The Charities Directorate of CRA has announced that registration for three new webinars is open. These are free webinars offered by the the Charities Directorate to registered charities or others interested in compliance issues. The three webinars are: •Completing the…
The Jerusalem Post has written articles on an Israeli soup kitchen that received a large amount of funds from Canada and other countries around the world. The Canadian charity was concerned that their agent in Israel was not providing adequate…
At the Hillborn website charityinfo.ca there is an interesting article entitled ““Behaviour modification” the goal in suit against law firm” which discusses a recent class action lawsuit by Scarfone Hawkins related to the Banyan Tree Foundation abusive charity gifting tax…
Here are three free webinars from the Charity Law Information Program dealing with receipting by registered charities and gifts in kind on March 6, 2012. Mar 6 2012 Receipting 101 for Canadian Registered Charities 10:00am – 11:00am https://ocsa.webex.com/ocsa/k2/j.php?ED=180546817&UID=1053890197&HMAC=a04b61ed1db6ac230ffa5f1344a6679919c17b2b&RT=NCMxMQ%3D%3D&FM=1 Receipting…
The Charities Directorate of CRA has revoked the registered charity status of the group “World Assembly of Muslim Youth” CRA notes: “Summary of Reasons for Revocation – WORLD ASSEMBLY OF MUSLIM YOUTH On the basis of our audit and…
ORNGE, for those outside of Ontario, is a Canadian registered charity that runs the air ambulance service in Ontario. Their helicopters are painted orange. It is a charity but largely funded by the Ontario government. ORNGE has been receiving a…
The CRA recently revoked the registered charity status of the United Holy Land Fund. CRA alleges that the United Holy Land Fund did not have “direction and control” over the use of its resources, failed to maintain adequate books and…
L’Ecole Notre Dame Du Nord Inc. was registered charity that was revoked by CRA. I thought it worth mentioning because the reason for dissolution provided by CRA seems quite mundane but important for charities to pay attention to. In May…
Here is an article on the Ontario air ambulance service Ornge which discusses the involvement of legal and accounting firms in the structuring of the transaction. “Ornge to be restructured amid OPP probe”
Corporations Canada will be having a Client Outreach Session in Toronto, March 8, 2012. Here is further information. Subject: Corporations Canada – Client Outreach Session – Toronto, March 8, 2012 / Séance de sensibilisation des clients – Toronto, 8 mars…
The Canada Revenue Agency has revoked the registration of Escarpment Biosphere Foundation Inc. as a charity for participating in the Canadian Humanitarian Trust tax shelter gifting arrangement (Donation Program). The CRA notes “Our audit revealed that the Escarpment Biosphere Foundation…
There will be another Being Good at Doing Good conference on February 13 and 14, 2012 organized by the Charity Law Information Program – you don’t want to miss this conference. We will have some of the top experts from…
Here is another short article on the Cannon v. Funds for Canada Foundation class action lawsuit. $144-million charitable tax scheme class action certified As well here is the Judgment of Mr. Justice Strathy in Cannon v. Funds for Canada…
The Toronto Star has been doing a number of articles on a Canadian registered charity named “ORNGE” which provides air ambulance services in Ontario. In this article Kevin Donovan, investigative reporter for the Toronto Star, is discussing amounts of legal…
Here is a list of the Largest Gifts from Canadian Charities to other Qualified Donees – 2010. You might find this interesting. Largest Gifts from Canadian Charities to other Qualified Donees – 2010 Largest Gifts from Canadian Charities to other…
CRA will be shortly releasing their much anticipated revised Guidance on Fundraising. Join charity lawyer Mark Blumberg as he presents a webinar on behalf of the Charity Law Information Program entitled “CRA’s New Fundraising Guidance” on Friday, February 10, 2012…
Here is a copy of my submission to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance on Motion 559 dealing with transparency. “Canadians want charitable donations to benefit legitimate charities” Here are some other submissions: http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=5340612&Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=41&Ses=1 You can listen…
Canadians want charitable donations to benefit legitimate charities View Article
For a number of years CRA has been aggressively targeting charities that are involved with abusive tax shelter schemes or in serious non-compliance with their legal obligations under the Income Tax Act. In some cases CRA puts out a news…
StatsCan recently published some statistics on charitable giving. They noted “Canadian taxfilers reported making charitable donations of just under $8.3 billion in 2010, up 6.5% from 2009. At the same time, the number of donors increased 2.2% to just over…
There are a couple of interesting websites which allow much easier searching of information from the T3010 databases. One is CharityFocus.ca (discussed at ). Another interesting website is www.opencharity.ca Opencharity.ca allows for visitors to search not only by charity…
Alice Holt, the Head of Legal Services for the London office of the Charity Commission of England and Wales will be speaking at CLIP “Being Good at Doing Good” Conference in Toronto, which is being held February 13 and 14. …
Imagine Canada will be officially launching its Charity Focus website soon. You can review the website at At CharityFocus.ca you can: -review up to 10 years financial information for any Canadian registered charity in one chart rather than going…
The CRA has published Charity Connection No. 11 on the 2011 Federal Budget. The publication highlights some of the major changes for registered charities, RCAAAs and other qualified donees. There will be more information on certain other budgetary provisions in…