbrella entity for tax-deductible donations to sporting clubs or individual athletes who register with it.

“People don’t realise they can make donations for the benefit of their local football club, cricket club or athlete and can get a tax deduction,” Mr Walker said.

He said there were thousands of grassroots sporting clubs registered with the foundation, but almost 100,000 clubs have members who did not benefit from tax deductions when they donated.

Among the hundreds of athletes who have used the foundation to raise money are Olympic steeplechaser Victoria Mitchell, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games swimming gold medallist Matt Levy, and Olympic equestrian gold medallists Andrew Hoy and Stuart Tinney.

“We encourage athletes to go back to their junior clubs and say how tough it is. They’re thousands of dollars out of pocket every year to represent Australia,” Mr Walker said.

Coco Hou, the managing partner of Platinum Accounting and managing director of Platinum Professional Training, said taxdeductible donations could give a great boost to a tax refund.

“Like any other tax deduction, the receipt has to be kept,” she said. “Some charities have special rules on the limit of the donation amount that can be claimed. Read the fine print on the receipt.”

Ms Hou said most charities would tell you if they were registered as a deductible gift recipient. “If not, you can ring them up and find out,” she said.

People could also check if charities had DGR status on the business.gov.au website, Ms Hou said.