Bushfire Relief - Helping our fellow Australians

As I'm sure everyone is aware, the bushfires across Australia have been devastating communities all over. From houses to forests, humans to animals, the bushfires have had an affect on everyone's lives.

Costs of the bushfires are approaching $100 billion, with the bushfires being Australia’s costliest natural disaster. An estimated 10.7 million hectares have burnt so far – this is an area the size of South Korea or Scotland and Wales combined

An estimated 1.25 BILLION animals have been killed as a result and this number is sadly climbing every day.

There are a number of organisations that could use your help.

If you'd like, you can donate to the Queensland Rural Fire Service to help our brave firefighter men and women by following this link: ruralfire.qld.gov.au/About/Pages/Donations.aspx

Or you can donate to WWF Australia in aid to the support and care for thousands of injured wildlife by following this link: donate.wwf.org.au

Your donation to some of the organisations may be regarded as a claimable tax deduction, as long as it meets certain conditions.

There are four main conditions to be met in order to claim a tax deduction:

• Make the donation to a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR)
• Must be a genuine donation*
• Must be money or property
• Must keep a record of donation (e.g. receipt)
  

* A donation is a voluntary transfer of money or property where you receive no material benefit or advantage

A deductible gift recipient is an organisation that can receive tax-deductible gifts or donations.

Not every organisation raising money will be a DGR. Take crowd funding platforms, for example, often these are individuals or organisation raise money for a personal cause. These are not a DGR.

You can check if the organisation you are thinking of donating towards is a DGR by logging onto the Australian Business Register Website: abn.business.gov.au/DgrListing.aspx

• Raffle tickets (e.g. Prize Home)
• Fundraising items (e.g. Chocolate Fundraisers)
• Cost of attending Fundraising Dinners
• Payments to School Building Funds
• Gifts to family and friends

If you want your donation to be tax-deductible, go to the DGR website mentioned above. Type in the organisation you want to donate to. If the DGR state’s the organisation is a DGR than any donations over $2 will be tax-deductible.

If the DGR states the organisation is not a DGR then there will be no tax deduction, however, I am sure that organisation will appreciate your generosity and support.

For small business out there, the Regional Investment Corporation (RIC) has announced a drought loan package to supply small business with $500,000.

Remember, some things in life are more important than a tax deduction. Dig deep and generously donate to those organisations that so desperately need our help. It’s the Australian way.

From the team at Mulcahy & Co, our thoughts are with those affected by the bushfires and we are thankful to all the brave men and women fighting the fires.