Do I get tax relief for donating to a Ukrainian charity?

[joe sod]

Are there any Ukranian charities on that list of approved charities for tax relief?
Also it is the charity that gets the extra money rather than a reduction in the donor's tax bill?

 

[Freelance]

@joe sod

The list of Revenue approved charities is here : https://www.revenue.ie/en/corporate...er-datasets/charities/resident-charities.aspx You can search this. Ukraine doesn't yield any results for me, but some of the homeless and relief charities may be involved with Ukrainian refugees. I know that MSF, UNICEF, and other mainline charities work in Ukraine and some enable you to donate to a specific appeal rather than their general funds should you wish to do so. These are approved by Revenue.

You can also find out a lot more about a charity by looking at this list, https://www.charitiesregulator.ie/en/information-for-the-public/search-the-register-of-charities# This can be very useful as you can look at their reports, governance, accounts etc. One charity I used to donate to had over €5m on deposit for the last few years, so I've dropped them. Another had what I would consider to be unacceptable levels of expenses and advertising, so I changed to a similar charity with lower overheads and a flat management structure.

Full details of the Revenue scheme are here, quoting this as some of the previous links are out of date: https://www.revenue.ie/en/companies...-bodies/charitable-donation-scheme/index.aspx

The answer to your second question is that in the case of personal donations it is the charity that gets the benefit. So if you donate €500, it costs you €500 and you get no reduction in tax or such. Instead the taxman adds 45% (€225) and the charity receives a total of €725. It's slightly different in the case of corporate donations.

 

[joe sod]

@Freelance thanks for the information. I would have thought that given the dire situation Ukraine is in and that Ireland has taken so many Ukranian refugees that at the very least charities within Ukraine that are directly helping keeping the country operational should be included in this list?

 

[Freelance]

@Freelance thanks for the information. I would have thought that given the dire situation Ukraine is in and that Ireland has taken so many Ukranian refugees that at the very least charities within Ukraine that are directly helping keeping the country operational should be included in this list?

It is up to a charity to apply to be listed, and to meet the eligibility criteria. Certain charities that approached me for money in the past either had a blank look on their face when asked if they were eligible, or said that they hadn't bothered applying. I took the view that rather than give to them, I would give to an alternative eligible charity and see the taxman uplift my donation by 45%. Others never followed up, i.e. didn't complete the necessary paperwork to receive the uplift, so I dropped them from future donations. If you have a particular charity in mind I suggest that you ask them if they are eligible. Personally, having had some less than satisfactory experiences with "pop up" charities and other small scale operations, I tend to give to the two I mentioned previously, (MSF and UNICEF) for crisis and emergency relief, as they appear focussed with good governance and a good ratio of funds reaching their endpoint, but that a personal preference.