Supporting Documents for a Charitable Donation

When you make a charitable donation, one of the key benefits you receive is the donation tax credit on your tax return.

In order to be able to claim a charitable donation and get a credit, Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) requires that individuals keep supporting documents and proof of payment (i.e. cancelled cheques, pledge forms, credit card slips, stubs and bank statements).  These must be kept for five years in case your donation claim is chosen for review.

CRA requires that individuals keep supporting documents and proof of payment for 5 years

Official charitable donation receipts are provided by registered charities and require the following information on them:

Cash Donations

• Must state on the receipt that it is an official receipt for income tax purpose.
• Name and address of the charity.
• A unique serial number (i.e. receipt number).
• The charity’s registration number issued by CRA (for example, 12345 6789 RR0001).
• Place where the receipt was issued.
• Date the gift was received.
• Date the receipt was issued.
• Full name and address of donor.
• Amount of the donation.
• Signature of an individual authorized by the charity to acknowledge gifts.
• The name and website address of CRA.

Non-cash gifts must also include:

• Brief description of the gift received
• Name and address of the appraiser

If you want to ensure that the charity you are donating to is registered with CRA, follow the link below.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/lstngs/menu-eng.html

If you would like more information or have any questions, feel free to contact us at 780.466.6204, or click here to send us an email.

Thanks to Johnny Kwong of KWB Chartered Accountants for providing this content.