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…
The case of Humanics Institute v. Minister of National Revenue deals with the refusal of CRA to register an organization as a charity in the category of advancement of religion. The Humanics Institute had lost in the Federal Court of Appeal and…
On March 26, 2015 Mark Blumberg was on The Agenda with Steve Paikin discussing crowdfunding. Other guests included Marina Glogovac, Caroline Riseboro, Bruce MacDonald, Daryl Hatton and Sabrina Nicosia. It was entitled “Charity Goes Viral“. The description of the program is: “Often, it starts with a…
The Canadian Charity Law Association is delivering some upcoming webinars. More information on each of these webinars and how to register is provided below: July 15th, 2015 at 12:00 PM EDT: “Should we set up a Canadian Charity and if…
Today the Federal government released its budget. There were a few items that will impact charities and non-profits in Canada. Here are the actual provisions in the 2015 Federal budget that impact charities. Here are some of the highlights of…
We have just released the Blumbergs' Snapshot of the Canadian Charity Sector 2013 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. The database covers about 83,000 of the 86,000 registered charities in Canada that had filed their T3010 and were processed…
We prepared an article on the largest Canadian charity employers. The article is entitled “Largest Canadian Registered Charities by Employment Compensation“ There are about 2.7 million Canadians who work for Canadian registered charities. They earn approximately $122 billion per year.…
The Charities Directorate of CRA has released the Charity Program Update 2015. We will discuss the update in this note, except for the parts dealing with political activities which we will discuss here. The Charity Program Update 2015 provides some interesting…
CRA recently released a letter which discusses whether a park qualifies as a 'municipal or public body performing a function of government' in Canada within the meaning of paragraph 149 (1) (c) of the Act. CRA concluded that they would…
On October 14, 2015 the Blumbergs' Charity Law Institute will be held in Toronto. Save the date and details will follow. The cost will be $185. There will be an early bird discount available with the code EB2015 which can save…
Industry Canada is now providing as part of their ‘Monthly Transactions’ online a list of the Corporations that it intends to dissolve as a result of failing to transition to the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (‘CNCA’). The list provides all…
The Canadian Charity Law Association is delivering some upcoming webinars. More information on each of these webinars and how to register is provided below: Apr 8th, 2015 at 12:00 PM EDT: “Fundraising Accountability and Transparency” A high level of trust…
Doug Rutzen of ICNL has published an interesting article entitled Aid Barriers and the Rise of Philanthropic Protectionism. The article is an updated version of an earlier article entitled “Regulation or Repression: Government Policing of Cross Border Charity,” Rutzen notes…
CRA recently released a letter which discusses the proper tax treatment of a post-doctoral fellowship and a travel/conference allowance received from a trust administered by a registered charity. CRA had the following comments: An amount received by a post-doctoral fellow…
CRA recently released a letter which discusses whether a gift by will of marketable securities provided to a Foundation would be deemed to have been made immediately before the death of the donor. CRA concluded that the gift did constitute…
As part of their educational mandate to encourage charities to be compliant with their legal requirements, including when conducting political activities, the Charities Directorate has released a “Political Activities PowerPoint Presentation” that registered charities can use internally to understand the…
The CRTC issued its first CASL violation to Compu-Finder for four alleged violations occurring between July 2, 2014 and September 16, 2014. A penalty of $1.1 million dollars was imposed by the CRTC and Compu-Finder will have 30 days to…
The Department of Finance has released a somewhat in depth report as part its tax evaluation series on “Evaluation of the Federal Charitable Donation Tax Credit“. It is an interesting report. If one is interested in tax incentives the reports…
Here is an interesting quote from the CCVO newsletter. “Albertans…more Scrooge than Saint? The recent stats on charitable donations from Statistics Canada placed Alberta close to the top with the second highest median donation. However Maclean's took it one step further and compared…
I am pleased to be presenting to the Ontario Hospital Association's third annual Strengthening Foundation Governance Workshop on May 22, 2015. Here is a description of the presentation to the Strengthening Foundation Governance: Current Issues, Challenges and Solutions: Top Compliance…
I am delighted to be co-presenting at the 2015 Canadian Conference on Social Enterprise (CCSE) on the topic “Structuring for Impact – Finding The Right Form For Your Social Enterprise”. The conference is from April 22-24. My topic, along with Cathy…
Here is my article 20 Ways We May Be Able To Help You With ONCA. It sets out some of the items that our law firm can assist Ontario non-profit corporations with when preparing for ONCA. The Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (“ONCA”)…
The CRA on February 6, 2015 released a new guidance entitled CG-022 Housing and Charitable Registration Guidance. It covers a number of issues relating to housing including how housing can be used to relieve poverty and the provision of specially…
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…