The Charities Directorate of CRA has recently announced that it is looking for feedback from registered charities on CRA's videos, social media content, and other educational initiatives. This is an opportunity for registered charities to connect with CRA and help make educational…
CRA is set to introduce its online system for organizations applying for charitable status. Once this system is available on June 1, 2019, paper applications will no longer be accepted and organizations will only be able to apply for charitable status…
Properly issuing official donation receipts has been challenging for many registered charities. According to the CRA, 89% of registered charities that are audited by CRA are not correctly issuing official donation receipts. Issuing incorrect receipts can result in revocation or…
Every year Canadian registered charities must file the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return with the Charities Directorate of CRA. In June 2019 Canadian registered charities will be able to file the T3010 online which will make the process easier and…
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…
In December 2017, CRA introduced a new program, the Charities Education Program (“CEP”) which is aimed at helping charities comply with the requirements for Canadian registered charities. CRA said it aims to visit 500 charities a year with this program. The…
Here is our new Canadian Charity Legal Checklist. For those who are interested in reviewing legal compliance for their registered charity, they may find the checklist helpful. If you require legal assistance and wish to retain our law firm then please…
The Federal Department of Finance has recently released its Report on Federal Tax Expenditures: Concepts, Estimates and Evaluations 2019. For those interested in tax policy and tax incentives it always provides some interesting reading. There is a detailed description of…
I will be speaking at the CFA Society of Toronto 2019 Wealth Conference on May 1, 2019 dealing with the topic ”Professional Advisors and Philanthropy: Helping clients and yourself navigate philanthropy”. You can register for the program here. Here is the…
Adam Greco and Mark Blumberg will be speaking on April 5, 2019 at the OBA Charity Law Primer of the Charity and Not-for-Profit-Law Section/ Young Lawyers Division on the Top Compliance Issues for Charities: What you need to know including: Income Tax Act…
Here is a redacted Advanced Income Tax Ruling Request response from CRA, dealing with the amalgamation of a registered charity and a non-profit. Registered charities and non-profits can amalgamate and as with all mergers or amalgamations there are a number of complexities…
The CRA's Guidance Canadian registered charities carrying out activities outside Canada indicates it was revised on January 29, 2019. As some of you know CRA has been looking at revising their foreign activity guidance however the changes made in January…
On March 15, 2019, CRA announced that there will be changes to the T3010 Annual Return and the T2050 Application to Register a Charity to account for the recent changes to the political activities rules for Canadian registered charities. Instead…
We are pleased to announce that we will be holding a full-day event on international philanthropy on April 12, 2019: Blumbergs' International Philanthropy Conference 2019. See below for more details and we hope to see you there. Over 5000 Canadian…
The Blumbergs' Canadian Charity Law Boot Camp will be held again on Monday April 8, 2019. This is a one-day boot camp on compliance and standards issues for Canadian registered charities. You can register for the program here. This one-day workshop…
Finance Minister Morneau delivered the 2019 Federal Budget today. Here is our article “2019 Canadian Federal Budget – How will it affect the Canadian charitable sector?“ Finance has already released a Fall Economic Statement that did contain a number of initiatives…
There was an interesting story on the CBC entitled “From sacred to secular: Canada set to lose 9,000 churches, warns national heritage group“. it is well worth reading and discusses how over the next few decades thousands of different religious…
There has been a lot of coverage of the college admission scandal in the United States, in which many celebrities and wealthy executives paid large sums of money (some over $1 million US) to cheat their children’s way into top universities.…
The CRA announced today a number of different matters including “The Government is providing up to $5.3 million in new funding over the 2018–2019 to 2023–2024 period for the CRA to enhance sector outreach and education. This will include reinstating in-person information sessions and…
Today CRA has released the Minister of National Revenue's response to the recent changes on Political Activities by Canadian registered charities. The Government has announced that this is their final response to the Report of the Consultation Panel on the Political…
The Minister of National Revenue, the Honourable Diane Lebouthillier put out a news release on March 7, 2019 dealing the new Advisory Committee on the Charitable Sector (ACCS). I was expecting details in the budget but receiving these details today by press…
The Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) Charities Directorate is the de facto regulator of Registered Charities in Canada and they audit between 600 and 800 charities per year. This article Registered Charities and CRA Charity Audits will help you understand the process…
The SNC-Lavalin affair has been in the news for a while. Here is an article on how this SNC-Lavalin scandal relates to the charity sector.
An interesting little case in BC called Bodner Estate. Irene Bodna died and left about 8m to 24 different registered charities and non-profits that are all interested in animal welfare and the environment. A small amount was as an outright…