Here is the Blumbergs’ submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance for their Pre-budget Consultations 2013. Blumbergs’ House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance- Pre-budget Consultations 2013 submission Some of the themes I touched upon are more…
Mark Rosenman has written an article “Silence Isn’t Golden” for Philantopic of the US Foundation Center. It is well worth reading. “Confronted by headlines about truly questionable practices at a few dozen charities, the response of too many nonprofit leaders…
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has put out an interesting report on “Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing: Vulnerabilities of Legal Professionals”. The report provides interesting case studies, red flags, examples and suggestions for avoiding involvement with money laundering and…
CRA recently released a letter which gives CRA’s views on providing advance tax rulings in respect of leveraged donation arrangements. Following the recent Maréchaux decision and the CRA audits of leveraged donation arrangements, there have been concerns raised regarding the…
David Baines recently retired from the Vancouver Sun. He will be missed. He was prepared to cover stories that others were not. He notes “I learned that it takes money, not just to publish stories, but also to defend them.…
The Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) has overturned a Tax Court of Canada (TCC) decision in Guindon. The FCA found that, in this case in which no notice of constitutional questions was served by Guindon, “the Tax Court did not…
The Charity Commission of England and Wales has offered some advice to donors interested in supporting Syria. I would point out that in Canada the Humanitarian Coalition is now collecting funds for Syria. http://humanitariancoalition.ca/ Here is blurb on the Humanitarian…
The CRA has revoked the registration of The Life Centre Word of Faith Ministries Inc. as a charity. The Globe and Mail covered this story in “Toronto pastor, wife charged in alleged $8.6-million Ponzi scheme” Here is the CRA press…
The Canada Revenue Agency has revoked the charitable registration of the Canadian registered charity Trinity Global Support Foundation. The London Free Press has written extensively on this charity and we have covered here: “FCA case on Trinity Global Support Foundation…
In this case Trinity Global Support Foundation (the “Foundation”) asked the court to delay CRA publishing a notice of intention to revoke the registered charity status until the Foundation’s other legal claims have been dealt with. The FCA ruled against…
Today the Department of Finance released the “Notice of Ways and Means Motion to amend the Income Tax Act, the Excise Tax Act and Related legislation”. This will introduce the First-Time Donor Credit, improve the efficiency of the Tax Court…
The CRA has provided more information on the provision in the 2013 Federal Budget dealing with taxes in dispute and abusive charity gifting tax shelters. Here is a link to the CRA page and the text below: “Taxes in…
I wish it was an April Fool’s joke but unfortunately there are still Canadians investing in the ‘abusive charity gifting tax schemes’. The Globe and Mail had an article today by Paul Waldie discussing “New Canada Revenue rules target charitable…
In an article today in the Globe & Mail entitled “Canada Revenue Agency struggling to put a lid on tax fraud” Kathryn Blaze Carlson discusses false receipting schemes. Here is a link to the article: Here is a link to…
On March 21, 2013 at 4pm, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivered the 2013 Canadian federal budget. There were a number of interesting proposals relating to charities. Some of the highlights include a new temporary First-Time Donor’s Super Credit (FDSC) designed…
Jeff Gray of the Globe and Mail is reporting today in an article “Tax-scheme case revived against Bay Street law firm” that the class action lawsuit against Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP has been certified by a decision of the…
The Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency has announced the revocation of Marketplace Ministries International as a registered charity for its involvement in the “Insured Giving Donation Program tax shelter gifting arrangement”. Here is the CRA press release: …
Here is a CRA press release on a Brampton tax preparer sentenced after “A CRA investigation discovered that false charitable donation claims totalling $858,897 were made on 129 income tax returns prepared by Mr. Adebukunola for clients for the 2004…
Statistics Canada has recently released donor information for 2011. Every year Stats Can puts out this information and people write about it. Stats Can notes: “Charitable donations reported by taxfilers increased 2.6% from 2010 to just under $8.5 billion in…
We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2011 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. The database covers 82,000 of the 86,000 registered charities in Canada that had filed their T3010 and were processed into…
Today the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance (FINA) released its much anticipated report on Tax Incentives for Charitable Giving in Canada. The report discuss “Charitable Donations and Donors in Canada”, “The Regulation of Charities”, “Tax Incentives and their…
The UK is dealing with a scandal right now called The Cup Trust. It involves a complicated scheme to get money refunded through the Gift Aid system. I thought this quote is interesting “Margaret Hodge MP, Labour chairwoman of the…
I missed this article by Vancouver Sun columnist David Baines last summer entitled “Baines: Couple who cheated tax department suffer litany of woes: Chartered accountant Martin Johnson and estranged wife Celia Martin failed to declare fees earned on art donation”. …
It is interesting to note the amount of attention The Cup Trust scheme is receiving in the UK. Members of Parliament are all over it. The media is covering it. There are all sorts of recriminations about who is responsible…