Spreading Donation or Gift Deduction

I have a question in regards to the election to spread a donation or gift deduction. The ATO website states that you can spread the tax deduction for a gift of money of $2 or more and the election can spread the tax deduction over up to five income years. The ATO states that the percentage for each year does not need to be the same but the total percentage over the years cannot exceed 100%.  

My question is, if I do not benefit from the deduction of donations in the first year, is it possible for the percentage of the first year to be 0% (or 1% if an amount must be included in the first year) ？ I would like to keep as much of the donations available to claim in future years if possible. 

 

The provision to spread a donation over five years is set out in Subdiv 30-DB of ITAA 1997. Section 30-248(2) states that “in the election, you must specify the percentage (if any) of the deduction that you will deduct in each of the income years”. The inclusion of the bracketed ”if any” clearly anticipated that a taxpayer may in one or more of the five years choose not to deduct any of the charitable donations and therefore, to deal with your query, provided the election is made in time and in the correct format, you would be able choose to deduct 0% in the first year.