There is a category of qualified donee, ie. organizations that can issue tax receipts, called “municipal or public body performing a function of government in Canada”. This group is largely first nations bands but also could include school districts or…
We have updated the Blumbergs’ 2013 Receipting Kit. Here is a link to the new Blumbergs' 2018 Receipting Kit.
CRA is putting out better notices on donating wisely. I particularly like this advice “Get to know the charity.” Start by visiting the charity’s website to learn about its activities and how it’s managed. You can also review its financial…
On November 28, 2013 the Supreme Court of Canada denied leave to appeal in the case of Prescient Foundation v. Minister of National Revenue. The SCC awarded costs against the appellant. Here is the SCC docket. Here are some of…
The Federal Court of Appeal has decisively dismissed the Kossow appeal. Kossow dealt with what CRA would term an “abusive charity gifting tax scheme”. Kossow is the second major case dealing with these schemes, the first one being Marechaux. The…
John Montague has written an article entitled “The Law and Financial Transparency in Churches: Reconsidering the Form 990 Exemptions” in the Cardozo Law Review. In the US, churches don’t have to file the Form 990 annual return, however, in Canada…
Industry released today draft regulations to Canada’s Anti-spam Legislation (CASL) which will now come into effect on July 1, 2014. An important exclusion that will be welcomed by registered charities is that the Act does not apply to an electronic…
The CRA put a reminder on their website today “Does your organization make its resources available to, or work with a municipal or public body performing a function of government in Canada, such as a First Nation? The December 31,…
I just reviewed the latest T3010 data disk for 2013 and here are the descriptions of activities for political activities by Canadian charities. This is only based on 7900 of the approximately 86,000 charities. Description Wrote less than 5 letters…
In this decision, Ms. Sowah appealed the Minister of National Revenue’s assessment of her 2006 taxation year in which her charitable donation claim was denied. The court found that the charitable receipts issued by the charity did not contain all…
In this decision, a taxpayer appealed the Minister of National Revenue’s denial of his claim for a charitable donation in 2009. The amount he claimed represented his estimate of the fair market value of the use by a registered charity…
The Humanitarian Coalition has launched an appeal for Typhoon Haiyan which has killed many people in the Philippines and left many homeless. “The Humanitarian Coalition is a joint appeal mechanism. It is comprised of CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Québec, Plan…
Saskatchewan has introduced a bill that would regulate informal public appeals. This will cover situations like when a fire destroys a family home and funds are raised to help the family and what to do if there are excess funds…
We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2011 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. We provided an overview of the whole charity sector in the Blumbergs’ Charity Sector Snapshot 2011. We have taken a…
We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2011 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. We provided an overview of the whole charity sector in the Blumbergs’ Charity Sector Snapshot 2011. We have taken a…
The Finance Committee of the House of Commons has been holding hearings. A number of charities have presented. Many charities have sent in submissions. Here is a link to the Minutes of Proceedings: http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=6292712&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=41&Ses=2 “MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS Meeting No.…
The Accounting Standards Board and Public Sector Accounting Board are asking for comments by December 15, 2013 on some changes to the principles affecting non-profit accounting. The document is entitled “Improvements to Not-for-Profit Standards (Applicable to Private and Public Sector…
At the website of the Toronto class action law firm Paliare Roland they have a note that “On Friday, October 18, 2013, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved the settlements with the Law Firm Defendants (including Edwin C. Harris…
Here is an interesting series of letters from CRA to the Corban Foundation in the 1990s relating its revocation as a registered charity. It deals with the meaning of a gift, and various programs to provide tuition assistance to those…
Peter Braid on October 23, 2013 withdrew his bill entitled “An Act respecting a National Charities Week and to amend the Income Tax Act (charitable and other gifts)”. We welcome the withdrawal of the private members’ bill as we, and…
Here is an interesting series of letters from CRA to the Corban Foundation in the 1990s relating its revocation as a registered charity. It deals with the meaning of a gift, and various programs to provide tuition assistance to those…
Presentation to the Schulich School of Business, York University on Structures for Social Enterprise I enjoyed giving a presentation tonight to an MBA class at Schulich School of Business at York University on Structures for Social Enterprise. Great students and…
I enjoyed giving a presentation tonight to an MBA class at Schulich School of Business at York University on Structures for Social Enterprise. Great students and lots of questions. Here is a copy of my presentation Structures for Social Enterprise.
I am looking at a number of old audit letters from CRA. In one of the audit letters it discusses the CRA’s views on director compensation. We have previously discussed this issue on our blog. Here are some paragraphs from…