As we noted earlier on “Ontario government making changes to edge towards bringing in ONCA” article, the Ontario government has been working since September 14, 2017 on passing legislation called The Cutting Unnecessary Red Tape Act, 2017 that not only…
Canada has an unusually generous system in which foreign universities that have a couple of Canadian students studying there can obtain the equivalent of Canadian registered charity status with almost none of the obligations. Here is an article describing that…
The Charity Commission of England and Wales has released a guidance Grant funding an organisation that isn’t a charity. It sets certain standards when an English charity provides a grant to a group that is not a charity such as a…
CRA has provided information through ATIP on third-party civil penalties from 2009 to 2016. The number of completed third-party penalty audits where it was determined that the penalty would be applied is 67. The amount of the penalties was about $164 million. Here…
Here is a presentation from the Charities Directorate to Minister Lebouthillier about options for political activities. It provides a good overview of the issues and some of the options. It is provides a concise summary of some legislative and other changes. Some…
There are approximately 32,000 registered charities in Canada that are religious charities. They account for approximately 40% of all the registered charities in Canada. It is important that Canadian registered charities are aware of CRA‘s views on what is religion and…
We have just released the Blumbergs’ Snapshot of the Ontario Charity Sector 2015. We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2015 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. We had previously provided a 2015 overview of the…
Today the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care issued a Directive on Hospital Naming. Hospitals in Ontario will want to review the Directive carefully. Also here is the Hospital Naming Approval Process. Thanks to Ken Mayhew, Government Relations Liaison of…
In July 2016 the Income Tax Rulings Directorate of CRA wrote to the Charities Directorate clarifying the procedure for reviewing whether aboriginal bands should be viewed as qualified donees. Very importantly the CRA ITR Directorate concluded “it is our view that…
In a press release from ESDC entitled “Canadians are invited to share their ideas on the development of a Social Innovation and Social Finance Strategy“, the Federal government is doing an online consultation on social innovation and social finance. You…
[UPDATED RECEIPTING KIT 2018] We have just released our updated Blumbergs' Receipting Kit 2017. The Blumbergs' Receipting Kit 2017 is for Canadian registered charities and other qualified donees who wish to issue official donation receipts under the Income Tax Act (Canada), which…
Mark Blumberg will be delivering two upcoming Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CPA Ontario) charity programs: Charity Fundraising and Receipting Rules – A Primer for Accountants and T3010 and Transparency in the Charitable Sector. Here are the text descriptions of the 2 upcoming…
The Ontario government is moving to pass the Cutting Unnecessary Red Tape Act, 2017. The Act does many things but importantly for Ontario non-profits “The proposed amendments would enable the future proclamation of the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA). The proposed amendments…
CRA has just published a lengthy page on Personal information of directors, trustees and like officials that discusses how the Charities Directorate uses personal information provided in a charity application and in your registered charity's annual filings. Here are the top 10…
The CRA has reminded B.C. Societies to make the necessary transition under new B.C. Societies Act by the BC deadline of November 28, 2018 or face dissolution of their society. As CRA notes “If your corporate status is dissolved, you are…
The CRA has published its Guidance CG-028 Head bodies and their internal divisions on September 22, 2017. It discusses what is a head body and what is an internal division and what CRA will require for registration as a charity. This guidance…
The CRA has updated its Guidance CG-014, Community economic development activities and charitable registration to discuss the topic of whether a charity can help small businesses in a disaster and to what extent. As we have had and will continue…
Although the CRA has little guidance on internal controls, they are increasingly focusing on internal controls, or the lack thereof, in charities. Internal controls are “a procedure or policy put in place by management to safeguard assets, promote accountability, increase efficiency,…
CRA recently released a letter that discusses whether a transfer of property by a corporation to its shareholder that is a private foundation is a gift for purposes of section 38(a.1) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) such that the taxable capital…
The Canada Revenue Agency recently released its views on when the adjusted cost base of a life insurance policy may be used to determine the cost of a life insurance policy when a life insurance policy is gifted to a…
An interesting new report from The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) as well as the Australian Transactions Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) published on August 28, 2017 looked at “the risk of money laundering and terrorism financing in the not-for-profit sector, key vulnerabilities and…
Here is Blumbergs' comments on the Ontario Government Proposal to Allow Compensation of Directors of Charities Without Court Order that were submitted to the Ministry of the Attorney General today.
Here is information on the position. Here is the text of the job listing https://www.indeed.ca/cmp/Blumberg-Segal-LLP/jobs/Associate-Lawyer-d4ccc44389cd3344?q=lawyer+charity Associate Lawyer – Charity and Non-Profit Blumberg Segal LLP is a small law firm in downtown Toronto focusing on charity/non-profit law, corporate law and litigation.…
CRA has been encouraging charities to file their T3010 and now they are trying something new – automated phone calls. A recent communication from CRA states: The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has started making automated courtesy calls notifying registered…