Disbursment Quota Presents Unique Challenges for Charitable Trusts The Income Tax Act requires every registered charity (including organizations, private foundations, and public foundations) to meet a disbursement quota every year or risk losing its registration. Of the various structures that can hold charitable registration, charitable trusts may face particular obstacles in meeting their quota. How […]
Charities May Be Non-Soliciting Regular readers will be aware that the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (CNCA) classifies not-for-profit corporations as either soliciting or non-soliciting. Generally speaking, a corporation becomes soliciting when it receives more than $10,000 in public money during its last financial year. This distinction is important because the requirement for appointing a Public […]
Donation of Appreciated Shares by a Corporation by Arthur Drache, C.M. Q.C. We were recently asked what the impact of the 1996 budget changes relating to charities had upon corporate donors, and in particular, on private holding companies. Basically, the same proposals apply as they would to individuals with the obvious exception that corporations don’t […]
Organizations pondering taxable subsidiaries to run a social enterprise Any organization that has been pondering a taxable subsidiary to run a social enterprise but has been uncertain about the suggestion may want to investigate the new community contribution company that is now allowed in the province of British Columbia. Those organizations that have hesitated because […]
Loaned Funds Can Serve Many Purposes by Arthur Drache, C.M. Q.C. It was one of those mornings where for no discernible reason a discussion on one topic was given a different spin from a completely different source. The original discussion we had was about the possibility of members of a charitable organization making interest free […]
Claiming Musical Instrument Costs Last month, we wrote about how businesses can take advantage of the capital cost allowance (CCA) to depreciate eligible works of art by Canadian artists. The article prompted a response from musicians who requested that we clarify whether they could claim CCA for musical instruments. It just so happens that the […]
The Name Game: Trademarks versus Name Registrations Gone are the days (assuming they existed) when you could paint your business’s name on a shingle, hang it out front, and be done with it. In today’s heavily bureaucratic world, there are many types and levels of registration for different kinds of business names – some mandatory, […]
Bolting the Barn Door After It’s Burned to the Ground By: Adam Aptowitzer In a report entitled “Donor Beware”[1] the Tax Ombudsman opined on the CRA’s administrative responsibilities regarding charitable donation tax shelters. Perhaps the most surprising thing about the report is that it is dated March 19th, 2014 after years of legislative implementation of […]
Spamming will soon be Illegal and contrary to public policy Canada’s anti-spam law will come into force on July 1, 2014. This legislation intends to stop unsolicited commercial electronic messages and unwanted spyware and malware from being transmitted and installed on our computers. It will impact commercial activity in the charity and not-for-profit sector because […]