The Cultural Gifts Program offers tax incentives to encourage people to donate cultural items to public art galleries, museums, libraries and archives in Australia.

How it works

Who can apply
If you have an item recognised as important to Australia’s culture you can donate it and receive a tax deduction. Gifts include paintings, books, sculptures, manuscripts, personal papers, jewelry, ceramics, technological or scientific collections.
When to apply
You can apply to have your gift recognised under Australian tax law at any time. Tax deductions for the market value of the gift. Property donated is exempt from capital gains tax and the tax deduction may be spread over a period of up to five years.
Contact us
Phone: 02 6271 7106 Email: cgp.mail@arts.gov.au Address: Cultural Gifts Program Department of Communications and the Arts GPO Box 2154 Canberra  ACT 2601

Program Information

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About The Program

The Cultural Gifts Program offers tax incentives to encourage people to donate cultural items to Australian public collections.

Gifted items can include visual and decorative arts, Indigenous arts and cultural artefacts, social history and scientific collections, and archival material.
We manage the program under the gift provisions in Australia's income tax law and with advice from technical experts.

Under the program you could get the following tax incentives for your gift:

  • The market value of the gift is fully tax deductible, with some exceptions.
  • You can choose to spread the deduction across up to five income years.
  • Gifts are exempt from capital gains tax.
  • If you arrange for valuations for your gift, the cost of those valuations is tax deductible.

Please note: Gifts donated under a will or made by executors of deceased estates are not tax deductible and do not qualify for the program.
Each donation involves:

  • a participating recipient institution
  • the donor
  • at least two approved valuers, and
  • us.

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