What is a workplace giving program
A workplace giving program is a simple way to regularly donate to charities or organisations eligible to receive tax deductible donations. These organisations have a deductible gift recipient (DGR) status.
Your employer must ensure the participating charities or other organisations have ongoing DGR status. You can check the DGR status of an organisation at ABN Look-up: Deductible gift recipientsExternal Link.
If your employer offers workplace giving, you can choose your preferred charities from a selection and the amount to donate. Your employer then pays the donation directly to the charities each payday.
What happens if you get involved
To be involved both you and your employer must agree to participate. Your employer will then start collecting the donation amount from your pay each payday.
The workplace giving program does not affect the way your gross income, super guarantee payments or fringe benefits are worked out.
There is no minimum or maximum contribution required to participate. However, you must claim the total through your tax return. This is regardless of whether you have been getting payday tax benefits for your donations.
You claim a deduction for workplace giving donations in the same way you claim gifts and donations you make directly to DGR charities in your tax return. If you donate on a regular basis, you can estimate the tax savings.
Example: employee workplace giving
Jane works in the advertising industry and earns $65,000 per annum.
Through a recent marketing campaign, Jane becomes interested in donating to a local animal shelter. She looks into entering a workplace giving program her employee has set up with the shelter. However, she is unsure of the tax implications.
Jane’s fortnightly income is $2,492. She wants to make a regular fortnightly donation of $15. Under workplace giving, her employer will take this out of her pay and reduce the amount of tax taken out each fortnight.
Jane estimates that this will reduce her tax payable by $4 a fortnight or $104 per annum. She also won’t have to worry about keeping receipts and can simply claim a tax deduction equal to the amount of donations in her payment summary.
End of exampleYour employer's responsibilities
Your employer may ask if you want to participate in their workplace giving program. They should provide you with:
- a list of the charities involved in your workplace giving program
- whether there will be a minimum donation amount per pay
- details of whether they will reduce the amount of tax withheld from your pay to account for the amount donated each pay.
At the end of the income year, your employer will include the total amount you donated to charities in your income statement, payment summary, a letter or an email.