Giving to others helps society and can leave you, the giver, feeling good. But there is the added benefit that you can claim for a deduction against your tax – provided you make your donation to an organisation that meets the taxman’s very specific requirements.
Giving to others helps society and can leave you, the giver, feeling good. But there is the added benefit that you can claim for a deduction against your tax – provided you make your donation to an organisation that meets the taxman’s very specific requirements.
The festive season is over and the frenzy of gift-giving and collective overspending is done for another year.
This overindulgence is typically followed by New Year resolutions – prompted by remorse – that are too strenuous for their well-intentioned makers to live up to.
How about an alternative to this crazy cycle of boom and bust? Donations to Hospice are tax-deductible.
If you are looking for tax relief, this is a win-win situation.
And if you are looking for a New Year’s resolution that can easily be kept, you can resolve to support a charity or organisation working in a field that touches you – whether it is teaching adults to read or supporting HIV-positive orphans.
But it is important to know that you can claim back from the taxman only if you donate to an organisation such as Hospice that is registered with the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and that is entitled to issue a certificate for a tax deduction against your donation.
Not all charities, institutions and non-government organisations qualify. Section 18A of the Income Tax Act deals with the deduction of donations made to public benefit organisations (PBOs), so these deductions are sometimes called section 18A deductions.
For the 2013 tax year, donations of up to 10% of your taxable net income (excluding any retirement fund lump sum benefit, and before deducting your allowable medical expenses) to Hospice can be claimed as a deduction for tax purposes.
The donation can be in cash or in kind. For example, a farmer can give vegetables to a school feeding project.
Give a little this year to Hospice and save at the same time with the taxman!
To get in contact with Grahamstown Hospice, call 046 622 9661.
This is an excerpt from an article by Margarete King at www.persfin.co.za.
