Under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (“AODA”) private or non-profit organizations with twenty or more employees are required to file accessibility compliance reports every three years, with the first report having been due December 31, 2014. Each report has questions tailored to an organization’s sector and size and an individual who has the […]
The 2015 Canadian federal budget contained good news for the gift planning community. Much has been written about the anticipated results of the exemption from the capital gain tax when someone wants to donate their private company shares or real-estate. Although we can surmise from the budget documents how the capital gain exemption will be […]
(Note: The following discussion is based on the common law and applies to all provinces except Québec, which is governed by the Civil Code of Québec). Many charities and not-for-profits, due to limited budgets, are unable to hire employees on a full-time or even part-time basis, so when specific projects arise they need to engage […]
Is campaigning for political changes a charitable pursuit? The line between the political and the charitable tends to shift around depending on which country you’re asking: in Australia, since very recently, the answer is a pretty resounding “yes”. In the US, England and Wales, and Scotland, the answer is essentially “yes, but…”. In Canada, however, […]
By Arthur B.C. Drache, CM, QC A recent decision of the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench[1] is an interesting exposition of the interpretation of a will clause which offered a large sum of money to the University of Manitoba. But for reasons which will become apparent, the University elected to go to court to get a […]
By Adam Aptowitzer Over a year ago then Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced that there would be major changes in the way Canadians would be taxed at death. The new system created what was called a Graduated Rate Estate (a “GRE”) which, amongst other things, entitles the estate of a taxpayer to the graduated rates […]
By Adam Aptowitzer Several years ago then Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced in Budget 2013 that the CRA would begin delaying the assessments of Income Tax returns submitted by Canadians who had participated in certain tax shelters. At the time it was understood that this time was needed to allow the CRA time to audit […]
On March 19, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its verdict in the case of Loyola High School v. Quebec (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 12. Loyola High School (“Loyola”) is a private, English-speaking, Catholic high school for boys in Québec. In 2008, Québec’s Minister of Education, Recreation and Sports required that all schools in […]
Donors are happy and charities are sometimes amazed (and perhaps a bit skeptical) when told that anyone can amass information about charities without even picking up the phone to call the charities themselves. Besides a few private research services that gather information about charities, much pertinent information about any charity is published by the Charities […]
By Arthur B.C. Drache, CM, QC A ruling letter issued early in 2015[1] by the CRA dealing with third-party fundraising offers nothing particularly new in the way of interpretation but does offer a bit of clarification. The question posed seemed to be by an official of a charity who was questioning situations where a third-party raised funds […]