CRA has recently announced that starting in late 2018, registered charities will be able to file their annual Form T3010, Registered Charity Information Return online through the Canada Revenue Agency’s My Business Account (MyBA). Currently the T3010 form must be printed and…
We were recently informed by the CRA Charities Directorate that the generic CRA email address previously provided for certain communications with CRA is no longer available. Regular communications with CRA should continue being completed through mail, courier or fax. Our previous…
The CRA has included a lengthy privacy statement in its T3010 after the certification and before the “checklist”. This was not included in the 2016 return. Hidden and barely noticeable within the text is “Incomplete or inaccurate information may result in…
CRA has recently released two new videos as part of their Gifting and Receipting video series. These videos are as follows: Auctions: when you can issue donation receipts and Auctions: advantage and 80% rule. The CRA videos can be…
You can subscribe to the Blumbergs' Charity Law List here. It is a great way for directors and staff of non-profits and charities to keep on top of developments affecting the non-profit and charity sector.
Here is a recent Charity Village article by Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf entitled Setting a new tone: The newly released report on the political activities of charities. The article discusses The Report of the Consultation Panel on the Political Activities of Charities and…
The New York Times recently had an article Canada Debates Whether Gift of Leibovitz Photos Is Also a Tax Dodge which discusses a donation of photographs taken by Annie Leibovitz. There was also coverage in the CBC, another CBC and Toronto Star.…
Global News recently had coverage entitled “Government revokes group’s charity status, audit cites possible funding of Pakistani militants” which discusses two recent revocations of Canadian charities. The revocations also seem to be news in India. Here is an article and…
The Ontario Government is looking at adding a regulation to the Charities Accounting Act that would allow in certain circumstances compensation for directors without specific legislation or court order. “The regulation would authorize incorporated charities to pay their directors and…
The Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (“CNCA”) permits a not-for-profit corporation that is incorporated under another act (such as a provincial non-profit act) to continue (import) to the CNCA provided that the other act permits the continuance. This allows a not-for-profit corporation…
The Canada Revenue Agency's website, which includes the Charities Directorate, will apparently be moving to the new www.canada.ca domain on July 11, 2017. The old CRA pages will remain up during the interim period of the move. Hopefully those…
The Globe and Mail published an article titled “Canadian cancer charities merge amid crowded donation field” which discusses the recent merger between Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada and Colon Cancer Canada. Although this has been compared to the recent merger…
Corporations Canada has service standards for the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (“CNCA”). For example, an online incorporation is 90% of the time done either the day of filing or the next day. Other incorporations are handled within 5…
There were supposed to be 2 important changes taking place on July 1, 2017 with Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL). The first was a new “private right of action” for individuals to sue businesses and charities if they received commercial electronic…
Corporations Canada of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada has been dissolving non-profit corporations that are under the Canada Corporations Act (CCA) but have not continued to the new Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (“CNCA”). Corporations Canada has advised me that as…
The CRA sent out an email to certain stakeholders on June 20, 2017 announcing that they will no longer be accepting charity applications with draft governing documents. We will discuss the impact below. For those wanting charity status, you will need…
The Canadian Charity Law Association (CCLA) is pleased to present: Charities, Regulation and Donors – some international perspectives on June 22, 2017 at 8:30AM in Toronto. The 1/2 day program will cover 4 thought provoking topics (see bios below) and…
In this article Some of the Canadian charities that spend the most on political activities? I have not only listed some of the Canadian charities that spent the most on political activities but also showed readers how they can find and sort the…
In this note Which Canadian charities had the largest assets in 2015? it identifies Canadian charities that had assets of over $10 million as identified for the 2015 fiscal year. The total assets identified are $397,833,310,726.00. This does not account for…
There are over 294,000 records of Canadian charities gifting to qualified donees in total (both within and outside of Canada). We reviewed the list and have compiled a list of gifts over $1.3 million to foreign qualified donees only for…
Here is a article “Largest Gifts from Canadian Charities to other Qualified Donees for 2015” with a list of all gifts over $1,000,000 from the 2015 T3010 Registered Charity Information Returns from one registered charity to another qualified donee.
Over the past 25 years there have been 447 Canadian registered charities that the Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has revoked as a result of audit, formerly known as revocation for cause. Here is an article entitled…
Here is an article entitled Total revenue received from all sources outside Canada by Canadian Registered Charities in 2015 which lists the Canadian charities that received the largest contributions from outside of Canada. The charity world is increasingly international…
The Government of Canada announced on June 7, 2017 that it is “suspending the implementation of certain provisions in Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL) in response to broad-based concerns raised by businesses, charities and the not-for-profit sector.” These provisions were not yet in force…