Published by Beaver Ledger · Edited
Personal gifts in Canada. The examples use 2025 rates. The CRA hasn't published 2026 donation rates, so the calculator's 2026 figures are an estimate; check them before you file.
The question
What should I know before giving at the end of the year?
Give early enough that the charity receives your gift by December 31, so it counts on that year's return. Add up the year's gifts, including your spouse's or partner's, and keep every official receipt. A gift you don't claim this year can still be claimed in any of the next five.
The deadline is when the charity receives your gift
A gift counts for the year the charity receives it. A cheque you mail counts for this year if the envelope is postmarked by December 31. A cheque dropped through the mail slot of a closed office counts when the charity reopens, which may be January. If you give online, check the date on your confirmation.
Charities are asked to send receipts by the end of February, in time for tax season. Keep them with your return.
Add up the year's gifts, including your partner's
The first $200 you claim in a year gets a lower credit rate, and everything above it gets a higher one. You and your spouse or common-law partner can claim each other's gifts, so putting them on one return usually puts more of the total above $200.
Say you and your partner live in Ontario, have $80,000 of income each, and each gave $150 in 2025. Claimed separately, each $150 is worth $29.33, or $58.66 together. Claimed as $300 on one return, it's worth $79.26, which is $20.60 more. That return needs enough tax owing to use the whole credit.
Alberta works the other way. Its rate on the first $200 is higher (60%), so the same two gifts are worth $223.50 claimed separately and $199 claimed together.
Monthly gifts add up
A $50 monthly gift comes to $600 by December. For the same Ontario resident in 2025, that's a potential credit of $199.74. Some charities send one receipt for the year and others send one per gift, so keep them all.
You don't have to claim it all this year
The December 31 deadline is for the gift, not the claim. If you won't owe enough tax this year to use the credit, you can claim the gift on any return in the next five years, with older gifts claimed first.
- Check the charity's registration in the CRA's list before you give.
- Give in time for the charity to receive it by December 31.
- Keep your confirmation and, later, the official receipt.
- Decide whose return the year's gifts go on.
Sources checked for this editorial revision on October 17, 2026. Educational content from Beaver Ledger; no professional review is claimed. Methods and limitations · Editorial practices and corrections.