The Canada Revenue Agency ('CRA') recently revoked the charitable registration of the ACTLAP Children's Foundation (A.C.F.). CRA revoked the charitable status on the basis that the organization had operated primarily for the non-charitable purpose of furthering a tax shelter donation arrangement,…
The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court decision which endorsed the Law Society of Upper Canada's decision to not accredit Trinity Western University's law school because of their “community covenant”. Here is the original decision Trinity Western University…
The CBC in an article entitled “Charity tax fraud to cost brothers their freedom” how two brothers were each sentenced to over 4 years for being involved in charity fraud over nearly $5 million. It shows how the CRA is…
Blumbergs will be holding a half-day seminar on Tuesday June 21, 2016, Fundamentals of Employment Law for Charities and Non-Profits from 1PM-4PM. You can register here.
A Canadian private members bill, introduced by MP Ted Falk, would change the tax credit for donations to charities. It is called the Fairness in Charitable Gifts Act– Bill C-239. Malcolm Burrows recently wrote a very useful critique of this…
The Charity Commission of England and Wales has released two very interesting regulatory case reports including the Regulatory Case Report – The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and Regulatory Case Report -The Roddick Foundation. These reports are interesting in that they discuss grants…
In the Cup Trust case there was an abusive scheme run by a charity and controlled by a trustee, Mountstar. The Mountstar trustee was replaced by an interim manager appointed to take over the affairs of the charity. The interim manager…
I look forward to the AFP GTA Fundraising Day 2016 which will be held on June 9, 2016. There will be various speakers and panels. I will be on a panel with Bruce MacDonald (Imagine Canada), Hilary Pearson (PFC), Caroline Riseboro (Plan International), Stewart…
It was nice to see the movie Spotlight winning an Academy Award as best picture. The movie focused on a team of Boston Globe investigative reporters who uncovered extensive abuse by priests. The Chronicle of Philanthropy had a very good opinion…
In a recent and lengthy article in the National Post entitled “Who is Awso Peshdary? The case against an alleged Ottawa extremist who police say recruited for ISIL” the article describes the way Mr. Peshdary allegedly recruited for ISIS in…
There was recent case of R. v. Raza, 2015 BCSC 2512 (CanLII). The three accused were tax preparers who were charged with fraud for allegedly being involved with the issuance of false donation receipts.
In the recent case of Canada v. Scheuer, 2016 FCA 7 the Federal Court of Appeal sided with CRA. A number of people who had invested in abusive tax shelter arrangements sued CRA because CRA had issued a tax shelter number. The…
Diane Lebouthillier, the new Minister of National Revenue has announced that the 2012 Conservative government initiative to audit more registered charities on the issue of political activities will be wound down. There is a lot in the release and I…
I will be presenting a webinar for Charity Village on January 28, 2016 on Top 20 Compliance Issues for Canadian Charities. Here is a blurb: Top 20 Compliance Issues for Canadian Charities Are you a board member, senior executive or executive director…
The Charity Commission of England and Wales just released a report entitled Campaigning and political issues arising in the run-up to the 2015 General Election. When they put it out they probably did not think that it is such a special…
Here is part of a press release from the Charity Commission of England and Wales concerning “dominant individuals“. The Charity Commission is urging trustees to guard against dominant individuals taking inappropriate control of their charity’s management. The regulator of charities…
In R. v. Kueviakoe, 2015 ONCJ 681 (CanLII) Ekue Kueviakoe was charged with numerous offences contrary to the Income Tax Act (Canada) because he prepared many false income tax returns. He was fined at a rate of 100% of the tax avoided on…
Today the Canada Revenue Agency announced the revocation of the registration of of the Canadian registered charity Le Refuge des Rescapes for issuing over $2 million in official donation receipts connected with an abusive charity gifting tax scheme. Here is a copy…
It is interesting to see that CRA used to refer to “abusive charity gifting tax schemes” and they appear to be lumping them in with fraud. “Meet Mary & William. Mary and William are a married couple with kids. They have…
The Tax Court of Canada recently released a decision where they dismissed the appeals of former spouses relating to reassessments under the Income Tax Act with respect to their alleged charitable donations made in 2003, 2004 and 2005. The Minister of…
We have previously blogged about the decision of the Tax Court of Canada in David, R. et al. v. the Queen (TCC) (here and here). In this decision, the court allowed the appeals of the respondents relating to tax credits that had…
On November 9, 2015 I will be presenting a program for the Ontario Bar Association, along with Nevena Urosevic, on Top Compliance Issues for Canadian Charities. It is available both in-person and by webcast. Here is the blurb and information on registration: Top…
In the case Mariano v. The Queen 2015 TCC 244 the Honourable Justice F.J. Pizzitelli reviewed in great detail the Global Learning Trust (2004) and the Global Learning Gift Initiative (GLGI) program. These programs are what CRA calls abusive charity gifting tax schemes. For those…
We have prepared as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project this Snapshot on Political Activities in the Canadian Charity Sector 2013. The Snapshot on Political Activities in the Canadian Charity Sector 2013 will be helpful to those who are interested in…