I recently requested numbers from CRA on abusive charity gifting tax schemes. The number are trending down. 2006 was the highest at $1.3 billion. 2011 was $299 million. 2012 was $273,000. 2013 preliminary numbers are $100,000 but as we know…
The decision of David, R. et al. v. The Queen (TCC) discusses six separate appeals which concern the disallowance of a tax credit for a purported charitable gift to CanAfrica International Foundation (“CanAfrica”). CanAfrica issued to each of the appellants…
The T3010 now asks additional questions about political activities. So far the CRA 2013 database has about 36,000 charities on it. There are in total approximately 86,000 Canadian registered charities who will file their T3010s. Therefore, less than half of the 2013…
Here are some documents from the Federal Court of Appeal file dealing with IRFAN- Canada. These documents were filed prior to IRFAN-Canada being placed on the Canadian government's list of “listed entities”. RESPONDENT’S MEMORANDUM OF FACT AND LAW APPELLANT’S MEMORANDUM…
The Globe and Mail this morning had an article on the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy – Canada which is also known as IRFAN – Canada. CRA had revoked the charitable status of IRFAN – Canada. IRFAN – Canada…
Here is the Blumbergs' List of Canada Corporations Act non-profits that need to continue to the CNCA. The federal government as part of its Open Data initiative provides a complete list of Federal corporations (for-profit and non-profit) in XML format. We…
We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2012 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. We have taken a subset of the 2012 T3010 data to look at only registered charities based in Alberta. …
The CRA has updated its “media kit” and specifically the facts and figures section. Here is some of the information from the CRA website: Charities facts and figures The number of registered charities continued to grow in 2013. As of…
The CRA has prepared a new video series entitled “Charities and their participation in political activities”. It has 3 videos which are each about 3 minutes long. There has been a great deal of interest in political activities and charities…
The Charities Aid Foundation in the UK has been publishing a World Giving Index for a number of years. It compares donations, volunteering and helping strangers in about 130 countries. Overall Canada comes in 2nd. Although such…
Here is a notice from Industry Canada that they are sending to federal non-profit corporations under the Canada Corporations Act.
I will be presenting at the Ontario Hospital Association's conference “Strengthening Foundation Governance: Current Issues, Challenges and Solutions” on May 30, 2014 in Toronto. My topic is: “Boards and Resource Development: Tension, Challenges and Opportunities • Why are some board…
Here is an updated version of the Blumbergs Charity Legal Checklist. We hope that you find it a useful tool to help your Canadian registered charity deal with compliance issues. It is a work in progress so please do send in…
For a number of years we have been providing the public with copies of CRA revocation letters. These letters set out the CRA reasons for revocation of charitable status when CRA is alleging cause. This the second part of the…
In an article entitled “Canada Revenue Agency expands investigations of tax shelters”, Kevin Donovan of the Toronto Star discusses how “As many as 12 charity tax shelter promoters are under criminal investigation for schemes that saw donors contribute millions of…
Many Canadian non-profit corporations don't know about the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (“CNCA”) which came into force in 2011 and requires that all existing Canada Corporations Act (CCA) non-profit corporations must transition to the CNCA by October 17, 2014. Corporations that do not…
In the Holst case the Honourable Justice Judith Woods rejected certain taxpayers alleged donations to a church. She noted: “[9] I accept that Mr. Holst and Ms. Hillier attended church services at Israelite and Celestial and that…
This Thursday, Bill 85 – An Act to amend various companies statutes and to amend other statutes consequential to the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010 will enter its Second Reading by the Ontario Legislature and then be referred to a Standing…
A few months ago I was saddened to learn that Marcel Lauzière was leaving Imagine to move to a foundation. Now Imagine Canada has picked a new President and CEO. Here is a copy of the press release: “Media Release:…
CRA recently released a letter which discusses the taxation of amounts donated to a private charitable foundation by parents to assist teachers with certain costs, in particular if the parent donations result in a taxable benefit for the teachers. In…
CRA recently released a letter that discusses whether monthly payments from a US charitable trust paid to a former employee are taxable. This situation involved a fund that provided financial assistance to former employees, who by reason of age or…
I have stopped caring about the numbers from Stats Can on charitable giving because they are so out of whack with reality. I think that the note to reader is more important than the numbers. If you would…
I have received some very positive feedback on the disclosure of the list of Ontario non-profit corporations. Here is the list. On Friday, I saw this very nice email from the Ontario Nonprofit Network dealing with the list. Some…
Yesterday the Minister of State (Finance) Kevin Sorenson and National Revenue Minister Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay announced that in order to reduce administrative costs associated with charitable lotteries and to allow charities to modernize their lottery systems, there is a proposal…