In this decision, Ms. Sowah appealed the Minister of National Revenue’s assessment of her 2006 taxation year in which her charitable donation claim was denied. The court found that the charitable receipts issued by the charity did not contain all of the required elements and failed on three counts.

The court stated:

“I point out the following with respect to the receipt: no specific date is given, but an indication of January – December 2006; the address of the Jesus Healing Center is provided but no indication of the locality of where the receipt was issued; there is no statement on the receipt that it is an official receipt for income tax purposes.”

The appeal was dismissed. It was the Minister’s position that the receipt submitted by Ms. Sowah did not meet the legislative requirements; and in any event, she was unable to prove that she made the cash donations to the charity. This is an interesting decision as it deals with deficiencies in charitable receipts and emphasizes how it important it is for registered charities to comply with the requirements or risk this kind of situation occurring.

Here is the link for the full decision: http://decision.tcc-cci.gc.ca/site/tcc-cci/decisions/en/item/62995/index.do