June 30, 2012
This CRA letter looks at “Whether a donation receipt can be issued by a charity to an individual who has agreed to donate wines and incur expenses in hosting a fundraising dinner on behalf of the charity, and to the individuals who purchase the right to attend the fundraising dinner.” It concludes that these type of situations are very dependent on the facts of the situation and highlights the rules around receipting, split receipting, fair market value and deemed fair market value etc.
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The CRA has announced “The Application review process Web page has been updated to reflect the new procedures we follow when an applicant does not respond to our request for clarification or more information.” CRA is streamlining the application system so that if an applicant who has provided an application that is missing information etc. does not respond within 60 days of the CRA requesting the additional information then CRA will close the file. CRA will not deny the application (which one could appeal from) but just close the file. An applicant can always put in another application the next day if they wish.
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June 28, 2012
The CRA recently released a press release that “Stéphane Saintonge, one of the promoters of an art-donation scheme to the municipality of Larouche in the Saguenay region, pleaded guilty to a tax evasion charge today before the Court of Quebec in Montréal. He was fined $840,000.”
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June 27, 2012
According to the Globe and Mail “An environmental charity at the centre of controversy surrounding political activism and foreign donations is taking the rare step of releasing a detailed account of grant recipients and international donors in an effort to stem attacks by Conservative politicians.” It will be interesting to see how much this disclosure adds to the disclosure that TIDES US has already made which I discussed in March.
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June 23, 2012
Posted by Mark Blumberg on 06/23 |
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Canadian Charity Law
Here is a recent report entitled “The impact of the public benefit requirement in the Charities Act 2006: perceptions, knowledge and experience”. It has been interesting to watch the public benefit discussion in the UK. It would not be a shock to me if in the next 5-10 years that the Canadian Department of Finance decides that there should no longer be a presumption of public benefit for Canadian registered charities and that registered charities should be able to demonstrate their public benefit. Currently there is a presumption (which is rebuttable) in Canada that with the first three heads of charity, there is a public benefit (ie. charities involved with relief of poverty, advancement of religion and advancement of education). Only charities whose objects are under the 4th head of charity, which deals with other purposes that are beneficial to the public and that are recognized by law as being charitable need to demonstrate public benefit.
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June 15, 2012
Posted by Mark Blumberg on 06/15 |
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Canadian Charity Law
Here is the cost decision of Strathy J. in the Cannon v Funds for Canada Foundation et al class action case.
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We have noted for a number of years that almost $500 million in “false” receipts have been issued. These are fraudulent receipts - no complicated scheme is involved and typically is no donation at all to a charity. (These are in addition to the approximate $6 billion in “abusive charity gifting tax schemes”) Typically, the taxpayer paid 10% of the donation to a tax preparer who issued them a receipt. CRA has found over 100,000 tax returns with such false receipts. Here is an example of one case involving Mr. James O. Grossett.
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June 12, 2012
Canadian registered charities are not allowed to make donations to political parties. The Calgary Herald in an article entitled “U of C documents point to political donations that may have contravened election law” states “Thousands of dollars in “indirect contributions” apparently flowed from the University of Calgary to the Alberta Progressive Conservative party, according to documents obtained by the Herald on Friday through freedom of information laws.” The matter is being investigated by the chief electoral officer and none of the allegations have been proven.
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June 09, 2012
Here is a short article that I wrote entitled “Focus on Canadian Charities and Political Activities” for the Canadian Donor’s Guide in May 2012.
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June 08, 2012
In January 2012 I put in an access to information request to the Department of Finance relating to certain inappropriate activities by Canadian charities. In April 2012 I received a partial response. It includes everything from newspaper articles to secret memos that have been heavily redacted and some not so heavily redacted.
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