The Tax Court of Canada case Nantel, M. et al. v. The Queen provides an interesting discussion of valuation of art. The court dismissed the taxpayers appeals and sided with the Canada Revenue Agency. The case is at: The…
CRA has released its guidance “Upholding Human Rights and Charitable Registration”. Any Canadian charity dealing with human rights issues will want to read this document. View Article
Here is an article I wrote for Charity Village entitled “Is it legal and ethical to take over a dormant Canadian charity?” View Article
Here is my July 2010 Blumbergs Canadian Charity Law List. To sign up just provide your e-mail address at: 1) CRA’s New Guidance for Canadian Registered Charities Carrying out Activities Outside Canada -9 years coming but worth the wait…
The Giving Pledge has a simple website which lists a number of US billionaires who have made a public commitment to donate at least half of their money to charity. The letters are interesting to read. Some have criticized…
This case involves an accountant, Mr. Michael George Perris, recommending a charity tax shelter scheme to his client that was unsuccessful. The case deals with whether this accountant is a fiduciary and if so whether he breached his fiduciary duties…
In this letter CRA discusses “Whether the adjusted cost basis is a reasonable proxy for “cost” of an interest in a life insurance policy in applying the deeming provisions of 248(35) with respect to a gift to a qualified donee…
CRA has just released a new guidance called “Canadian Registered Charities Carrying out Activities Outside Canada”. Although the name indicates “foreign activities” this document deals with a lot more than foreign activities. It covers the relationship between a…
Here is a sample contractor agreement for a Canadian registered charity conducting foreign activities. One of the elements of having direction and control for a foreign intermediary is to have a written agreement. Therefore it is important that charities have…
The CRA has just released a revised version of their document “Donations to Prescribed Universities Outside Canada”. It has helpful information for foreign universities interested in being designated a “prescribed university”. Although this document just hints at it – it…
Here is a link to the upcoming Ottawa seminar
here is a revised version on the UK Charity Commission Guidance Internal Financial Controls for Charities (CC8) Here is the summary: A1. What is this guidance about? Internal financial controls are essential checks and procedures that help charity trustees:…
In a recent speech Andrew Hind of the UK Charity Commission touches upon trends including the importance of charities being able to demonstrate their public benefit and to successfully use technology. The speech is located at:
Here is a copy of my article “How Much Should A Canadian Charity Spend on Overhead?” which was just published in the Canadian Donor’s Guide.
The US-based Hudson Institute has released its 2010 Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittances. It contains lots of statistics about official development assistance (ODA), international philanthropy and remittances. On the plus side if you add ODA, international philanthropy and remittances…
I frequently receive e-mails from people, or relatives of people, who have been involved in an abusive charity gifting tax shelter. I thought I would share one of those e-mails and also my response. Abusive charity tax shelters – it…
CRA has updated the form for Canadian registered charities to file with CRA if the charity has made errors in its T3010 Registered Charity Information Return and related forms. The form can be found at: It is important that…
Not all public appeals are from registered charities. Sometimes these appeals are spontaneous in response to a disaster or tragedy. The Uniform Law Commission of Canada has circulated a consultation paper on the topic and the ULCC tries to encourage…
The Honourable Keith Ashfield, Minister of National Revenue, announced today contribution funding for seven new projects dealing with fundraising, transparency and false receipting under the Charities Partnership and Outreach Program (CPOP) of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). One of the…
Here is an article I wrote for Charity Village entitled “Is it legal and ethical to take over a dormant Canadian charity? ”
Many people have quite rightly asked “why does it take so long for a charity tax shelter scheme to ever make it to court?”. “Why does a 2001 donation only get to court in 2010?”. For example, we recently had…
Members of a board of directors of a charity should not be compensated for their work. In Ontario, generally directors of charities are not entitled to compensation for serving on the board of a charity. In fact, by being a…
Imagine Canada has released Bill C-470 Twelve Frequently Asked Questions and Bill C-470 Supplementary Questions and Answers. Both are good documents and worth reading. Bill C-470 TWELVE FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Bill C-470 SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS As…
In June 2010 CRA will do webinars on the T3010B : Line by Line Review and the Fundraising Guidance – here is the schedule