Tax Credits

Early in the year the Treasurer of the Party will issue Official Receipts for all contributions made to the Party in the previous calendar year. Separate receipts will be issued for cash donations (cheque, credit card, PayPal) and contributed Goods and Services.

Donations received during a general election or a by-election campaign are treated separately. The campaign period starts when the Writ is issued and ends 3 months after Polling Day. The Treasurer may determine that donations received after an earlier date will be treated as annual donations rather than campaign donations. Official Receipts must be issued within six months after Polling Day.

These amounts are adjusted for inflation (CPI) every five years. The numbers below are effective January 1, 2014. The next adjustment will be effective January 1, 2019.

Maximum Donations Allowed

Description	Amount
Contributions to one Party per year	$9,975
Additional Contributions to a Party during a campaign	$9,975
Annual Contributions to an Electoral District Association	$1,330
Annual Contributions to all EDAs of one Party	$6,650
To one registered candidate	$1,330
To all registered candidates of a single Party	$6,650

Calculation of Tax Credit

A donor should report the total of all Political donations on the Ontario Credits page (ON479) of the donor's Income Tax Return. This is a refundable tax credit, so even if the donor owes no income tax, he or she will get this money back.

The tax credit is calculated as follows;

75% of the first $399.00
50% of the next $931.00
1/3 of the next $1,696.00

Official Receipts may be reported on the donor's or the donor's spouse's Income Tax Return. If the total donation is over $400.00, the Treasurer usually splits the contribution between two receipts to maximize the household tax credit. (It may not be possible to do this with the new "Elections Ontario Compliant" Contact Resource Manager that automatically issues Official Receipts, to be implemented before the end of 2015.)

Sample Tax Credits

Here are sample of tax credits and net cost of donations for various amounts. Note that the maximum tax credit is realized at a donation of $3,026.00.

Donation	Tax Credit	Net
$10	$7.50	$2.50
$25	$18.75	$6.25
$30	$22.50	$7.50
$50	$37.50	$12.50
$100	$75.00	$25.00
$200	$150.00	$50.00
$300	$225.00	$75.00
$399	$299.25	$99.75
$500	$349.75	$150.25
$750	$474.75	$275.25
$1,000	$599.75	$400.25
$1,330	$764.75	$565.25
$1,500	$821.42	$678.58
$1,600	$854.75	$745.25
$2,100	$1,021.42	$1,078.58
$2,500	$1,154.75	$1,345.25
$3,026	$1,330.03	$1,695.97
$4,000	$1,330.03	$2,669.27
$9,300	$1,330.03	$7,969.97