If you’ve never made a charitable donation — or you’ve been lax in your generosity in the past five years — Ottawa will give you a super tax break on your donation.
The new federal budget introduced the First-Time Donor’s Super Credit, which is available until 2017. It gives new donors an extra one-time 25% tax credit for cash donations up to a maximum of $1,000.
“It’s to kick-start a lifetime of charitable giving,” said Jamie Golombek, managing director of tax and estate planning at CIBC Private Wealth Management. “This is to get particularly young people who aren’t giving as much to charity to think about charitable giving for the very first time and to inspire them with very generous credits.”
The standard tax credit for a donation is 15% of the first $200 and 29% for amounts above that. The new credit gives newbies a 40% credit for the first $200 and 54% for amounts between $200 and $1,000.
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