On March 21, 2013 at 4pm, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivered the 2013 Canadian federal budget. There were a number of interesting proposals relating to charities. Some of the highlights include a new temporary First-Time Donor’s Super Credit (FDSC) designed…
Jeff Gray of the Globe and Mail is reporting today in an article “Tax-scheme case revived against Bay Street law firm” that the class action lawsuit against Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP has been certified by a decision of the…
The Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency has announced the revocation of Marketplace Ministries International as a registered charity for its involvement in the “Insured Giving Donation Program tax shelter gifting arrangement”. Here is the CRA press release: …
CRA has provided some comments on registered charities and political activities. We have consolidated these various articles into one document. CRA information on registered charities and political activities.pdf [Update – CRA has created a new space on their website with…
The CRA has two upcoming Charities Information Webinars being offered in the month of March. Upcoming webinar topics include Completing Form T3010 (13), Registered Charity Information Return, and Arts Activities and Charitable Registration (Guidance CG-018). In order to register for…
In January, CRA released a revised T4033 Guide which we blogged on earlier, which assists Canadian registered charities with completing the Registered Charity Information Return.. Now they have slightly revised the T4033 again. The most recent version of the guide…
In The World Job and Food Bank Inc. (WJFB) CRA revoked the registered charity’s registration for 3 reasons namely “WJFB failed to demonstrate that it devotes all of its resources to charitable activities carried on by itself, it failed to…
Andy Levy-Ajzenkopf recently posted an article on Charity Village providing some comments and information regarding the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA). Here is a link to the Charity Village article on the ONCA:
CRA recently released a letter which discussed whether a Corporation qualified for tax exemption when it held a reserve. In this case, the Corporation was receiving funds as a result of a funding agreement and could only expend them for…
CRA recently released a letter that discussed the tax implications of an entity that distributes revenue to its members from the sale of auction items. CRA stated, “With respect to the sale of auction items, it is not clear to…
Here is a CRA press release on a Brampton tax preparer sentenced after “A CRA investigation discovered that false charitable donation claims totalling $858,897 were made on 129 income tax returns prepared by Mr. Adebukunola for clients for the 2004…
Almost $15 billion is sent by people in Canada to developing world countries as remittances. Over the years I have written quite a bit about remittances, how important they are; how they dwarf charitable funds in Canadian charities used for…
Statistics Canada has recently released donor information for 2011. Every year Stats Can puts out this information and people write about it. Stats Can notes: “Charitable donations reported by taxfilers increased 2.6% from 2010 to just under $8.5 billion in…
On June 5, 2013, Trevor Clark and myself will be delivering the “Planned Giving Institute” for AFP Toronto’s Fundraising Day. Here is a brief description of the 3 hour presentation: Planned Giving Institute: Program and Development Wednesday, June 5, 2013…
I will be speaking at an upcoming Ontario Bar Association conference on April 8, 2013 dealing with “Not-for-Profit and Charitable Organizations in the Health Sector: Evolving Governance & Compliance Issues”. My topic will be: “Tax issues – Canada Revenue Agency’s…
We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2011 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. The database covers 82,000 of the 86,000 registered charities in Canada that had filed their T3010 and were processed into…
We recently reviewed the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return database for 2011 as part of the Sean Blumberg Transparency Project. The database covers 82,000 of the 86,000 registered charities in Canada that had filed their T3010 and were processed into…
Mark Blumberg’s OTF article on Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (ONCA) Here is my article on the new Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (“ONCA”) that I prepared for the Ontario Trillium Foundation blog
CRA recently released a letter which provided comments on the rules relating to the voluntary gifting of property to a registered charity and whether a qualified donee is required to issue a donation receipt. CRA View -Interpretation of a Gift…
CRA recently released a letter that discussed whether an entity that operates a private high school for the purposes of earning profit qualifies as a non-profit organization. CRA held that the Academy was not operating exclusively for a purpose other…
CRA recently issued a letter on whether an NPO will jeopardize its exemption from tax where it incorporates a Community Contribution Company (C3) to carry on for-profit activities. The CRA took the position that, “where an NPO incorporates a C3…
In an interesting coincidence the US Congress published a report on February 11, 2013 on the “Present Law and Background relating to the Federal Tax Treatment of Charitable Contributions”. This was the same day as the Canadian Finance Committee of…
The Charities Directorate has just published a new page which sets out how members of the public can obtain information about registered charities. Here is the link to the CRA page: Here is the text of the CRA page…
I have been concerned that it is not easy for people interested in Ontario non-profit and charity sector to obtain information on Ontario non-profit corporations. With the Federal government the information is available online and free. I have been requesting…