The CRA in May 2015 updated their guide Registering a Charity for Income Tax Purposes T4063(E). The Guide is the main source of information from CRA to assist the public with charity applications. The main change between the 2013 version of…
Recently the IRS has released an adverse determination letter dealing with discretion and control over grants to foreign organizations by an “American Friends of …” organization. What is interesting, but certainly not new, is the US requirements for “discretion and control”…
CRA recently released a letter that discusses the tax implications of an affordable housing provider (an entity described in paragraph 149(1)(l) of the Income Tax Act (the “Act”)) that wanted to provide long-term leasing of its parking spots to a business owned…
Here is an article entitled Canadian Charities Conducting International Activities (2015). It will be of interest to Canadian charities that are, or considering, operating outside of Canada.
The involvement of charities in political activities has been a major story since 2012. The 2012 Federal Budget introduced new reporting requirements for charities for 2013 but does not fundamentally affect the ability of charities to engage in political activities.…
Over 5000 Canadian registered charities operate outside of Canada and they cumulatively spend around $3 billion per year on foreign activities. The Fundamentals of International Activities by Canadian Registered Charities is a 1/2 day presentation with charity lawyer Mark Blumberg which…
I was delighted to present as part of a panel at the Université de Montréal Charity Law Conference 2015 on May 8, 2015. The panel was entitled The Modern Charities Regulator and my presentation was entitled “Overview of the Regulatory Environment in Canada…
The Bottom Line recently published an article entitled Ontario non-profits await new legislation by Mark Blumberg. The article discusses options for Ontario non-profits including waiting for ONCA or moving forward to the new CNCA and skipping ONCA altogether. The Bottom Line…
I made an access to information request of the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board (CPERB) a few years back to ask about documents relating to the use of CPERB as part of abusive charity gifting tax schemes and also…
In a decision on April 9, 2015 in the Federal court The Honourable Madam Justice Mactavish dealt with an issue of whether The International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy (Canada) (“IRFAN”) could use funds to pay past and future legal…
CBC recently reported in an article “Giving Tree Foundation to be stripped of charity status: Charity that gives $2M a year to children's causes faces demise after tax review“. CBC notes “The group has a relationship with EquiGenesis Corp., a company…
In a recent Toronto Star article entitled “Critics say Fraser Institute letter highlights ‘enormous lack of clarity’ in charity-audit rules” the Toronto Star discusses a letter from the Fraser Institute to supporters. The article raises some interesting points but I…
CRA has recently released an updated Information Sheet on GST/HST Guidelines for Charities. The Information Sheet provides basic information on how the GST/HST applies to many issues commonly faced by charities and replaces the previous Information Sheet from June 2011. CRA has also released…
Properly issuing official donation receipts has been challenging for many registered charities. According to the CRA, 89% of registered charities that are audited are not correctly issuing official donation receipts. Issuing incorrect receipts can result in revocation or penalties. It…
Blumbergs will be holding a half-day seminar on May13, 2015, Fundamentals of Employment Law for Charities and Non-Profits from 9AM-12PM. This seminar covers the pitfalls associated with employment law that can result in costly problems for charities and not-for-profit…
As many have noted the Ontario budget was not that exciting. There is one sentence on ONCA hidden at the end of a paragraph on business modernization. “As an early priority, the government will take steps to enable the proclamation…
We have blogged about the CRA Program Update 2015 separately but wanted to focus here on what the update provides in terms of information on the political activity audits of CRA's Charities Directorate. CRA should be commended for publishing a…
Sowa v. Canada involves an alleged donation of $10,250 in 2006 by Emily Sowa. The Tax Court of Canada “doubted the truthfulness of the appellant’s claim that she donated $10,250.00.” Also the purported receipt did not contain all…
The case of Humanics Institute v. Minister of National Revenue deals with the refusal of CRA to register an organization as a charity in the category of advancement of religion. The Humanics Institute had lost in the Federal Court of Appeal and…
The Canadian Charity Law Association is delivering some upcoming webinars. More information on each of these webinars and how to register is provided below: July 15th, 2015 at 12:00 PM EDT: “Should we set up a Canadian Charity and if…
Today the Federal government released its budget. There were a few items that will impact charities and non-profits in Canada. Here are the actual provisions in the 2015 Federal budget that impact charities. Here are some of the highlights of…
We have just released the Blumbergs' Snapshot of the Canadian Charity Sector 2013 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. The database covers about 83,000 of the 86,000 registered charities in Canada that had filed their T3010 and were processed…
The Charities Directorate of CRA has released the Charity Program Update 2015. We will discuss the update in this note, except for the parts dealing with political activities which we will discuss here. The Charity Program Update 2015 provides some interesting…
CRA recently released a letter which discusses whether a park qualifies as a 'municipal or public body performing a function of government' in Canada within the meaning of paragraph 149 (1) (c) of the Act. CRA concluded that they would…