February 19, 2020
Stats Can releases 2018 tax filer charity donation information for Canadians
Statistics Canada reported, "While fewer Canadian tax filers made charitable donations in 2018, they were more generous than in 2017." They noted…
February 16, 2020
The TCC rejects abusive charitable gifting tax scheme in Tudora v. The Queen
On January 27, 2020, the Honourable Justice Ronald MacPhee of the Tax Court of Canada (TCC) rejected an appeal from Alexandru Tudora dealing with the…
February 10, 2020
Tax preparer given prison sentence for false charitable donation receipts
Here is a recent bulletin from CRA dealing with the problem of fraudulent official donation receipts. Canada Revenue Agency Feb 07, 2020,…
January 29, 2020
Class action lawsuit certified for GLGI donation scheme
The Canadian Lawyer has an article Class action certified for "sham" charitable donation tax scheme. It discusses the class action lawsuit against a…
January 29, 2020
Some initial issues for a new Canadian grantmaking foundation
Here is our article "Some initial issues for a new Canadian grantmaking foundation". Hopefully, it will provide some ideas as to issues that new…
January 21, 2020
Mark Blumberg speaking at the 17th Annual Foundation, Endowment and Not for Profit Investment Summit
Mark Blumberg will be speaking on top compliance issues and transparency with investments at the 17th Annual Foundation, Endowment and Not for Profit…
January 18, 2020
Australian Wildfires and Canadian donors
We all see from the media the terrible wildfires in Australia. Some Canadian donors or charities have wanted to assist with the relief and recovery…
January 18, 2020
Recent CRA letters of revocation for Canadian registered charities -2015-2018
Here are the CRA letters from a number of recent Canadian registered charity revocations. These letters from CRA cover many different grounds for…
December 20, 2019
Blumbergs’ Canadian Charity Law Boot Camp 2020
Blumbergs is pleased to announce that we will be hosting Blumbergs' Canadian Charity Law Boot Camp again on Monday April 20, 2020. An easy enough…
December 18, 2019
Mormon church has US$100 billion dollar fund and questions asked about it.
The Washington Post recently had an article entitled "Mormon Church has misled members on $100 billion tax-exempt investment fund, whistleblower…
December 18, 2019
Another exposé on super wealthy using DAFs in a way that raises lots of questions
There was recently an article in VOX entitled "Google’s Larry Page gave $400 million in Christmas donations. Not a penny went straight to charity.…
December 9, 2019
Donor Advised Funds can have greater secrecy – it can also be a problem
Donor Advised Funds are registered charities in Canada that allow a donor to donate to the charity but the donor retains the ability to recommend…
November 30, 2019
It is giving season time again – some thoughts on effective giving
It is now the giving season. We will hear lots from charities on Giving Tuesday and perhaps you will be inundated with too many emails on Giving…
October 28, 2019
VITREO Brain Trust Philanthropy Podcast on Community Foundations, DAFs and Perpetual Funds
I was recently on a VITREO podcast entitled Episode 31: The Impact of the Community Foundation - How They Have Become Power Players in…
October 25, 2019
Miller v. The Queen, 2019 TCC 204 – the Tax Court of Canada sure can be slow
There was a recent Tax Court of Canada ("TCC") case Miller v. The Queen, 2019 TCC 204. It is not an important or exciting case - it deals with a…
August 29, 2019
Tyee opinion piece “Why Environmental Groups’ Attack on Elections Canada Is Wrong, and Dangerous”
The Tyee, an online magazine, recently posted an opinion piece by Tom McMahon entitled "Why Environmental Groups’ Attack on Elections…
August 29, 2019
CANADALAND Podcast on charities, political activities and the upcoming Federal election
CANADALAND recently had a podcast which dealt with a number of topics but one of them was charities, political activities, Elections…
August 20, 2019
Misinformation about NPOs/charities and political activities during the election is spreading
There has been a lot of media and social media coverage over the last few days about non-profits and charities and the rules around their involvement…
August 13, 2019
NYT article on “Jeffrey Epstein’s Opaque Finances …” and discussion of charities
There have been a number of articles discussing Jeffrey Epstein's used of charities. One of the is the New York Times "Jeffrey Epstein’s Opaque…
July 24, 2019
TCC Ruling on Failure to Maintain Adequate Books and Records with Foreign Activity and Suspension
On June 28, 2019, the Tax Court of Canada released its decision Promised Land Ministries v the Queen, in which it upheld CRA's decision to…
June 28, 2019
Online Charity Law Courses from Blumbergs – 24/7 compliance education for registered charities
We have created two new online courses for those outside of Toronto who are not able to easily attend our programs. They might also be helpful to…
May 24, 2019
Dramatic changes to the CRA Charities Listing
CRA has recently updated its Charities Listing and the most notable change is the fact that they have reduced the amount of information available on…
April 30, 2019
Fundamentals of Receipting by Canadian Charities
Properly issuing official donation receipts has been challenging for many registered charities. According to the CRA, 89% of registered…
April 30, 2019
Fundamentals of the T3010 and Transparency for Canadian Charities
Every year Canadian registered charities must file the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return with the Charities Directorate of CRA. In June…