February 26, 2009
Obama Budget to drastically reduce tax incentives for the wealthy who donate to charity
Obama has proposed the largest budget in US history. He is planning on various tax cuts for people earning under US$250,000 and various tax…
February 25, 2009
OECD Report on Abuse of Charities for Money Laundering and Tax Evasion – Canada does very poorly
The OECD Report on Abuse of Charities for Money Laundering and Tax Evasion is well worth reading for anyone who cares about the Canadian charitable…
February 21, 2009
Millennium Charitable Foundation Case – Federal Court (FCA) not impressed with charity tax shelters
The Millennium Charitable Foundation Case deals with abusive charitable gifting schemes. The Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) sided with CRA in…
February 15, 2009
Canadian charities and pharmaceutical donations -some ethical issues
There are many legal and ethical issues with the donation of pharmaceuticals to developing countries. In this note I will touch upon some of…
February 8, 2009
Canada Revenue Agency Charities Directorate Update November 2009
This CRA Charities Directorate Update presented in November 2009 provides some interesting information and statistics on compliance issues for the…
February 7, 2009
Canadian Charity Donation Tax Shelters Make No Financial Sense – or any other sense
I was merrily reading the Business Section of the Globe and Mail on February 7, 2009, and there was an advertisement stating: “Donation Tax…
January 27, 2009
CRA calls an apple an apple – Project Trident
CRA has launched a new initiative called “Project Trident” in which they are targeting the “Triple Threat Tax Fraud” namely…
January 17, 2009
Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Audits and Canadian Registered Charities
This article provides information and suggestions as to how a Canadian charity should, and should not, deal with CRA audits. It also discusses…
November 30, 2008
CRA Warning to charities: no lending of charitable registration numbers
CRA has prominently posted the following warning on its website: Under no circumstances should a registered charity lend its registration number to…
November 4, 2008
CRA Revokes Choson Kallah Fund of Toronto as tax shelter donation arrangement
The problem of abusive charitable tax shelters using the developing world as a marketing tool continues. It just goes to show the importance of…
September 15, 2008
How Much Should A Canadian Charity Spend on Overhead such as Fundraising and Administration?
Why low overhead may not be a good thing for a charity and what is appropriate? Here is my updated article on “How Much Should A Canadian Charity…
September 6, 2008
Offshore Tax Havens, Harmful Tax Competition and International Development
Offshore tax havens are very detrimental to the Canadian tax base and under cut our social programs. However, the effect of offshore tax…
August 30, 2008
CRA Fundraising Consultation – One giant leap forward in guidance for Canadian registered charities
In April 2008, CRA released a Consultation on proposed policy regarding fundraising by Registered Charities (RC4456-e) (“Fundraising…
July 2, 2008
Redeemer Foundation v. M.N.R. (F.C.A.)- Federal Court agrees with CRA on audit powers with charities
This case dealt with whether the Charities Directorate of CRA requires judicial authorization to request certain information from a registered…
April 14, 2008
Banyan Tree Foundation, law firm Fraser Milner Casgrain sued for $55m in class action lawsuit
The law firm of Scarfone Hawkins LLP in Hamilton has recently brought a class action lawsuit against a number of parties for their involvement with…
April 3, 2008
Has the regulation of Canadian charities operating outside of Canada become increasingly burdensome?
I often read commentators talking about the ‘increased burden’ placed by Canada Revenue Agency on Canadian charities operating abroad or the…
March 10, 2008
Regulation of Charitable Giving in Canada –A Presentation by Blaine Langdon
Here is a presentation by Blaine Langdon, Senior Policy Officer, of the Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency entitled Regulation of…
November 29, 2007
CRA Issues Notice of Suspension to International Charity Association Network
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/newsroom/releases/2007/nov/nr071129-e.html News release CRA Issues Notice of Suspension to International Charity…
November 23, 2007
Abusive Canadian Charity Tax Shelter Schemes
This article discusses certain ‘charitable’ gifting schemes which threaten to undermine the public and regulators confidence in the charitable…
January 6, 2006
Canadian Charities and Terrorism: Preventing Abuse of Your Favourite Canadian Charity
Charities, by virtue of their reputation and access to resources, in some cases make a tempting target for terrorists who are trying to acquire…
May 6, 2004
Top Receipting Concerns for Canadian Registered Charities by Mark Blumberg
89% of charities issue inappropriate receipts according to statistics from the CRA when they audit charities. Other than non-filing the T3010…
May 6, 2004
How Much Should A Canadian Charity Spend on Overhead – an article by Mark Blumberg
Canadians are increasingly asking “How Much Should A Canadian Charity Spend on Overhead?” Is this the right question? Here is my…