Accumulation of Profits in a Non-Profit Organization By Arthur Drache A ruling letter released by the CRA at the end of 2012[1] offers some pithy comments on the situation where a non-profit organization has accumulated significant surpluses. The document has been so redacted vis a vis the factual background that details are sketchy but the […]
T-3010 Mounting Complexity for Charities
T-3010: Mounting Complexity for Charities By Arthur Drache In the olden days, say a dozen or so years ago when the Voluntary Sector Initiative was still underway one of the objects was to simplify the annual report requirements for registered charities. Indeed, serious discussions were held about either exempting small charities altogether or devising a […]
Foreign Bribery Rules Will Now Apply to NGOs
Foreign Bribery Rules Will Now Apply to NGOs By Arthur Drache C.M., Q.C. One might be forgiven if the announcement that the government is tightening up the legislation Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA) dealing with bribery of foreign officials was moved to the front burner because of a couple of high profile cases […]
No Obligation for Charity to Issue a Receipt for a Gift
No Obligation for Charity to issue a Receipt for a Gift By Arthur Drache We have made the point in articles gone by that there is no obligation on a charity to issue a receipt for a gift though of course a refusal to do so would raise serious questions in the minds of donors […]
Employee Directed Gift to A Charity
Employee Directed Gift to a Charity by Arthur Drache Making a charitable donation in honour of or in memory of a third party is of course a common event. In such a case, the donor will normally get a receipt for tax purposes and the charity will arrange for the fact of the donation to […]
Personal Political Activity
Personal Political Activity By Arthur Drache, C.M. Q.C. About eighteen months ago David Suzuki, the high profile environmentalist, did a video endorsing the Ontario Liberal government’s environment policies during a the provincial election. Questions were raised as to whether this somehow would be translated into “political activity” by the Suzuki Foundation.a charge made by another […]
Residential Condos as Non-Profits
Residential Condos as Non-Profits By Arthur Drache, C.M. Q.C. In the past year or so there have been some concerns expressed as a result of some CRA Technical Interpretations[1] about whether certain corporations qualify as non-profit corporations under paragraph 149 (1)(l) of the Income Tax Act.the potential implication being that perhaps the might be taxable […]
Adhering to Gift Terms
Adhering to Gift Terms By Arthur Drache, C.M. Q.C. Virtually every major gift to a charity carries with it some level of terms, most commonly with regard to the use. The more valuable the gift the more likely that the gift agreement will spell out in great detail the terms of use. When one makes […]
Donations to a Non-Profit
Donations to a Non-Profit By Arthur Drache, C.M. Q.C. A recently published letter by the CRA[1] deals with the treatment of “donations” to a non-profit organization.clearly distinct from a donation to a registered charity. The discussion may be of particular interest to non-profits which are of considerable size and which have offices or other physical […]