Most organizations that are pursuing charitable status are incorporated. Part of the requirement for achieving such status is that the corporation is organized to pursue charitable purposes. But that by itself is not enough for charitable registration and so prospective charities must apply to the CRA for registration. The question then arises about the tax […]
Charities Information Sessions: Take it With a Grain of Salt
The Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency has restarted their in-person educational program for the charitable sector after a being cancelled in 2013 under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The first Charities Information Session was held in Ottawa the morning of May 28th, 2019. We audited the first class to get a feel for whether […]
New Digital Services for Charities
As of June 1, 2019, the Canada Revenue Agency offers new digital services for charities through their platform, My Business Account (“MyBA”). You, your employee, or your Authorized Representative can do the following tasks online: apply to become a registered charity, a registered Canadian amateur athletic association (RCAAA), or registered national arts service organization (RNASO) […]
Santa Baby
By: C. Yvonne Chenier, Q.C. Santa Baby [1] Santa baby, send a CRA[2] Agent, to me I’ve been an awful good girl, Santa baby Governing my charity right Santa baby, a Charities Education Program[3], too, so cute Well I’ll wait up for you, dear, Santa baby So hurry down your list tonight, yeah Think […]
CRA and the CHAMP
By: C. Yvonne Chenier Those of us, who deal with the Canada Revenue Agency Charities Directorate (the “CRA”) on behalf of clients on a regular basis, have often lamented about the old fashioned ways of communicating and filing that they use, i.e. telephone, fax and snail mail or courier. But similar to how businesses and […]
Head in the Cloud, and Books and Records on the Ground
By: Kara Johnson If someone asked you “where” your cloud storage is, would you know the answer? The “cloud” is the common term used when data is stored remotely but yet accessible (to your multiple devices) through the internet. Given that the data is now ‘remote’ we often receive questions from clients as to […]
CRA releases infograph to assist Charities with annual filings
By: Sukhdeep Singh Sembi The continued effort to simplify correspondence to taxpayers from the CRA has recently resulted in the agency publishing an infograph to help charities understand when their annual filings are due. Charities must file the T3010 information return within six months of its fiscal year-end. The process is slightly more complicated when […]
Angels We Have Heard On High
By C. Yvonne Chenier Last year at this time I was dreaming of sugarplums obviously when I ended my December 2014 article with hope for legislative reform to reduce red tape and help our charity and not for profit clients. Then on budget night in the early months of 2015, I was disappointed as it […]
Annulment Offers Second Life to Charity
By Arthur B.C. Drache, CM, QC Revocation is not the only way that charities can lose their registered status. The following comes from the web site of an organization which was a registered charity called Dying With Dignity: Dying with Dignity Canada (“DWD Canada”)has learned it will lose its registered charity status as the […]