Kiva Donations And Canadian Income Tax

[Guest]

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[Sherri]

Hi all you Canadian Kiva Lenders,

I asked my Tax accountant whether donations to American 501(3)(c) charities can be deducted from my Canadian Income Taxes and this was the response:

In general, donations to American charities are deductible only from US source income taxed here in Canada.  There are a few exceptions if the Government of Canada has made a gift to that charity in the current year.

So the answer is NO, unless you make US income, or if the gov of Canada has donated to that same charity (because they make up the rules to benefit their own donation I suppose!).

This won't stop my donations to Kiva, but just thought I'd post the info for anyone wondering, now that I have a definitive answer.

[P, B and J]

Thanks Sherri! 

[Jan & John]

I was looking ahead to tax time and wondering about all my donations to Kiva...
They are starting to add up. 
Then I found this thread.

So I wrote to Kiva's contactus and this is the reply I got...

"Unfortunately, Kiva is not registered in Canada yet. Our apologies for the inconvenience. We hope to be able to complete this in the future, as our staff grows and we're able to complete more things."

Do you think it would be a big step for Kiva to take? 
Or is it just one hurdle they haven't addressed yet? 
I keep forgetting that Kiva is only 3 years old and expect too much perhaps.

I also donate to Education Generation and they are based in Vancouver but all donations go through PayPal in US dollars so I was also confused with what to do here.  When I go to Education Generation I get a link to Global Agents for Change and it appears to me that they have both a Canadian and US charitable registration number.  I am then assuming that I can use my donations to Education Generation here in Canada but I wouldn't know whether to use the CAD amount or the US  

I guess there is no rush, we have to get Christmas over before we think taxes
jan

[MortgagesLab]

I believe Kiva will be registered in Canada as a non profit in the near future and when they register you may be able to take all your money in your account and deduct it.
I just started a program where you can contribute to Kiva even without using your own money, any feedback is appreciated....!
http://www.mortgageslab.com/kiva/