A Canadian private members bill, introduced by MP Ted Falk, would change the tax credit for donations to charities. It is called the Fairness in Charitable Gifts Act– Bill C-239. Malcolm Burrows recently wrote a very useful critique of this…
In the Cup Trust case there was an abusive scheme run by a charity and controlled by a trustee, Mountstar. The Mountstar trustee was replaced by an interim manager appointed to take over the affairs of the charity. The interim manager…
It was nice to see the movie Spotlight winning an Academy Award as best picture. The movie focused on a team of Boston Globe investigative reporters who uncovered extensive abuse by priests. The Chronicle of Philanthropy had a very good opinion…
In a recent and lengthy article in the National Post entitled “Who is Awso Peshdary? The case against an alleged Ottawa extremist who police say recruited for ISIL” the article describes the way Mr. Peshdary allegedly recruited for ISIS in…
There was recent case of R. v. Raza, 2015 BCSC 2512 (CanLII). The three accused were tax preparers who were charged with fraud for allegedly being involved with the issuance of false donation receipts.
In the recent case of Canada v. Scheuer, 2016 FCA 7 the Federal Court of Appeal sided with CRA. A number of people who had invested in abusive tax shelter arrangements sued CRA because CRA had issued a tax shelter number. The…
Diane Lebouthillier, the new Minister of National Revenue has announced that the 2012 Conservative government initiative to audit more registered charities on the issue of political activities will be wound down. There is a lot in the release and I…
I will be presenting a webinar for Charity Village on January 28, 2016 on Top 20 Compliance Issues for Canadian Charities. Here is a blurb: Top 20 Compliance Issues for Canadian Charities Are you a board member, senior executive or executive director…
The Charity Commission of England and Wales just released a report entitled Campaigning and political issues arising in the run-up to the 2015 General Election. When they put it out they probably did not think that it is such a special…
Here is part of a press release from the Charity Commission of England and Wales concerning “dominant individuals“. The Charity Commission is urging trustees to guard against dominant individuals taking inappropriate control of their charity’s management. The regulator of charities…
In R. v. Kueviakoe, 2015 ONCJ 681 (CanLII) Ekue Kueviakoe was charged with numerous offences contrary to the Income Tax Act (Canada) because he prepared many false income tax returns. He was fined at a rate of 100% of the tax avoided on…
Today the Canada Revenue Agency announced the revocation of the registration of of the Canadian registered charity Le Refuge des Rescapes for issuing over $2 million in official donation receipts connected with an abusive charity gifting tax scheme. Here is a copy…
It is interesting to see that CRA used to refer to “abusive charity gifting tax schemes” and they appear to be lumping them in with fraud. “Meet Mary & William. Mary and William are a married couple with kids. They have…
The Tax Court of Canada recently released a decision where they dismissed the appeals of former spouses relating to reassessments under the Income Tax Act with respect to their alleged charitable donations made in 2003, 2004 and 2005. The Minister of…
A number of media outlets have reported that allegedly March of Dimes Canada has been hit with a $800,000 fraud over an 8 year period. Here is a report from consumer reporter Sean O’Shea. “Toronto woman charged in alleged defrauding of the…
We have previously blogged about the decision of the Tax Court of Canada in David, R. et al. v. the Queen (TCC) (here and here). In this decision, the court allowed the appeals of the respondents relating to tax credits that had…
On November 9, 2015 I will be presenting a program for the Ontario Bar Association, along with Nevena Urosevic, on Top Compliance Issues for Canadian Charities. It is available both in-person and by webcast. Here is the blurb and information on registration: Top…
Here is an agenda for the Blumbergs' Charity Law Institute 2015. You can register here.
We are compiling a list of Canadian cases dealing with charities, gifting and related issues. Let us know if you have any other suggestions: 1996-04-01 Briarpatch Inc. v. Canada 1996-07-08 Vancouver Regional FreeNet Assn. v. M.N.R. (C.A.), [1996] 3 F.C.…
Mark Blumberg will be team teaching, with Valerie Campbell and Sharilyn Hale, the Humber Fundraising Management Course “Ethical and Legal Issues”. It was previously taught by Ken Wyman so we will have big shoes to fill. Here is more information…
I was delighted to read a publication “Donor Beware: Investigation into the sufficiency of the Canada Revenue Agency’s warnings about questionable tax shelter schemes”. The special report was prepared in December 2013 by J. Paul Dubé, the Taxpayers’ Ombudsman. The…
In the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision Guindon v. Canada – 2015 SCC 41 the SCC has upheld the third party civil penalties provided under the Income Tax Act. I have discussed the Guindon case here (October 2012) and here (June 2013) and…
The CRA has revoked the Canadian Friends of Pearl Children for involvement with what CRA would term an abusive charity gifting tax scheme. Here is the CRA press release: The Canada Revenue Agency revokes the registration of the Canadian…
I made an access to information request of the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board (CPERB) a few years back to ask about documents relating to the use of CPERB as part of abusive charity gifting tax schemes and also…