The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed an appeal with costs by the Choson Kallah Fund of Toronto to a Federal Court of Appeal decision which I had written on previously at: CRA Revokes Choson Kallah Fund of Toronto as…
The CRA has just published a very helpful page entitled “Checklist for Charities on Avoiding Terrorist Abuse”. For those interested in reducing the likelihood that someone will abuse the resources and reputation of your charity you may wish to…
CRA has added a disclaimer at the top of its T3010 Registered Charity Information Return information on their website: “The information displayed below has been manually entered by the CRA from the registered charity’s Registered Charity Information Return. This information…
The Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn announces an investment of $3.1 million to assist small and rural charities understand their legal and compliance requirements Charities and Partnership Outreach Program The Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn announces an investment of $3.1 million to assist small…
The Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) recently dealt with a case called The Millennium Charitable Foundation (The Millennium Charitable Foundation vs. MNR 2008 FCA 414). In The Millennium Charitable Foundation case the law firm of Miller Thomson LLP, which represented…
Tax havens and tax evasion costs governments, including Canada, the US and those in the developing world a substantial amount of revenue. Although it undermines Western governments these tax havens devastate the capacity of many Southern countries to provide basic…
April 1st is April Fools Day. There is so much craziness in the Canadian charity sector right now that you can either ignore it, or laugh or cry. I thought that CRA may want to get into the tradition of…
For those interested in celebrating National Avoid a Charity Scam Day you might find this interesting.
Here is some statistical information on Charity Scams – Costing Us All A Lot. Just to give some perspective far more funds flow to charity tax avoidance schemes in Canada than to all the money spent by Canadian charities on…
If you are interested in assisting reduce or eliminate extreme poverty and you want more than writing a cheque to fix a symptom of a problem then you might find this note interesting. Various groups have highlighted the importance of…
Obama has proposed the largest budget in US history. He is planning on various tax cuts for people earning under US$250,000 and various tax increases for those earning over US$250,000. He is also planning on reducing the tax incentives for…
The OECD Report on Abuse of Charities for Money Laundering and Tax Evasion is well worth reading for anyone who cares about the Canadian charitable sector. On my quick read of the report it seems that Canada has probably more…
The Millennium Charitable Foundation Case deals with abusive charitable gifting schemes. The Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) sided with CRA in this matter. It is well worth reading for anyone concerned with the charity sector. The Millennium Charitable Foundation Case…
There are many legal and ethical issues with the donation of pharmaceuticals to developing countries. In this note I will touch upon some of the ethical issues. Over the last few decades the number and uses of pharmaceuticals have increased. …
This CRA Charities Directorate Update presented in November 2009 provides some interesting information and statistics on compliance issues for the sector. Here is a copy of the presentation Mark Blumberg is a lawyer at Blumberg Segal LLP in Toronto, Ontario. …
I was merrily reading the Business Section of the Globe and Mail on February 7, 2009, and there was an advertisement stating: “Donation Tax Shelters Still Make Financial Sense”. The advertisement does not say who it is from. There is…
CRA has launched a new initiative called “Project Trident” in which they are targeting the “Triple Threat Tax Fraud” namely “identity theft, charities?related fraud, and tax preparer fraud.” Here is a copy of the CRA news release: News release…
This article provides information and suggestions as to how a Canadian charity should, and should not, deal with CRA audits. It also discusses possible CRA responses and the likelihood of each response. If you are being audited by the Charities…
CRA has prominently posted the following warning on its website: Under no circumstances should a registered charity lend its registration number to another organization for receipting purposes. A registered charity is responsible for all tax receipts issued under its name…
The problem of abusive charitable tax shelters using the developing world as a marketing tool continues. It just goes to show the importance of dealing with credible and legitimate charities if you want to make the world a better place.…
Here is my updated article on “How Much Should A Canadian Charity Spend on Overhead” Why low overhead may not be a good thing for a charity and what is appropriate? I am occasionally asked ‘what is an appropriate…
Offshore tax havens are very detrimental to the Canadian tax base and under cut our social programs. However, the effect of offshore tax havens on the developing world is far more devastating. I was reading a very good article by…
In April 2008, CRA released a Consultation on proposed policy regarding fundraising by Registered Charities (RC4456-e) (“Fundraising Consultation”). This document is a relatively short six page overview, and CRA has recently provided charities with a more detailed document entitled “Background…
This case dealt with whether the Charities Directorate of CRA requires judicial authorization to request certain information from a registered charity and CRA won the appeal. The CRA note headnote/summary is below. The CRA in Registered Charities Newsletter No. 31…