It has been over 4 weeks that many businesses, non-profits and charities in Canada have either been shut down or are trying hard to adjust to the frequently changing environment. The initial adrenaline has worn off, the days are melting…
We have written about 2 recent notices from the Ontario Public Guardian and Trustee (“PGT”) relating to restricted funds and the pandemic. These are Ontario PGT has issued a “Statement on Accessing Restricted Purpose Trust Funds Prior to Obtaining a Court…
We do regular updates of the portal CharityData.ca. Recently we just added more T3010 data including updated partial 2019 data and all of 2018 data. We are now using 2018 data for searches and there are about 84,000 charities on…
Most Canadians don’t understand how diverse the Canadian charity sector is. The public sometimes has stereotypes of charities – those helping the poor are viewed as charities or registered charities. This stereotype or misunderstanding of the charity sector often benefits…
The CRA’s Charities Directorate is currently closed, however, registered charities can still access online services through what we affectionately call the CHAMP system but CRA now refers to as “Digital Services for Charities through the MyBA portal”. While registered charities…
As everyone knows the CRA Charities Directorate is currently closed. I have been getting requests for data on Canadian charities by charities, researchers and others. Typically, I just tell them to contact CRA who can send the data for free…
Many people at home right now have some time on their hands and some are thinking about updating their wills. Some don’t have wills at all and for others what they have is outdated. While we used to do wills…
Today the Federal government released two documents. One was entitled Government provides further flexibility for employers to access the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and the other Additional Details on the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. Essentially the Federal government is making some…
This is one of those posts that will probably be of interest to very few people. Many have probably not thought of the issue of electronic signatures (or e-signatures) for filings with Corporations Canada. Others may have thought about it…
Blumbergs will soon be releasing a large number of FAQ pages on our website specifically for common questions and issues affecting Canadian registered charities and non-profit corporations during the COVID-19 crisis. In the meantime, here are some of the FAQs…
On April 1, 2020, the Government of Canada announced that it is extending the deadline for filing annual returns for federal corporations. Annual returns that are typically due between February 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020 can now be filed…
Finance today, April 1, 2020, released further information on wage subsidies for business, non-profits and charities. The wage subsidy is about $71 billion in total so it is quite important and we are now getting a better idea of what…
The Ontario Public Guardian and Trustee has issued a “Statement on Accessing Restricted Purpose Trust Funds Prior to Obtaining a Court Order During the COVID19 Pandemic“. Thank you to the CCCC for putting up the statement. The statement will…
The CBC recently reported “Some Toronto-area mosques remain open despite dire warnings about COVID-19“. This might be a problem for a number of different religious groups. It is important for charities from a charity regulation point of view to have…
There is a backlash brewing against charities that are putting up desperate requests for funding but when people look at their annual report, financial statements, website or T3010 they see that the charity has a lot of money or other…
The CRA announced tonight that registered charities filing deadline for the T3010 that were or will be due from March 18, 2020 till December 31, 2020, will only be due on December 31, 2020. This will be a welcome relief…
The COVID-19 crisis is affecting charities in numerous ways. In this short note, we will discuss cancelling events and refunding money or attempting to turn that into a potential charitable donation. We have received a number of inquiries from clients…
Over the last year, Blumbergs has released 8 online courses. In case you are interested we have provided over the next 2 weeks a 50% discount coupon for new registrants wishing to access our Blumbergs charity law courses. We realize…
Here is an updated Canadian Charity Legal Checklist by Mark Blumberg. It is a checklist for Canadian registered charities to assist them with managing compliance issues. We use it as part of our informal risk reviews that we do for…
SEE NEW BLOG WITH UPDATES CRA: Charities Directorate announces extension of T3010 filing deadlines till December 31, 2020 in response to COVID-19 — There has been a lot of pressure on CRA to announce changes to various tax deadlines. We…
Blumbergs is pleased to announce that we will be hosting Blumbergs’ Canadian Charity Law Boot Camp again on Monday, April 20, 2020. An easy enough date to remember! This is a one-day boot camp on compliance and standards issues for…
Canadian registered charities now have more options when it comes to filing their T3010 for 2019. The form can be filed electronically through the CHAMP system (since June 1, 2019) or a registered charity can still file using the paper…
We recently put online CRA letters to registered charities that had been revoked over the last few years as a result of audit. It was interesting to see a number of charities that were revoked just because of being dormant. …
Statistics Canada reported, “While fewer Canadian tax filers made charitable donations in 2018, they were more generous than in 2017.” They noted that “Total donations claimed on tax returns rose 3.9% in 2018 to just under $10.0 billion. While this…