The law governing donations is primarily found in Articles 725 to 773 of the Civil Code of the Philippines. Article 725 defines donation as an act where a person disposes of property or a right gratuitously in favor of another. The donee must accept the donation.
Without acceptance, the donation has no legal effect. Formalities: For Movable Property: If the value exceeds PHP 5,000, the donation and its acceptance must be made in writing to be valid. No formality is required if the value is below PHP 5,000, but acceptance must still occur.
As mentioned above, to claim a charitable donation, you need to itemize your deductions using Form 1040, Schedule A as part of your tax preparation. Schedule A reports your itemized deductions, including charitable contributions. Fill out this form carefully to ensure accurate information about your donations.
Finance Act, 2023 provided that donations made by a trust / institution (other than towards corpus) shall be treated as application for charitable or religious purposes only to the extent of 85% of such donations.