Here is a CRA document we recently received through the ATIP system Compliance Framework for Files with Identified Political Activities. It explains how political activity audit files are identified by CRA, screening criteria used, and different types of audits that may be…
Here is a CRA document we recently received through the ATIP system What type of charities were audited by CRA under the political activity program. It shows as of February 2014 with 31 charities being audited in terms of the 4 heads…
David Sherman, a very knowledgeable and respected Canadian tax writer and practitioner, had expressed a concern that the changes in the 2018 Federal Budget that were meant to have simplified the system for recognizing prescribed foreign universities may have the…
Blumbergs has created the largest Canadian registered charity information portal at www.charitydata.ca with up to 13 years information on every Canadian registered charity. We have just added additional ways to sort data at www.charitydata.ca. You can search by name, BN, Program,…
Here is a heavily redacted memorandum to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from the Privy Council Office (PCO) on the political activities audits. The memo was dated March 28, 2017. For more information on charities and political activities you can see…
CRA has noted on the Charities IT Modernization Project (CHAMP) page that internal divisions will be able to access the CRA online system without obtaining a new BN number. In September of 2017 we blogged about developments relating to “head bodies” and…
Here is the CRA spokespersons talking points for the Release of the Consultation Panel Report on the public consultations on charities and political activity. For more information on charities and political activities you can see our directory on Canadian charities and…
Here is a recent CRA presentation on political activities by Canadian registered charities that has some good examples of allowable and prohibited political activities. It was obtained through ATIP. Some have complained that the examples in CRA's political activities guidance are dated.…
Barry Bussey published an op ed in The Province on the Canada Summer Jobs program and the reluctance of the CRA Minister to release it guidance on religion which has essentially been complete for a number of years. Bussey is…
Statistics Canada has reported that “Total donations reported by Canadian tax filers fell to $8.9 billion in 2016, down 2.7% from 2015.” The Statscan numbers only claims by individuals tax filers and not what was actually donated to charity by individuals, corporations, etc. which in…
The Liberal government has unveiled their 2018 Federal Budget today. Here is our article Canadian Federal Budget 2018 and its impact on non-profits and charities.
[UPDATE – CRA no longer accepts the T2050 form. If you send it in it will be returned to you. You can apply online for a charity application at Apply to become a registered charity. As of March 2021, in a…
CRA has recently updated their guidance RC191 – Qualified Donee Becoming a Prescribed University Outside Canada (CRA). The changes are minor. They have updated the Charities and Giving links to the new Canada.ca website. For a more in-depth discussion of…
In the past US and other charities had mainly looked to establishing a Canadian counterpart non-profit or registered charity when they thought that either there were fundraising opportunities in Canada or they wish to conduct their own charitable activities in Canada. …
If you are an Ontario non-profit corporation under the OCA you might find our article on ONCA helpful: 20 Ways We May Be Able To Help You With ONCA.
There are over 50,000 Ontario non-profit corporations under the Ontario Corporations Act. With the Ontario Government’s recent announcement that the new Ontario Not-For-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA) is being targetted to be brought into force in 2020, these Ontario non-profit corporations…
Last year CRA moved its website from www.cra-arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/ to the super cool Ok it was not CRA moving their website but they were dragged kicking and screaming to the Government of Canada website. Giant waste of time and necessitating many…
The Tax Court of Canada in Isah, A. v. The Queen (TCC) deals with donations disallowed by CRA and the court ultimately decided to impose gross negligence penalties on the taxpayer who submitted fake official donation receipts. The Court discuss the test…
The Department of Finance is reviewing Canada's anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regime. They have published a consultation paper at Reviewing Canada's Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Regime. They are looking for submissions on the discussion paper before April 30, 2018. I have…
Here is CRA's List of Areas of Non-Compliance with Income Tax Provisions – Canadian Public Foundations.
Here is the CRA's List of Areas of Non-Compliance with Income Tax Provisions – Canadian Private Foundations.
The Senate has appointed a Special Committee on the Charitable Sector. For charity sector policy wonks this is absolutely amazing. Yes probably for 30-50 people it feels like Christmas is back again. The mandate is to “examine the impact of…
Here is the CRA's List of Areas of Non-Compliance with Income Tax Provisions – Canadian Charitable Organizations.
P113 – Gifts and Income Tax 2017 is the main CRA publication dealing with gifts and their income tax consequences for Canadian taxpayers. The publication has been revised with some minor changes in 2017. They reflect that the rules for…