The Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency has revoked the charitable registration of Ecotecture: Centre for Ecological Art and Architecture for its involvement in a scheme known as the Via Project or Vintage Iconic Archives. The former registered charity…
Here is a Notice of Pending Dissolution from Industry Canada that we recently reviewed. Industry Canada will be sending out thousands of these over the next few months. If you require assistance with continuing to the new CNCA then please…
For a number of months Corporations Canada of Industry Canada has provided more director information on their website with respect to Federal non-profit Corporations under the Canada Corporations Act (“CCA”) and new Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (“CNCA”). Previously, the list…
Tax Court of Canada has released a number of judgements dealing with false receipting this week. The cases all relate to a scheme in Vancouver involving the issuance of approximately $12 million in false receipts. The cases of Azim Bani…
Mark Blumberg will be speaking on “Planned Giving and the Elderly Client” conference on January 23, 2015 Here is the description of the presentation: PLANNED GIVING AND THE ELDERLY CLIENT Planned giving arrangements allow your client to help others and…
I just read this CRA FAQ with the latest numbers on abusive gifting charity tax shelters. “As of March 31, 2014, the CRA has denied more than $6.3 billion in donation claims and reassessed over 190,000 taxpayers who participated in…
CRA has posted the T3010 Registered Charity Information Returns for 82,000 of the 86,000 Canadian registered charities. About 477 Canadian registered charities identified conducting political activities whether by volunteer, staff or spending funds. Here is a link to our article…
Mark Blumberg and Brad Offman will be presenting a workshop on “Overcome Operational and Legal Challenges to Endowment Management” Here is a description of the workshop: Overcome Operational and Legal Challenges to Endowment Management This interactive workshop will cover how to…
The CBC has disclosed that CRA had provided them with a list of private information on taxpayers who had applied for certain tax benefits as a result of donating cultural property through the Cultural Property Export Review Board. Disclosure…
CRA has put up another reminder to Canadians about abusive charity gifting tax shelters. The title is “Warning: be cautious if you are thinking of participating in a gifting tax shelter schemes” CRA notes “Since 2006, the CRA has seen a…
As we have noted before the “List of registered foreign charitable organizations that have received a gift from Her Majesty in right of Canada” had lost all of its charities. Then the “Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation” was added and…
The Federal Court of Appeal recently heard a case dealing with an organization that had applied for charitable status and been denied by the Charities Directorate of CRA. There were a number of grounds for refusal including that “the plan to…
Groups interested in international development and humanitarian assistance may want to review the new call for proposals from the Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD). For details on the funding see: Partnerships for Strengthening Maternal, Newborn and Child Health: Call…
Industry Canada has started the long and arduous process of notifying corporations under the Canada Corporations Act that have NOT continued to the CNCA that they will be dissolved. Industry Canada has sent notices of pending dissolution to the CCA…
Ian Ford and Norma Ford appealed a Tax Court of Canada 2014 decision relating to taxation years going back to around 1999 -2001. The decision notes that “Ian Ford and Norma Ford participated in an art donation program operated by Canadian…
Here is a copy of Ontario Bill 8, Public Sector and MPP Accountability and Transparency Act, 2014. Of particular concern is the Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act, 2014 (the “Act”). According to the act, “The purpose of this Act is…
Here is a recent article from Mark Blumberg and Kate Robertson entitled Ontario Corporations Don’t Need to Wait for the ONCA – Continuing from the OCA to Federal Jurisdiction. For many Ontario corporations who don’t want to wait for the ONCA which…
Carleton has a very interesting program that seeks to increase understanding of the non-profit and charitable sector. The Masters in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership (MPNL) is accepting applications for Summer 2015. The deadline to apply is January 15, 2015. I have been fortunate…
CRA recently released some information with respect to GST/HST and sponsorships in issue No. 93 of Excise and GST/HST News. We have included the CRA excerpt on sponsorships below: Sponsorships Public sector bodies often receive sponsorships from businesses to fund…
CRA recently released a letter which discusses whether a council that represents different Bands in a unified manner on certain Aboriginal title and rights matters qualifies as a 'public body performing a function of government'. CRA determined that the Council…
CRA recently released a letter which discussed whether income allocated to a First Nation from a limited partnership is exempt from tax because the First Nation is a public body performing a function of government. CRA had the following comments:…
Industry Canada has updated their “Frequently Asked Questions” with respect to the CNCA Continuance process to provide some useful information to the public on what will happen to corporations still under the CCA now that the continuance deadline of October…
If you are submitting corporate documents to Industry Canada then expect delays in processing. What might have been a 1 week turnaround for a continuance may now be 2 weeks. This delay is caused by a large number…
Here is the Blumbergs' Ontario Charity Sector Snapshot 2012. For those who are interested in the size and scope of the Ontario registered charity sector you may find it interesting. We have taken a subset of the 2012 T3010 data…