The US Form 990 is filed by some organizations that have addresses in Canada. Sometimes, it is a Canadian charity or non-profit in Canada that has applied for 501(c)(3) status, but sometimes, it is a US 501(c)(3) that has an address in Canada.
The Form 990 is interesting because it provides a lot more information on a group’s operations than the T3010, or in the case of non-profits, there may be almost no information available. We have discussed here the Differences between a Canadian registered charity (T3010) and a US 501(c)(3) (Form 990) transparency. These Form 990 are probably completed in US dollars and not Canadian dollars. If you want to compare the more limited information provided on our T3010 forms see the Charities Listing or CharityData.ca.
See some caveats below.
For a large listing of Form 990 forms, see the Guidestar website.
As we note with Canadian filings as well, these US filings are what was provided by the group and may or may not be accurate or complete.
While there might be some minor advantages to having 501(c)(3) status for a Canadian charity, we generally discourage Canadian charities from applying for the status for a number of reasons, including but not limited to they will need to file the Form 990 each year which is a complicated and involved undertaking for a foreign charity.