The Government of Canada is recognizing the negative impact of the four-week postal strike on holiday giving to charities by extending the deadline for claiming 2024 charitable donations until the end of February.
Normally, December 31 would be the last day people could donate to a registered charity this year and claim the donation on their 2024 tax return. That deadline has now been extended to February 28, allowing people to make donations in the first two months of 2025 and still claim the donations for their 2024 taxes.
The federal government will introduce legislation to amend the Income Tax Act to allow for the extension once Parliament returns in the new year.
There are around 86,000 registered charities in Canada, many of which depend on mail-in donations during the holiday season. Many donors to charitable organizations are older Canadians who are more likely to rely on postal mail to make their donations.
When Canada Post workers went on strike from November 15 until after the Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered postal workers back to work on December 17, donation appeal letters either went undelivered or people who had received them were unable to mail donation cheques.
As well as allowing additional time for people to make their donations, the extension will give charities additional time to process donations and issue tax receipts.
The federal government decision comes less than a week after Ontario Premier Doug Ford made an extension request in a letter sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Christmas Eve. Ford sent the letter as chair of the Council of the Federation, which represents all of Canada’s premiers.
“Charitable organizations across Canada depend on year-end fundraising to support their operations throughout the year,” Ford wrote in the letter. “However, this year’s efforts have been severely impacted by the Canada Post strike, which has prevented donors from making their usual holiday donations.”
“For this reason, we are joining charitable organizations from across the country in urging the federal government to extend the deadline for claiming 2024 charitable donations until the end of February 2025,” he added. “This extension would provide much needed support to both charities and the Canadians who rely on their services.”
The request from the premiers followed similar requests from groups representing Canadian charities that the period for 2024 donation receipts be extended into 2025 so that charities could recoup some of the revenues lost due to the postal strike.
