Split Receipting in Canada: How to Calculate the Advantage and Eligible Amount

A donor gives $200 and receives something in return. The receipt may be for $200, for less than $200, or for nothing at all, depending on what the advantage is and what it is worth. Working out which involves three separate tests applied in a particular order. Two of them are thresholds with numbers attached, one is a question about whether a gift was made at all, and getting the order wrong produces a receipt that is either too generous or unnecessarily small. This guide covers the arithmetic, the two thresholds, and what the receipt has to show.

What is split receipting?

The method for calculating the eligible amount of a gift when the donor received an advantage in return. You subtract the fair market value of the advantage from the fair market value of the gift.

An advantage is what the donor, or someone connected with them, receives in return: goods, services, use of property, or anything else of value. Two conditions have to hold before split receipting applies at all. Your charity must be able to arrive at an accurate figure for the fair market value of that advantage. And the gift minus the advantage must still be a voluntary transfer of property that meets the intention to make a gift threshold.

The order of operations is what people get wrong. Establish the value of the gift, establish the value of the advantage, then apply the two threshold tests, then calculate.

One boundary before going further. Fundraising events, where tickets, meals, auctions and door prizes each carry their own considerations, are covered separately. This article sets out the arithmetic those situations rest on.

When is an advantage too small to matter?

Where the advantages have a combined fair market value not more than $75 or 10% of the fair market value of the gift, whichever is less. That is the de minimis rule, and the advantage does not have to be deducted.

Read the threshold carefully, because it is the lesser of the two figures rather than either one. On a $150 gift, 10% is $15, which is less than $75, so the threshold is $15. On a $2,000 gift, 10% is $200, which is more than $75, so the threshold is $75.

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CRA's own illustration uses a $500 donation with theatre tickets worth $90: 10% of $500 is $50, so the advantage must be $50 or less to be nominal, and $90 is not.

Where the rule applies, issue the receipt for the full amount of the gift. Where it does not, the whole advantage is deducted, not just the part above the threshold.

Two things fall outside the rule entirely. It does not apply to cash or near-cash items such as gift certificates and gift cards, which are always deducted whatever their value. And an advantage is not treated as nominal where its fair market value cannot be ascertained.

There is a third limit that matters for events. The value of the activity that is the object of a fundraising event, such as the meal at a fundraising dinner or the green fees, cart and meal at a golf tournament, is taken into account as an advantage but is not counted when applying the nominal threshold. Event receipting is covered separately.

Document the valuation of the advantage even when you conclude it is nominal. The conclusion is only as good as the figure behind it.

When is the advantage so large that no receipt can be issued?

Where the fair market value of the advantage is more than 80% of the fair market value of the gift. CRA generally considers that there is no true intention to make a gift, so no receipt is issued at all.

CRA's worked example is a $100 donation with a ticket to an art exhibit valued at $50. The intention to make a gift threshold is $80, being 80% of $100, and the $50 advantage falls within it, so a receipt can be issued for the eligible amount. Had the advantage been $81 or more, the threshold would not have been met and no receipt could be issued.

There is a narrow exception. Occasionally the threshold is not met but there was still a clear intention to make a gift, and in that case the donor has to be able to prove that intention to CRA. Treat it as rare rather than as a route around the rule. Where an arrangement is close to the line, or a donor wants to rely on the exception, get legal advice for charities before the receipt goes out. 

This test applies whether or not your charity paid for the advantage. A donated door prize still has a fair market value, and that value counts in the calculation.

Run the 80% test before the de minimis test. If no gift was made, there is nothing to receipt and the de minimis question never arises.

What if you cannot value the advantage?

Then no receipt can be issued. This is the rule that gets missed, and it applies to the gift as well as to the advantage.

Split receipting requires an accurate figure for the fair market value of the advantage. Where that figure cannot be arrived at, the eligible amount cannot be calculated, and a receipt issued on a guess is a receipt issued for an unsupported amount.

The same principle applies to non-cash gifts generally: where the fair market value of a gift cannot be determined, a charity should not issue a receipt for it.

That is a reason to settle valuations before an event or an offer rather than afterwards. An advantage arranged in advance can be priced in advance, and priced advantages make the receipting decision straightforward on the day.

Where you cannot value something, you still have options. Thank the donor properly, record the amount received in your books, and explain why no receipt is being issued. Being clear at the outset avoids the harder conversation later.

What has to appear on the receipt?

A description of the advantage and its amount, alongside the eligible amount, on top of everything a receipt normally carries. The regulations require all three.

Every official receipt carries the standard elements: a statement that it is an official receipt for income tax purposes, your charity's name and address as recorded with CRA, your registration number, the serial number, the place of issue, the date of the gift or the year it was received, the date of issue, the donor's name and address, the amount of the gift, the eligible amount of the gift, an authorised signature, and CRA's name and website.

Where an advantage was received, a description of the advantage and the amount of that advantage must also appear. The eligible amount is required whether or not an advantage exists; the regulation makes the advantage details conditional and the eligible amount unconditional. A receipt that shows only a net figure without describing the advantage is incomplete.

Show the arithmetic on the face of the receipt where you can: the amount of the gift, the advantage, and the eligible amount as a separate figure. It answers the donor's question before they ask it.

Our page of receipt examples shows CRA's own samples for cash and non-cash gifts with and without an advantage, which are the models to build your template from.

How does the advantage show up in your books?

The advantage portion is not gift revenue, and it should not sit in the same account. The receipt and the ledger have to tell the same story.

Where a donor pays $200 and receives an advantage worth $60, the eligible amount is $140. The entry records $200 received, $140 to donation revenue, and $60 to whatever the advantage actually was, such as event or programme revenue. Coding the whole $200 to donations overstates receipted gifts and puts the ledger out of step with the receipt register. Keeping those two amounts in separate accounts from the start is a basic part of bookkeeping for charities, and it is much easier than separating them at year end. 

That split matters on the annual return, because your total eligible amount of receipted gifts comes from the receipts you issued. If the ledger says one thing and the register says another, the reconciliation has to explain the difference.

Keep the valuation working with the transaction: what the advantage was, how it was valued, who valued it, and the receipt number. Three years later that bundle is the answer to a question about one line on a return.

Where split receipting comes up regularly, build the calculation into your receipting process rather than doing it case by case. Questions about how the thresholds apply to a particular arrangement are the kind we answer on our FAQ page, and setting the process up is what ongoing bookkeeping support should handle once.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the de minimis threshold $75 or 10%?

It is the lesser of the two. On a $300 gift, 10% is $30, so the threshold is $30 rather than $75. On a $5,000 gift, 10% is $500, so the threshold is $75.

If the advantage exceeds the de minimis threshold, do we deduct only the excess?

No. Once the threshold is exceeded, the entire fair market value of the advantage is deducted from the value of the gift, not the amount above the threshold.

What if our charity did not pay for the advantage?

It still counts. A donated prize or a sponsored meal has a fair market value, and that value goes into both threshold tests exactly as though you had paid for it.

The advantage is worth 85% of the gift. Can we issue a receipt for the rest?

No. Where the advantage is more than 80% of the value of the gift, CRA generally considers there was no intention to make a gift, so no receipt is issued at all. In rare cases a donor may be able to establish a clear intention to CRA, but that is the donor's burden.

Do we have to value a small token like a branded pen?

You should form a view on its value, because that is what tells you whether the de minimis rule applies. Documenting a nominal valuation takes a moment and supports the decision to receipt the full amount.

Where does the advantage portion go on our return?

Not into your total eligible amount of receipted gifts, which reflects the eligible amounts on the receipts you issued. The advantage portion is recorded in your books according to what it actually was, and reported accordingly.

This article covers the calculation of the eligible amount where a donor receives an advantage, as at September 2026. Fundraising events, gifts in kind and donated services each carry additional considerations and are covered separately. Confirm the current thresholds and receipt content requirements against CRA guidance before changing your receipting process.