It is good to see that in 2009 the problem of abusive charity gifting tax shelters has been further reduced. Here are the statistics from CRA:
Here is a CRA letter on Canadian unincorporated associations and who should pay tax if no longer meeting requirements for tax exemption.
One of the categories of qualified donees under proposed legislation is municipal or public bodies performing a function of government in Canada. Here is a CRA letter on whether an Indian band is a public body performing a function of government as is used in paragraph 149(1)(c) of the Income Tax Act? It also discusses whether a subsidiary is tax exempt.
A bill to impose a salary cap on Canadian registered charities has passed 2nd reading and will shortly be reviewed by the Finance Committee of the House of Commons. As they say, there is usually one simple solution to a complex problem that is totally wrong. To have a single cap for all Canadian charities means that Canadian hospitals, research institutions, and universities will not even have a chance of being able to compete with other similar institutions around the world. While it sounds appealing to cap salaries at $250,000, a very problematic piece of legislation when you drill down to the details . You see it is not about what charities want to pay for things - every charity would ideally want everything for free. Charities need to able to recruit people to accomplish their mission. Charities should never pay more than they need to. They should never pay more than fair market compensation. But you cannot just put a one-size fits all number on what it is. When there are only a few neurosurgeons you cannot pay what you want - you need to pay something related to the going rate for neurosurgeons or be prepared to do without them. If you are a small community in the North and you want to have a specialist in your community, you may have to pay that person more than what a comparable hospital in Toronto or Chicago would pay.
Here is a list of CRA 2010 Charities Information Sessions http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/chrts-gvng/chrts/cmmnctn/sssns/nvttn-eng.html
CIDA has announced that it will have a matching fund for donations raised by Canadian charities for the Pakistan relief from August 2 to September 12. The Pakistan Floods Relief Fund will not be given to each charity that raised funds but instead there will be an application process in which charities can apply for the funds and they will have to demonstrate that they have the capacity to do the work effectively. This is similar to the Haiti earthquake fund a few months ago.
I will be doing a number of programs for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario (ICAO) including on Top Compliance Issues - Registered Charities, Directors, CAs; Charity Fundraising and Receipting Rules and Recent Legal Developments Affecting Registered Charities.
I will be one of the presenters at an upcoming PFC program called Global Giving - Possibilities and Pitfalls.
Did you know that there are a number of Canadian charities with over 10,000 employees? These statistics are according to the 2008 T3010 Registered Charity Information Return numbers from the Canada Revenue Agency. There are 241 who have over a thousand employees. There are 1277 who have over a hundred employees. There are 7456 who have over 10 employees. There are 36,836 charities have one or more employees.
Tomorrow, the Humanitarian Coalition will launch an appeal for flooded Pakistan. Here is a link to their website http://tiny.cc/rr9x7 For those who have not heard of the Humanitarian Coalition it is “a network of Canadian NGOs determined to unite in cases of humanitarian crises. Four of Canada’s leading aid organizations have founded the Humanitarian Coalition: CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Québec and Save the Children Canada.”
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If you require legal advice with respect to Canadian or Ontario non-profits or charities please contact Mark Blumberg at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or at 416-361-1982 x237 www.canadiancharitylaw.ca