By Alexandra Tzannidakis Anyone involved with a Canadian charity that operates internationally or sends funds abroad is probably intimately familiar with the considerable restrictions in this area. As with much of the law surrounding charities in Canada, the foreign activities rules are made up a small nucleus of actual statute law surrounded by an ever-growing […]
Canadian Charities take Political Complaints to UN
By Alexandra Tzannidakis 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…”. […]
CRA Policies Are Not Law
By Alexandra Tzannidakis The CRA’s Charities Directorate continually develops and updates a variety of policies and guidance for public consumption that are presumably predicated on their own internal policies. It has an extensive list of policies available online that are aimed at registered charities, voluntary sector professionals, and (according to its website) its own officers. […]
What’s In a Name? Brand Protection for Non-Profits
By Alexandra Tzannidakis In the business world, name recognition and protection are well-understood concepts. Companies know the importance of protecting their “brand” and its earning potential. Non-profits may be fundraising instead of selling, and their motivations for collecting money may be different than those of for-profit companies, but ultimately name recognition is just as important […]
Crowdfunding: New Challenges to Old Tax Policies
By Alexandra Tzannidakis The internet seems to constantly be evolving new uses, not to mention new additions to the lexicon. A popular concept recently has been ‘crowdfunding’, in which people bypass traditional methods of accessing funding for a project by using the internet to make a direct appeal to the public. This strategy has been […]
What Can a Non-Profit Organization Pay Out to its Members?
By Alexandra Tzannidakis A recent CRA ruling conveniently breaks down some of the rules about how a non-profit organization (NPO) may distribute its assets on dissolution. In this discussion, an NPO is specifically the kind of tax-exempt entity defined in paragraph 149(1)(l) of the Income Tax Act: one that is not a ‘charity’, but is […]
GST/HST For Charities
By Alexandra Tzannidakis GST/HST is a complicated enough topic in general, but for charities the rules are different again. This means that even if you have someone on the board who is familiar with the GST/HST basics, your charity may still not be navigating the system correctly or to its maximum advantage. This article lays […]
It’s Giving Season: Tax Credits for Charitable Donations vs. Political Contributions
By Alexandra Tzannidakis In the public mind, the idea of tax credits for giving to ‘good causes’ sometimes leads to confusion and conflation of charitable tax credits and political tax credits. The truth is that charities and political causes are legally very distinct concepts (there is no such thing as a political charity) and although […]
Books and Records for Charities: Part II (How to Actually Keep Records)
By Alexandra Tzannidakis The failure to maintain books and records is ground for suspension of a charity’s tax-receipting privileges. Such a suspension can translate into the loss of big donations. This article is the second in a series on what “books and records” means and how to meet the requirements. Part I (An Introduction) is available […]
New CRA Ruling on Making Loans to Foundations
New CRA Ruling on Making Loans to Foundations By Alexandra Tzannidakis, LL.B. In July of this year, the CRA issued a ruling around making loans to charitable foundations. The ruling was requested by a taxable corporation that had set up its own foundation, a registered charity. The corporation wanted to know what the tax consequence […]
