By: C. Yvonne Chenier The title for the mid-day address of the Canadian Bar Association Charity Law Annual Symposium is usually the “CRA Comes to Lunch”. Lunch is served before we hear from the Director General, Charities Directorate, Canada Revenue Agency. At the May 11, 2018, Symposium, the morning sessions focussed on revisiting the meaning […]
Community Economic Development
By: Arthur Drache For myriad reasons circumstances may arise where a community may be threatened by a loss of services and may have to turn to outside sources to help. A few decades ago, for example, the Province of Manitoba had a programme which helped provide dental services to small towns which had no accessible […]
New CRA Guidance: Charitable Status for Internal Divisions
By: Alexandra Tzannidakis Many larger charities are structured in such a way that there is a head organization with subordinate divisions operating below it. For example, a charity that operates across the country may do so by way of local ‘chapters’ overseen by a main organization, or a religious governing body may have several related […]
CRA Draws Attention to CRM
By: C. Yvonne Chenier The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Charities Directorate has recently created a webpage discussing the involvement of charities in the practice of cause-related marketing (CRM).[1] The message on this new webpage zeros in on the benefit to the for-profit partner if the charity is considering issuing a receipt for a donation. Previously, […]
CRA Answers Questions about Non-Profits
By: Arthur Drache A recent ruling letter from the CRA[1]dealt with a host of scenarios revolving around the use of surplus funds in non-profits organizations (not charities).to determine if a benefit to members result from the use of an accumulated surplus under various scenarios. We should note that nothing in the Income Tax Act prevents […]
New CRA Guidance on Ineligible Individuals
By Arthur Drache C.M., Q.C. At the end of August, the CRA published a lengthy Guidance (36 printed pages) dealing with its views on who are ineligible individuals under the charity provisions of the Income Tax Act.1 The ineligible individual provisions in the Income Tax Act came into force on January 1, 2012. These provisions […]