28 thoughts on “Canadian Charitable donations may be claimed on USA taxes”

1. If the treaty changed then Petros might be right, but the previous US – Canada treaty definitely did not provide it. The few times that I needed to itemize deductions on a US return when living in Canada, the US only allowed deductions for contributions to Canadian charities from Canadian sourced income. If I had UK sourced income and gave it to a Canadian charity, the US wouldn’t allow a deduction, at that time.

   However, what kind of job is Nathan doing? If he’s not a diplomat and he’s performing labour in Canada, his salary is likely to be deemed Canadian sourced no matter who the payer is.

2. Yes, I am in Canada on a diplomatic posting, so my income would not be Canadian sourced. I was hoping to be able to make local Charitable gifts while posted here, and itemize them on my 1040 like I do for U.S. charities..

   Thanks for your thoughtful suggestions.

3. https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/charitable-contribution-deductions

   Foreign Organizations

   The organizations listed in Exempt Organizations Select Check with foreign addresses are generally not foreign organizations but are domestically formed organizations carrying on activities in foreign countries. These organizations are treated the same as any other domestic organization with regard to deductibility limitations.
   Certain organizations with Canadian addresses listed may be foreign organizations to which contributions are deductible only because of tax treaty. Besides being subject to the overall limits applicable to all your charitable contributions under U.S. tax law, your charitable contributions to Canadian organizations are subject to the U.S. percentage limits on charitable contributions, applied to your Canadian source income. A deduction for a contribution to a Canadian organization is not allowed if the contributor reports no taxable income from Canadian sources on the United States income tax return, as described in Publication 597.

   Except as indicated above, contributions to a foreign organization are not deductible

   https://www.fin.gc.ca/treaties-conventions/usa_-eng.asp

   ARTICLE 21 Exempt Organizations

   5. For the purposes of United States taxation, contributions by a citizen or resident of the United States to an organization which is resident in Canada, which is generally exempt from Canadian tax and which could qualify in the United States to receive deductible contributions if it were resident in the United States shall be treated as charitable contributions; however, such contributions (other than such contributions to a college or university at which the citizen or resident or a member of his family is or was enrolled) shall not be deductible in any taxable year to the extent that they exceed an amount determined by applying the percentage limitations of the laws of the United States in respect of the deductibility of charitable contributions to the income of such citizen or resident arising in Canada. The preceding sentence shall not be interpreted to allow in any taxable year deductions for charitable contributions in excess of the amount allowed under the percentage limitations of the laws of the United States in respect of the deductibility of charitable contributions. For the purposes of this paragraph, a company that is a resident of Canada and that is taxable in the United States as if it were a resident of the United States shall be deemed to be a resident of the United States.