We have a number of resources to assist including our online course Receipting for Canadian Registered Charities with an updated Receipting Kit.
If you wish to retain our law firm to assist with your charity or non-profit’s receipting questions, you can contact us.
Many Canadian charities and donors wish to assist Syrian refugees and those affected by the conflict. CRA has just released guidance to assist donors and charities understand their legal obligations. Here is the text below: Assisting people affected by the…
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…
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 Honourable Justice F.J. Pizzitelli of the Tax Court of Canada dealt with a motion in V. Ross Morrison v. The Queen. The court dismissed the motion with costs. The cases deals with the Canadian Humanitarian Trust (“CHT”) and Canadian Gift Initiative…
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…
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…
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…
The Trinity Global Support Foundation was recently revoked. It received some media attention because of the involvement of the former mayor of London, Ontario in the charity. Here are the letters from CRA explaining the detailed reasons for revocation of…
CRA recently revoked the registration of Canadian Friends of Pearl Children. Here are the CRA letters to the charity. According to CRA the organization issued over $167 million in inappropriate official donation receipts. On July 20, 2015 I blogged about the…
Here are the CRA letters from a number of recent Canadian registered charity revocations, annulments and penalties. These letters from CRA cover many different grounds for de-registration or the imposition of penalties. For a number of years we have been…
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…
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 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…
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…
On July 15, 2015 Mark Blumberg will be delivering a 2 hour presentation entitled “Top 20 Charity Law Issues for Canadian Registered Charities” in Ottawa. The presentation is complimentary but if you are interested in attending you should register here. Here…
In De Santis v. The Queen, 2015 TCC 95 (CanLII) CRA challenged the valuation of wine. In this case the Tax Court of Canada sided with the donor as the CRA had not introduced evidence to rebut the evidence of the…
CBC recently reported in an article “Giving Tree Foundation to be stripped of charity status: Charity that gives $2M a year to children's causes faces demise after tax review“. CBC notes “The group has a relationship with EquiGenesis Corp., a company…
Properly issuing official donation receipts has been challenging for many registered charities. According to the CRA, 89% of registered charities that are audited are not correctly issuing official donation receipts. Issuing incorrect receipts can result in revocation or penalties. It…
Sowa v. Canada involves an alleged donation of $10,250 in 2006 by Emily Sowa. The Tax Court of Canada “doubted the truthfulness of the appellant’s claim that she donated $10,250.00.” Also the purported receipt did not contain all…
In Arthur v. The Queen, 2015 TCC 43, Juliet Arthur was appealing a reassessment made by CRA relating to two receipts. The case provides a good summary of the cases dealing with lack of appropriate documentation for donations – especially…
The Australian website Pro Bono Australia has published an article on an Australian Federal Court decision to impose a $1.5 million fine on a “fake philanthropic scheme was modelled on an arrangement which previously failed in Canada, and involved the…
The Canada Revenue Agency has distributed a press release that it has revoked the registration of African Computer and Technology Literacy Awareness Program (ACTLAP) Inc. for involvement with an abusive charity gifting tax scheme. Here is the text of the press release:…
In a recent case French v. The Queen, 2015 TCC 35, the CRA asked that certain arguments related to defining a gift be struck as they had no hope of success. Campbell J. Miller of the Tax Court of Canada agreed with CRA.…