Gifts of Stock and Securities

In 1997 the federal government launched a charitable donation program to encourage the support of charities. Under it, capital gains on securities donated to charity are taxed at half the rate. Before the program was announced the tax rate of capital gains was 50%, now it's 25%. Eligible under this program are stocks, bonds, mutual funds and any security traded on a prescribed stock exchange.

The provision, which lowered the capital gains rate by 50% on gifts of qualified stock to charities, was scheduled to expire at the end of 2001. However, the federal government, in recognizing the expanding role played by the charitable sector in Canadian society has made the reduction permanent.

Prior to the reduction in the capital gains, many individuals wanted to make a charitable gift of stock but didn't because the tax consequences were simply too detrimental.

Now consider this example showing the tax credit of publicly traded securities that originally cost $1000 and are now valued at $2000:

Downloadable Gift of Securities forms:
-Gifts of Securities_Canadian
-Gifts of Securities_US

Please contact us for more information:
Liza Smithies Senior Development Officer
lsmithies@environmentaldefence.ca
(877)399-2333 ext. 260
(416)323-9521 ext. 260