December 31, 2010
Here is the T3010-1 Registered Charity Information Return which replaces the T3010B for charities with fiscal year ends on or after December 1, 2010. [ed. CRA has subsequently said the T3010-1 can be used for fiscal year ends after March 4, 2010]
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December 28, 2010
Posted by Mark Blumberg on 12/28 |
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Canadian Charity Law
I am co-chairing this Ontario Bar Association program for the Charity and Not-For-Profit Law section at the OBA’s Institute 2011. The OBA Institute is the largest continuing legal event in Ontario. Lawyers may find this program helpful if they are interested in the new Ontario non-profit corporate legislation, the new federal Canada not for profit corporations act, avoiding problems with issuing receipts and class action lawsuits dealing with abusive charity gifting schemes.
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December 27, 2010
Posted by Mark Blumberg on 12/27 |
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Canadian Charity Law
Imagine Canada has released a “Guide to Giving”. In addition to discussing “What should I look for before giving to a charity?” it also discusses “How can I find out how much a charity spends on fundraising? Is this regulated?”, “How much does Imagine Canada recommend a charity spend on fundraising? How can I be certain that a charity’s fundraising costs are reasonable?”, “What are outside fundraisers? Should charities use them?”, “Why do charities spend money on administrative costs or overhead?”, and “How can I find out more about charity salaries?”.
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December 23, 2010
The Canada Revenue Agency has issued a “Tax Alert” entitled “Warning: If you donate to a gifting tax shelter, expect to be audited.” I know that the Tax Alert came out December 23, 2010 but if you are considering investing in one of these schemes consider that CRA’s warning is about the closest thing to a Christmas present you are ever going to get from CRA! After all they will have just saved you ten years of legal fees, emotional distress, and payment of the foregone taxes plus penalties and interest that can in the end be so staggering that you go bankrupt. That must be worth something. In case you did not understand the title I will try to translate it to my version of Canadian pig Latin: “Warningeh: Ifeh youeh donateh toeh giftingeh taxeh shelterey, expecteh toeh be’eh problemeh.” For those pig Latin purists, who I know will bombard me with comments along with the promoters of these schemes, here is the proper Pig Latin translation “Arningway ifway youway onateday otay away iftinggay axtay eltershay expectway otay ebay auditedway”. These schemes don’t make sense in any language!
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December 21, 2010
Posted by Mark Blumberg on 12/21 |
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Canadian Charity Law
Canadians are ostensibly a generous people. They give on average about 1 billion per year in donations to registered charities for internationally philanthropy that targets the poor around the world. On the other hand remittances from Canada to developing countries are approximately 9 billion per year. Remittances tend to come from new immigrants, migrant workers etc. that often have far less financial resources than the average Canadian. There are no tax incentives for remittances but very high tax incentives for donations to charity. Avaaz is concerned that some companies like Western Union are gouging unsuspecting people who make remittances. Here is the Avaaz petition:
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Posted by Mark Blumberg on 12/21 |
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Canadian Charity Law
Here is a copy of the Blumbergs’ Canadian Charity Law List for December 2010.
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December 20, 2010
Posted by Mark Blumberg on 12/20 |
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Canadian Charity Law
Here is a UK Charity Commission report on the “International Tiger Moth Charitable Trust” which took “sick and terminally ill children in a Second World War Tiger Moth aeroplane”. It is interesting because it shows how having a board of family members can result in poor governance, internal controls, safeguarding of vulnerable beneficiaries and use of funds. It also shows that in the UK, where they don’t have massive charity tax evasion schemes and abusive charity gifting tax shelters worth billions of dollars like we have here in Canada, the Charity Commission can spend time quite carefully reviewing the performance of a small individual delinquent charity.
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On December 6 2010 the Standing Committee on Finance held hearings on C-470 and whether there should be salary caps on charities in Canada.
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Posted by Mark Blumberg on 12/20 |
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Canadian Charity Law
The CBC notes in an article entitled “Telemarketer hit with $500,000 CRTC fine” that “The federal telecommunications regulator has hit a Calgary-based telemarketing firm, Xentel DM, with a $500,000 penalty for misusing the charity exemption to the National Do Not Call List rules.” It looks like Xentel will be or has changed its name to “iMarketing Solutions Group Inc. (Formerly Xentel DM Incorporated)”
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