The CRA document P113 – Gifts and Income Tax 2018 is a helpful guide to the tax consequences of donations to registered charities and qualified donees.  It has been recently updated.    

The pamphlet describes “What's new for 2018?  Universities outside Canada – Registered universities outside Canada no longer need to be prescribed in Schedule VIII of the Income Tax Regulations. For more information about qualified donees, see Gifts to registered charities and other qualified donees.”  The CRA names these foreign universities “universities outside Canada, the student body of which ordinarily includes students from Canada, that have applied for registration and are registered with the CRA”.  The name just rolls off your tongue! The CRA notes “these universities are no longer required to be prescribed in Schedule VIII of the Income Tax Regulations” but I have a feeling people will be calling them colloquially “prescribed universities” for a while. 

The CRA also note “”If a university has applied for registration before February 27, 2018 and is registered by the Minister on or after that day, it is considered to have applied for registration. Any university named in Regulation Schedule VIII at the end of February 26, 2018, is also considered to have applied for registration.””   

If you want to understand how to get a foreign university on to this list you might find our article Foreign Universities Applying for Prescribed University Status in Canada 2018 helpful.  

The CRA did not mention the removal of the first-time donor extra deduction that the Liberals did not extend.  Here is what was in last years P113:

If you are a first-time donor in 2017 (neither you nor your spouse or common-law partner has claimed a charitable donations tax credit for 2007 and subsequent tax years), you can benefit from the First-time donor’s super credit. This credit supplements the value of the federal charitable donations tax credit by 25% on gifts of money up to $1,000 in respect of only one taxation year from 2013 to 2017. For more information, go to canada.ca/first-time-donors-supercredit.

There were also other changes to reflect the new CRA address and certain proposed changes becoming law.