It was reported in the media that a number of aid workers have recently been arrested in Afghanistan. Here is the article “18 Charity Workers Arrested In Afghanistan For Allegedly Preaching Christianity.” 18 Charity Workers Arrested In Afghanistan For Allegedly…
Mr. Justice Markus Koehnen has dismissed the Muslim Association of Canada’s lawsuit against the Canada Revenue Agency. The MAC decision is available online: Muslim Association of Canada v. Attorney General of Canada, 2023 ONSC 5171 (CanLII) (PDF) If the case…
We are delighted to announce that two new lawyers have joined Blumbergs Professional Corporation, namely Nour Al Akkad and Amanda Werger. You can read more about Nour and Amanda on their bios.
The Blackbaud Canada, bbcon Toronto conference, will be on Monday, October 30, 2023, at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Mark Blumberg will be giving a presentation on Compliance for Canadian Charities. There will be other interesting speakers. Here is further…
I am pleased to see CRA doing webinars on avoiding scams. The information is below. I hope that the CRA does a lot more webinars on topics relating to charities. This is more of a general topic below. Webinars are…
CRA recently sent out a reminder that if your charity has a March 31 fiscal year end, you need to file your T3010 by September 30, 2023. Keep in mind that the number one reason that a Canadian charity loses…
Over the last decade, we have provided to the public CRA letters relating to a number of Canadian registered charity revocations. These letters from CRA cover many different grounds for de-registration. Some relate to relatively minor matters, such as an…
In a recent Federal Court of Appeal matter Ron W. Cameron Charitable Foundation v. Canada (National Revenue) it was an appeal of a CRA decision relating to CRA intending to revoke the organization’s charitable status. The charity was requesting further…
The UK has far better transparency when it comes to charities than we have in Canada. It is interesting to read a report by the Charity Commission on England and Wales into a charity – Care4Calais. As we know, in…
We are hiring a new Associate Lawyer. If interested, you can apply here. Job description Blumbergs Professional Corporation or Blumbergs, is a law firm in Toronto that focuses on charity and non-profit law. We are seeking an associate lawyer…
We have urged that the Charities Directorate in Canada be given more leeway to provide information to the public when charities are involved with serious non-compliance. Here is an example of a submission we recently made to the Finance Committee…
Corporations Canada has begun a process to dissolve non-profits that have not filed their annual return (Form 4022) for at least three years. We have discussed that elsewhere. Today I saw an email notice from Corporations Canada to a non-profit…
Here is the Blumbergs’ Pre-Budget Submission for the 2024 Canadian Federal Budget. For those who have been following our law firm’s submissions over the last ten or more years, they have focused on transparency and accountability in the non-profit and…
CRA has reminded charities that are affected by wildfires to let CRA know as it may make it harder for a charity for example to file their T3010 return or meet other obligations. Here is the note from CRA: Canada…
The CRA recently sent a response to the Canadian Tax Foundation on the new qualifying disbursement/grant to grantee and directed donations provisions. As many are aware, section 168(1)(f) of the ITA was amended to provide that CRA can revoke a…
Although often discussed in the Canadian charity fundraising area, charitable remainder trusts (CRTs) are rarely implemented in Canada. Most of the time, when someone is very excited about a CRT they are either an American or have just read a…
The Globe and Mail recently had an opinion piece criticizing changes to the rules relating to donations of marketable securities for some taxpayers who are also affected by the alternative minimum tax (“AMT”). In essence, next year, but not this…
There has been some coverage in the media of a concern that Canadian charities may be required to file a T3 form for each of their “express trusts”. Examples of express trusts could be a perpetual endowment or a long-term…
The Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (“ONCA”) came into force on October 19, 2021 and groups have until October 19, 2024 to bring themselves into compliance with the ‘new’ act. For some groups, this may seem like a long time, but…
Here is an updated Canadian Charity Legal Checklist by Mark Blumberg – July 2023. It is a checklist for Canadian registered charities to assist them with managing compliance issues. We use it as part of our informal risk reviews for…
I recently requested and paid for some customized data from Statistics Canada on donations to charities by income percentile. Here is the data on family giving, followed by some source information from Statistics Canada. I have also posted a blog…
I recently requested and paid for some customized data from Statistics Canada on donations to charities by income percentile. Here is the data on individual giving, followed by some source information from Statistics Canada. Here is a similar blog but…
In the recent Tax Court of Canada (TCC) case Osborne v. The King, 2023 TCC 98 (CanLII), it deals with whether a person made certain donations to registered charities. In this case, The Honourable Mr. Justice Randall S. Bocock decided:…
We recently received this note from the Ontario government about the Ontario Anti-Hate Security and Prevention Grant. This may be important for many non-profits and charities. The Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism is pleased to announce the launch of the…