Lynn Gluckman of Blumberg Segal has presented on “Managing Restricted Gifts: Cy pres and avoiding the need for Cy pres” for the Charity and Not-For-Profit Law section of the Ontario Bar Association. Here is further information on the program held on September…
Mark Blumberg will be team teaching, with Valerie Campbell and Sharilyn Hale, the Humber Fundraising Management Course “Ethical and Legal Issues”. It was previously taught by Ken Wyman so we will have big shoes to fill. Here is more information…
I am looking forward to delivering a 2 hour presentation on the topic of Top Compliance Issues for Registered Charities, their Directors and their Accountants to the CPA Ontario's Practitioners Conference on September 18, 2015. Here is the description of the session: Top Compliance…
A class action lawsuit was commenced on August 18, 2015 in Vancouver against numerous parties involved with a tax shelter scheme related to the Ideas Canada Foundation for the taxation years 2001, 2002 and 2003. Those who invested in…
In July, the B.C. Supreme Court, in the decision of Habitat for Humanity Canada v Hearts and Hands for Homes Society, upheld a claim for specific performance of a clause within an affiliation agreement between two charitable organizations. This decision involved a…
I was delighted to read a publication “Donor Beware: Investigation into the sufficiency of the Canada Revenue Agency’s warnings about questionable tax shelter schemes”. The special report was prepared in December 2013 by J. Paul Dubé, the Taxpayers’ Ombudsman. The…
I recently wrote an article “Election 2015 and Canadian charities” for Hilborn. Charities that are involved in political activities may find it helpful. It covers issues such as what political activities can charities be involved with during an election,…
The Department of Finance in late July released for consultation purposes draft legislative proposals that will have an impact on charities. The 2 main changes are an “exemption from capital gains tax for certain dispositions involving private corporation shares…
For the 86,000 Canadian registered charities who file their T3010 Registered Charity Information Return every year and the 4500 or so organizations that apply for registered charity status every year, the introduction over the next few years of electronic filing…
Communication or outreach by the Charities Directorate to the charity sector is vital to ensure that charities understand their compliance obligations and are assisted in complying with those obligations. Here are excerpts from the comments by Cathy Hawara, Director General of…
The CRA has posted an “Advisory on partisan political activities” as a reminder to Canadian registered charities that they must avoid all partisan political activities, although they are allowed to conduct certain political activities related to their objects and within…
In Glover v. The Queen, the Tax Court dealt with a donation of software under a gifting arrangement and whether there was donative intent. The TCC found there was no donative intent and then sided with CRA that the taxpayer cannot…
In the Tax Court of Canada case of Mapish v. The Queen, Mr. Mapish maintains that he made charitable donations to a charity called Revival Time Ministries International. CRA reassessed Mr. Mapish and denied his tax credits for $9,600 in 2007…
In the case of Humane Society of Canada for the Protection of Animals and the Environment, the Federal Court of Appeal dealt with a case in which the CRA had issued a notice of intent to revoke the status of the charity,…
Here is a recent article I wrote “Canadian Charities and Political Activities: Keeping room temperature in a chilly environment“.
Political activities and charities has been a hot button issue over the last few years. With Prime Minister Harper launching the 2015 election today it is important for Canadian charities to be aware of their legal obligations and to comply…
Registered Charities every year must file the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return. It is supposed to be filed within 6 months of the fiscal year end for each charity. Here are excerpts from the comments by Cathy Hawara, Director General of…
In the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision Guindon v. Canada – 2015 SCC 41 the SCC has upheld the third party civil penalties provided under the Income Tax Act. I have discussed the Guindon case here (October 2012) and here (June 2013) and…
In a recent decision of the Federal Court of Appeal Public Television Association of Quebec v. Canada (National Revenue), 2015 FCA 170 the court dealt with funding by a Canadian registered charity of a US charity. There have been 3…
As part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project we have requested from the CRA copies of the Registered Canadian amateur athletic associations (RCAAAs) T2052 and financial statements for each of the RCAAAs. None of this information is provided on the…
CRA recently released a letter which discusses whether a Chief's Council, relating to several First Nations, would be considered a public body performing a function of government for purposes of para. 149(1)(c) of the Act such that it would be…
CRA has recently posted two new web pages on Charities and political activities (Budget 2012) and The audit process for charities. The two pages have some new information and statistics but really are just cogent expressions of the CRA's views. …
The CRA has revoked the Canadian Friends of Pearl Children for involvement with what CRA would term an abusive charity gifting tax scheme. Here is the CRA press release: The Canada Revenue Agency revokes the registration of the Canadian…
The Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence has released a report entitled Countering the Terrorist Threat In Canada. The report provides 25 recommendations. Some of the recommendations are common sense and others are controversial or questionable. I was a…