Unfortunately, we’re dealing with a postal strike that could last for weeks or longer. For many Canadian charities, they will barely notice the Canada Post strike. However, for other charities, it could have a significant impact in terms of fundraising…
On Friday, Madam Justice Whyte Nowak of the Federal Court dismissed a motion by JNF Canada to reverse the publication in the Canada Gazette of the revocation of its charitable status. The Federal Court has decided to dismiss this motion.…
I noticed that the Charities Directorate has issued a large number of penalties. Here is the list of registered charities that are currently listed as penalized on the Charities Listing: Organization name Status Type of qualified donee Province/Territory City…
The Department of Finance has put out a press release and backgrounder, which are reproduced below, about a complicated change to the Income Tax Act (“ITA”) relating to registered charities that offer reproductive health services or information or referrals to…
In a recent decision the Ontario Court of Appeal rejected a request by a charity to seal documents in a court proceeding. Here is some background on the matter and an explanation of the meaning of this decision. The Muslim…
There was a recent article from the JTA and appearing in the Jerusalem Post “Canadian crackdown on Israel-linked charities raises concerns in Jewish community“. The article represents a number of very different perspectives relating to the JNF Canada revocation and…
Recently, the Ne’eman Foundation was revoked by CRA for a number of reasons. The Neeman Foundation announced immediately after its revocation that another charity, The Emunim Fund, was taking over the donors and programs. The Emunim Fund was incorporated on…
On December 19, 2023 CRA published their Guidance CG-032, Registered charities making grants to non-qualified donees. The new guidance is helpful, but because of the complexity of the wording from the Income Tax Act (Canada) and the lack of case…
The Jewish National Fund of Canada (“JNF Canada”) has been recently revoked as a registered charity by the Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency. JNF Canada has appealed the decision in the Federal Court of Appeal. Various parties critical…
If you have finished reading the 358 pages of documents that we posted on our blog relating to the revocation of JNF Canada from the CRA, JNF Canada has now released additional letters. I noticed that, amongst the many pages…
I was very pleased today to see the Report on the Charities Program 2022 to 2023 from the Charities Directorate. Lots of interesting information and statistics from CRA. Here is the CRA report: Report on the Charities Program…
Some registered charities funding projects outside of Canada, unfortunately, are not complying with the Canadian rules for such activities. Not complying with the rules can lead to revocation. Generally speaking, a Canadian registered charity works with (and sends funds to)…
The Canadian Jewish News (CJN) published an article today by reporters Ellin Besner and Jonathan Rothman, “Read about why JNF Canada lost charitable status after a decade of problems“. We received last week from CRA a copy of the Notice…
The CRA has recently posted more information on charities and terrorism. They also included an infographic “Protect your charity from terrorist abuse”. While not explicitly stated this new set of pages replaces the short “Checklist for Charities on Avoiding Terrorist…
Here are the CRA letters relating to the Ne’eman Foundation Canada Notice of Intention to Revoke. I would recommend that any charity that conducts foreign activities carefully review the letters. The revocation and the letters supporting that revocation have not…
CRA recently revoked a registered charity. There is a 59-page letter detailing the many reasons. One paragraph I thought was quite interesting: CRA notes: The Organization reported the majority of its disbursements on line 4920 ”All other expenditures not included…
Charities do millions of transactions every year. When is a transaction with, for example, an individual or for-profit corporation appropriate, and when is it an undue benefit? CRA recently, in a revocation letter, had a very good summary of…
There are so many weird, wonderful, and inaccurate things I hear about Canadian charities, compliance and CRA audits. Anyway nice to see CRA updating information on compliance for Canadian registered charities. CRA also provides further updated statistics below. What is…
On August 14, 2024 the CJN released a podcast entitled “JNF Canada ‘blindsided’ after Ottawa fully revokes charity status. What’s next?” “On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we ask Mark Blumberg, a Canadian tax lawyer and charity expert, whether JNF…
[Update August 23, 2024 – now CRA has released further explanatory notes including Explanatory Notes to Legislative Proposals and further Explanatory Notes to the Legislative Proposals Relating to the Income Tax Act and Regulations – August 2024 and I have…
We obtained today a copy of the Jewish National Fund of Canada Notice of Appeal. It is interesting in that it gives a better sense than the press releases from JNF Canada of what the general areas of CRA concern…
Jewish National Fund of Canada is a Canadian registered charity. They advised today that the CRA has decided to revoke their registered charity status and they were appealing to the Federal Court of Appeal. None of the CRA letters have…
We have discussed before how Mr. Justice Markus Koehnen dismissed the Muslim Association of Canada’s lawsuit against the Canada Revenue Agency previously: Ontario judge dismisses case by Muslim Association of Canada which had challenged the CRA’s audit of that organization…
Here is the press release from CRA: Fugitive Brampton tax preparer caught and jailed for $34 million fraudulent charitable donation scheme March 22, 2024 Brampton, Ontario Canada Revenue Agency The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced today that Festus Bayden…