As we have noted before in our blog on November 28, 2022, entitled Statement by the Canada’s Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson on CRA examination will be significantly hindered by the confidentiality provisions of the ITA relating to charities, Canada’s Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson will…
The Chair of the Charity Commission of England and Wales, Orlando Fraser, says the UK’s wealthiest people are ‘not covering themselves with glory’ with their giving. In response to numerous challenges facing charities, Mr. Fraser criticized the wealthy in the…
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…
The Charities Directorate of CRA has released draft guidance for “Registered charities making grants to non-qualified donees“. (PDF) The CRA is requesting public feedback on the guidance by January 31, 2023. This guidance relates to the Federal Budget 2022 and…
Here is the Blumbergs Snapshot of the Charity Sector in Ontario 2020. We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2020 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. The database covers about 30,540 of the…
The Federal government is now providing better information on registered charities on their Open Government Portal website. Here is the description: The List of charities presents data on Canadian charities that are registered under the Income Tax Act and are…
After advocating for over a decade that the confidentiality provisions of the Income Tax Act of Canada need to be updated, Canada’s Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson has noted that the confidentiality provisions relating to registered charities, amongst other matters, will hinder their…
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice recently heard its first case on donor advised funds in The Joseph Lebovic Charitable Foundation v. Jewish Foundation of Greater Toronto. (PDF) This is the first time a court in Canada has discussed donor…
Over the last few months, there have been many newsletters and communications dealing with the recent corporate changes in Ontario that came into effect on October 19, 2021. There is widespread misunderstanding about these changes that have left some groups…
CRA has made some changes to their Charities Listing to include RCAAAs as we have discussed in a different blog. In this note, I will share my concern that the current way that the RCAAAs are listed on the CRA…
I just reviewed a report from François Brouard, Andrew Webb, and Marc Pilon, dated November 9, 2022, entitled “Registered Canadian Amateur Athletic Association (RCAAA) List of RCAAA and issues on financial information“. They give an introduction to the regulatory requirements…
I recently checked the Advance Search page of the Charities Listing. CRA has now added another search function which divides groups into “Type of Qualified Donee,” and there are now listed namely: 1) Registered Charities (85,842 in total) 2) Registered…
The Globe and Mail on November 1, 2022, had an extensive article reviewing 20 years of financial and other information on Hockey Canada entitled Numbers game – Hockey Canada, under fire for payouts in sexual-assault claims, doesn’t disclose its audited…
On October 31, 2022, Hockey Canada released a Hockey Canada Governance Review Final Report. Fitting that it would be released on Halloween. Governance at Hockey Canada was far scarier than anything I saw coming to our door. Maybe one day…
Twitter has become a problematic platform with problematic leadership and very little moderation. Consequently, its future is in some doubt. If you want to keep in touch with our firm and stay on top of developments affecting Canadian non-profits and…
In a recent Federal Court of Appeal Decision, Fortius Foundation v. Canada (National Revenue), (PDF) the FCA dismissed a motion for interim relief from the charity that CRA has proposed to revoke. The charity wanted to stop CRA from taking…
Many people are quite worried about the Ontario Government’s use of the notwithstanding clause in the Keeping Students in Class Act that imposes a 4-year collective agreement on a group of workers (educational assistants, custodians and early childhood educators) that…
In our article, How much should a Canadian registered charity spend on administration (2022), we discuss how CRA has not provided guidance as to the acceptable amount that a Canadian registered charity can spend on administrative expenses, but it will…
Today the CBC published an article, “Mormon Church in Canada moved $1B out of the country tax free — and it’s legal“. Tonight on The Fifth Estate, there was a report on the same topic. The article reviewed gifts from…
Here is a recent case from the Tax Court of Canada on receipts issued by three registered charities Leduc Society for Christian Education v. The King. The case involves three different registered charities in Alberta which provide Christian education as…
The CRA has published a “readout” on the meeting of the Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector (ACCS)(pronounced axe!) on August 25, 2022. These readouts provide almost no useful information. I have been highly critical of the Advisory Committee on…
When ordering corporate documents from Corporations Canada, it now appears that additional documents are available. It used to be listed only the documents from the Incorporation under the CNCA or continuance to the CNCA. Older documents under the Canada Corporations…
As many know, as of May 15, 2021, the Ontario Annual Return for OCA/ONCA non-profit corporations can no longer be filed with CRA (as part of the T3010 filing) and must be completed through the new Ontario Business Registry (OBR)…
Below are the full audited Hockey Canada’s financial statements for the last eight years. As we have noted before, Hockey Canada is a soliciting corporation under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (“CNCA”) and was supposed to file its financial statements…