On February 12, 2013 I will be making a presentation as part of Maytree’s Five Good Ideas series on “Five Good Ideas about Registered Charities and Political Activities” Find more information and register Five Good Ideas about Registered Charities…
On December 14th, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada delivered its ruling in the case of R. v. Khawaja, 2012 SCC 69. Much of this case centered on whether the Criminal Code of Canada definition of “terrorist activity” was constitutional. …
The Canadian Government has reminded Canadians to be careful when donating to charities, especially when the donation is part of a scheme offering more tax incentives than the cash contributions. If you are interested in more details on how to…
We recently reviewed the private foundations contained on the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return for 2011. In this case we looked at the approximately 500 private foundations on the database who had the greatest total expenditures according to their T3010…
The Canadian Bar Association PracticeLink Solo and Small Firm Bulletin has sent a note to its members “Tis the season: CRA warns about gifting tax shelter schemes. Whether you approach them as a lawyer or as a tax-payer, gifting tax…
On November 28, 2012 we will be having the Blumbergs’ Canadian Charity Law Institute in Toronto. It will be a full day of practical legal and ethical compliance information geared toward charities, professional advisors and those interested in regulatory issues…
Canadians in late November and December each year really focus on charitable donations. Here is a microsite I worked on to help Canadians understand how to thoughtfully select charities to donate to. www.smartgiving.ca
The Toronto Sun has written a followup article on the involvement of the mayor of London, Ontario in a type of tax shelter that CRA refers to as an “abusive charity gifting tax shelter.” The Toronto Sun notes “As choppy…
Here is a Charities Directorate reminder to Canadian Mennonite Publishing Service dated July 23, 2012 about political activities. Canadian Mennonite has been complaining that CRA is trying to create a chill on charity political activities. Apparently here are some articles…
According to CRA “The Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) audit has revealed that the Organization failed to devote its resources exclusively to its own charitable activities by participating in a promoted donation arrangement in 2008. As a direct result, the Organization…
On June 28, 2012, in Barrie, Ontario, a fundraiser named Adam Gour was convicted by McIsaac, J. of fraud for failing to disclose commissions to donors and deceiving donors. The decision may be appealed. The Gour case is important because…
The Vancouver Sun published a story today entitled “Rick Hansen ‘donated’ rights to his name to his foundation, received $1.8-million tax receipt: Canada Revenue Agency says the 2009 donation does not qualify as a gift and the foundation must cancel…
The Canada Revenue Agency has changed some of their procedures to deal with gifting tax shelter schemes. Below is a press release from CRA. What is interesting first of all is that they call them “gifting tax shelters” in the…
I will be presenting in Vancouver a full day presentation on charity law and compliance for registered charities on November 6, 2012. It is being put on by CoDevelopment Canada & BCCIC and it is entitled “Charity Law 101”. Just…
Here is a recent press release from CRA. They went after a tax preparer for issuing some false donation receipts. “Brampton tax preparer guilty of tax fraud scheme Brampton, Ontario, October 18, 2012…The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced today…
Here is a press release from the CRA entitled “The Canada Revenue Agency revokes the registration of Glooscap Heritage Society as a charity ” Despite what some have been suggesting these “abusive charity gifting tax schemes” are not dead. According…
In the case of Guindon v. The Queen, 2012 TCC 287 the Tax Court of Canada decided that third party penalties under section 163.2 of the Income Tax Act are tantamount to a criminal proceeding and therefore the burden of…
Sarah Boesveld of the National Post on Oct 6, 2012 wrote an article “Pray away the gay’: Conversion therapy groups face heat over charity status” which discusses how California has banned “conversion therapy” out of “concerns of LGBT groups who…
I finally worked out why we have not been that successful in getting rid of those who are involved with charity fraud in Canada. Take a look at this story on CNN. Google search reveals true identity of suspect in…
I sometimes laugh when I see some of the things that lawyers think are worthy of comment. For example really esoteric cases. Then almost two weeks ago there was an important decision in the extremely backlogged Tax Court of Canada…
Here is a recent decision of the Tax Court of Canada in Kossow. After the Marechaux case, Kossow is the most important case on abusive charity gifting tax schemes. The Tax Court of Canada decided “As in Maréchaux, there…
I will be delivering a presentation to the Canada Southern Africa Chamber of Business 2012 8th Risk Mitigation Program in Toronto on October 16, 2012 on the subject of “CSR with Canadian Charities – Opportunities and Pitfalls”. Here is a…
In February 2012, the Charity Law Information Program (CLIP) had a very successful “Being Good at Doing Good” conference. We had about 250 attendees in Toronto and the conference lasted 2 days. We had some of the top experts from…
Here are two workshops organized by the OCIC entitled “Personal Security: to build an individual’s security capacity when working in risk prone environments” Upcoming Workshops http://www.powersitefactory.com/ocic/Page.asp?IdPage=7895&WebAddress=ocic Registration for the following workshops is now open: Personal Security: to build an individual’s…