Cultural Gifts Program

Since its establishment in 1978, over $622 million worth of items have been donated through the Cultural Gifts Program. They include visual and decorative arts, Indigenous arts and cultural artefacts, social history and scientific collections and archival material.

The program is administered in accordance with the gift provisions of the income tax law and with the advice of an expert committee, the Committee on Taxation Incentives for the Arts.

The Cultural Gifts Program is administered by a secretariat based at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in Canberra. The secretariat provides advice to program participants and supports the committee.

Further information about the program, how the program works and the Committee is available using the links provided on the left of this page.

Important dates for submission

• Closing date: 2 March 2012
• Meeting: 3 May 2012

Submissions need to be received by the secretariat by close of business on the cut-off date. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Please note that it is the date of donation, as indicated on the Certificate of Donation, that determines in which financial year the donor can claim a tax deduction for their gift, rather than when the donation is considered by the Committee.

Forms and certificates

All Cultural Gifts Program forms have been revised. The new forms are available under Forms and certificates and must be used for all donation paperwork submitted to the Committee.

Cultural Gifts Program and the Resale Royalty Scheme

The Australian Government's resale royalty scheme, which commenced on 9 June 2010, entitles visual artists to 5% of the sale price when their artworks are commercially resold for over $1000. The scheme is established under the Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Act 2009.

Transfers of artwork made through the Cultural Gifts Program do not qualify as commercial resales under the resale royalty scheme as there is no monetary consideration paid for the transfer. Any tax deduction that could be claimed through the CGP is a separate tax matter and does not count as monetary consideration for the purposes of the transfer of ownership of the artwork.

In this section

• About the program
• Cultural Gifts Program donor booklet (PDF - 1 MB)
• Cultural Gifts Program Guide (PDF - 1.4 MB)
• List of participating institutions (PDF - 125 KB)
• List of approved valuers (PDF - 411 KB) or (Word - 1 MB)

Contacts

Secretariat
Cultural Gifts Program
Office for the Arts
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
PO Box 6500
Canberra ACT 2600

Telephone: 02 6210 2829
Facsimile: 02 6210 2906
Email: cgp.mail@pmc.gov.au