Blog

The SNC-Lavalin affair has been in the news for a while. Here is an article on how this SNC-Lavalin scandal relates to the charity sector.

An interesting little case in BC called Bodner Estate.   Irene Bodna died and left about 8m to 24 different registered charities and non-profits that are all interested in animal welfare and the environment.  A small amount was as an outright gift and the rest was a perpetual fund paying out the net income.  

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The CRA recently posted on their T3010 page that "In December 2018, the rules governing the political activities of registered charities changed as a result of new legislation that permits charities to carry on unlimited public policy dialogue and development activities in furtherance of a stated charitable purpose. Under the new rules, the reporting requirements related to a charity’s spending on political activities are no longer relevant. The Canada Revenue Agency is revising Form T3010, Registered Charity Information Return, and will publish instructions on its webpages soon."

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Here is the text of a recent CRA letter on a rebate donation program and whether donors can claim a tax deduction.  Not surprisingly CRA was not prepared to confirm that a donation receipt can be issued and these sorts of matters very much depend on all the facts that are relevant.   That being said CRA does lay out some of the matters to consider.   

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In the Tax Court of Canada case Kaul v. The Queen, CRA denied certain claims for tax credits relating to an art donation scheme.  The taxpayers appealed and the Tax Court of Canada sided with CRA.  There is lots of discussion around valuation reports, fair market value and art work. 

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The CRA recently released a question and answer document on the December 2018 political activity changes and the new guidance on public policy dialogue and development activities by charities.  Here is the Q&A. 

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The CRA has recently updated its info sheet "How a Charity Completes Its GST/HST Return".  Here is the CRA document.  

The CRA document P113 - Gifts and Income Tax 2018 is a helpful guide to the tax consequences of donations to registered charities and qualified donees.  It has been recently updated.    

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Global News journalist Stewart Bell recently wrote an article "Government revokes charity status of Canadian Jewish group that supported ‘foreign armed forces’".  The articles discusses the recent revocation of the Canadian registered charity Beth Oloth Charitable Organization.  You can see detailed information on Beth Oloth at www.CharityData.ca.  It is quite clear from this Charitydata webpage that this organization went from having very little revenue to spending in the last few years over $200 million and apparently spending over 193m outside of Canada.

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I recently wondered with this new Ontario government whether there was any change relating to the new Ontario Not-For-Profit Corporations (ONCA).  It is supposed to come into force at the beginning of 2020.  So I wrote to the Ontario government on January 10, 2019 and they replied on January 25, 2019 with the following:

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The CRA today released its draft guidance "Public policy dialogue and development activities by charities".   This guidance will replace CRA's Guidance CPS-022, Political activities.  The CRA is asking for feedback on this draft administrative guidance and providing until April 23, 2019 for that feedback.  Here is a PDF of the draft guidance and here is a link to the draft guidance on the CRA website.  We will be providing further information on this draft to our clients and on our blog.  

We are pleased to announce that we have recently updated our CharityData.ca website to include nearly all T3010 2017 data and some of the 2018 data.

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We have created a course entitled "Should We Establish a Canadian Social Enterprise, Non-Profit or Charity and How to Do It?".   The course is $149 and you can register at https://charity-law.teachable.com/   Here is an overview of the course:

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The compliance requirements and restrictions on private foundations in Canada are frequently misunderstood, even by those who run large private foundations.   Here is our article Fallacies about private foundations in 2019 that might be helpful in dispelling these myths. 

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David Callahan recently reviewed Rob Reich's new book "Just Giving: Why Philanthropy is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better." in an article "Impossible to Justify" A Political Scientist Takes on American Philanthropy".  The review and the book are a further wake-up call that there are concerns in the public about philanthropy.    We can wait for people to become more cynical of the charity sector or we can act now to prevent that.   It is definitely worth reading David Callahan's review.  

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The Swiss Aga Khan Foundation has been added to the list of "Foreign charities that have received a gift from Her Majesty in right of Canada".  They have not been on the list for a number of years.  We have discussed this category previously.   There are only 3 groups at the moment on the list. 

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The Charity Commission of England and Wales has significant material to help charities understand the importance of putting in place systems and implementing them to safeguard charity beneficiaries, as well as staff and volunteers.   Sometimes the issue is framed in terms of "vulnerable" beneficiaries such as children or the elderly but similar principals apply to employees, volunteers, suppliers etc.  The issue has been covered recently in the media and for Canadian charities, there is little guidance on the topic from the CRA.

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On Thursday December 13, 2018, Bill C-86 received Royal Assent. Within this Bill, there are several changes to the Income Tax Act related to charities, especially with regards to political activities.  The change allows Canadian registered charities to conduct public policy dialogue and development activities (PPADA) connected to the legal purpose of the charity as long as they are not directly or indirectly partisan.   We are awaiting guidance from CRA on how they will interpret the new provisions on political activities.  Also the CWP decision will probably one day end up in the Supreme Court of Canada and perhaps they will have a thing or two to say about political activities and how purposes and activities relate to registered charity status.  

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As of November 14, 2018, CRA will no longer send out the peel and stick barcode labels with the T3010 annual information return package. These stickers were on the back of Form TF725, Registered Charity Basic Information Sheet. Charities will continue to receive Form TF725, on which they will be able to verify and make changes to their telephone number, fax number, email, website address and/or mailing address.

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The CRA released today their Report on the Charities Program 2016 to 2018.  They note: "We made the report shorter by reducing the amount of text and added more visuals. The report is now easier to understand and has a more modern look."  There is far less information in this report than previously provided which is unfortunate.   Although with all the crazy changes Finance is coming up with on political activities I am surprised that CRA had the time to prepare this report at all. 

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On Wednesday November 28, 2018 I presented to the Senate Committee on Finance in Ottawa. My presentation dealt with Bill C-86, Budget Implementation Act, 2018, and specifically the proposed changes to the rules and regulations on political activities carried out by charities within the Bill. 

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Here is our article "Informal Risk Reviews are Excellent Value for Money for Registered Charities"

The Government of Canada recently announced that it will now be using the Market Basket Measure (“MBM”) to measure Canada’s poverty line. Previously, Canada did not have an official measure of poverty; rather MBM was used along with Low Income Cut-Off (‘LICO’) and low income measure (‘LIM’). With Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy, announced in August 2018, the Federal Government needed an official poverty measure to guide this new strategy.

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On Monday November 19, 2018 I presented to the Special Senate Committee on the Charity Sector in Ottawa.  My presentation dealt with a number of areas especially transparency of non-profits and registered charities, good charity regulation, and political activities by charities.

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Here is our article Finance 2018 Fall Economic Statement and its Impact on Canadian Charities, Journalism and Social Finance.