Here is a heavily redacted memorandum to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from the Privy Council Office (PCO) on the political activities audits. The memo was dated March 28, 2017. For more information on charities and political activities you can see…
CRA has noted on the Charities IT Modernization Project (CHAMP) page that internal divisions will be able to access the CRA online system without obtaining a new BN number. In September of 2017 we blogged about developments relating to “head bodies” and…
Here is the CRA spokespersons talking points for the Release of the Consultation Panel Report on the public consultations on charities and political activity. For more information on charities and political activities you can see our directory on Canadian charities and…
Here is a recent CRA presentation on political activities by Canadian registered charities that has some good examples of allowable and prohibited political activities. It was obtained through ATIP. Some have complained that the examples in CRA's political activities guidance are dated.…
Statistics Canada has reported that “Total donations reported by Canadian tax filers fell to $8.9 billion in 2016, down 2.7% from 2015.” The Statscan numbers only claims by individuals tax filers and not what was actually donated to charity by individuals, corporations, etc. which in…
Over the last 10 or more years, we have published over 2500 blog posts. Except for a few avid readers, that might be a little overwhelming so we have started to create a directory of some of the top resources…
The CRA has been working for years on the Charities IT Modernization Project or CHAMP. CHAMP is going to affect charity applications in that they will need to be filed electronically, as of November 2018. CHAMP will also allow charities to…
CRA has just released the 2018 T3010 Registered Charity Information Return. The T3010 is a form that Canadian registered charities need to file each year within six months of their fiscal year-end. Failure to file the return can quickly result in…
A great deal has been written about legal compliance surrounding charities in Canada. Much of that material, however, is highly specialized, hard to understand, and sometimes esoteric. As a result, it can be difficult for charities, employees, and volunteers to…
The CRA has responded to some questions that were posed at our recent Charity Law Institute session. The presentation by Tania Lewis and Jennifer Fraser of the Charities Directorate was on the new CHAMP or Charity Modernization Program of CRA which will result…
Here is a new checklist from Blumbergs that will assist Canadian registered charities either interested or currently conducting foreign activities. It is called Canadian Charity Foreign Activity Legal Checklist – Working with Foreign Charities or Intermediaries 2017. Some other resources that…
The US House and Senate are looking at major changes to the tax code that could have a significant impact on US donors and whether they receive any tax incentives for their donations. Now, 1 in 3 US donors may get…
The CRA has recently announced the launch of a new program called the Charities Education Program. The program is going to have CRA auditors visit charities but not in the normal audit capacity. The CRA anticipates that about 500 of these visits…
On November 20, 2017 I am presenting to the AFP GTA Congress 2017 a breakout session “T3010 and Transparency in the Charitable Sector”. Here are the details: G-04: T3010 and Transparency in the Charitable Sector Workshop Topic: Financial/Legal Monday, November 20, 2017…
The Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) has just released its 2016-17 Annual Report. The report provides a very valuable look at the Australian non-profit and charity sector on the 5th anniversary of the ACNC. It provides over 120 pages of…
CRA has provided information through ATIP on third-party civil penalties from 2009 to 2016. The number of completed third-party penalty audits where it was determined that the penalty would be applied is 67. The amount of the penalties was about $164 million. Here…
There are approximately 32,000 registered charities in Canada that are religious charities. They account for approximately 40% of all the registered charities in Canada. It is important that Canadian registered charities are aware of CRA‘s views on what is religion and…
We have just released the Blumbergs’ Snapshot of the Ontario Charity Sector 2015. We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2015 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. We had previously provided a 2015 overview of the…
Mark Blumberg will be delivering two upcoming Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CPA Ontario) charity programs: Charity Fundraising and Receipting Rules – A Primer for Accountants and T3010 and Transparency in the Charitable Sector. Here are the text descriptions of the 2 upcoming…
CRA has just published a lengthy page on Personal information of directors, trustees and like officials that discusses how the Charities Directorate uses personal information provided in a charity application and in your registered charity's annual filings. Here are the top 10…
An interesting new report from The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) as well as the Australian Transactions Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) published on August 28, 2017 looked at “the risk of money laundering and terrorism financing in the not-for-profit sector, key vulnerabilities and…
Here is Blumbergs' comments on the Ontario Government Proposal to Allow Compensation of Directors of Charities Without Court Order that were submitted to the Ministry of the Attorney General today.
CRA has been encouraging charities to file their T3010 and now they are trying something new – automated phone calls. A recent communication from CRA states: The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has started making automated courtesy calls notifying registered…
CRA has recently announced that starting in late 2018, registered charities will be able to file their annual Form T3010, Registered Charity Information Return online through the Canada Revenue Agency’s My Business Account (MyBA). Currently the T3010 form must be printed and…