Donating securities (shares, bonds, mutual funds or other similar securities listed on the Canadian, American or International Stock Exchange) allows you to contribute to the cause you care about at a lower cost.
For this type of donation to be beneficial from a tax perspective, you must transfer the security directly, and not the proceeds from the sale of the security in question. In fact, since 2006, the Canada Revenue Agency and Revenu Québec no longer tax capital gains when securities listed on the stock exchange are transferred to a registered charity like CECI.
Therefore, in addition to receiving a receipt equivalent to the value of the transferred stocks, you save on the capital gains tax. Of course, the greater the capital gains, the greater the benefit of the direct securities transfer.
Your estate can also donate securities listed on the stock exchange and benefit from the same capital gains tax advantages and the charitable receipt. However, your will must stipulate a donation of this type or enable your liquidator to do so. Make sure that you and your liquidator are well informed on the subject by legal and tax advisors.
For more information on planned giving, please contact Ginette Michaud at 514-875-9911 ext. 283, or by email at ginettem@ceci.ca.
