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 […]
Charter Challenge to Political Activities of Charities
By: Alexandra Tzannidakis When the Liberals came into power last year, the new Minister of National Revenue announced that she was putting a halt to the “political activities” audit of charities that the previous administration had been conducting for the past few years. In practice, this meant that the charities in line to be audited […]
Indian Bands as Municipalities
By: Arthur Drache, C.M., Q.C. Under the Income Tax Act [1] Indian Bands which qualify as public bodies performing a function of government in Canada are exempt from tax. But for years the issue was always how to determine what activities were required to meet the test. This was often the subject of ruling request […]
Charity Brings New Charter Challenge to Political Activity Restrictions
By: Alexandra Tzannidakis When the Liberals came into power last year, the new Minister of National Revenue announced that she was putting a halt to the “political activities” audit of charities that the previous administration had been conducting for the past few years. In practice, this meant that the charities in line to be audited […]
Beware of Operating Contrary to Public Policy
By: Adam Aptowitzer News that Canada will legalize physician assisted death has prompted many publicly funded hospitals with Catholic ties to publicly state that they will not allow the practice in their hospitals. Their position is similar to the one they hold on abortion. The whole discussion is reminiscent of the stance many Catholic (and non-Catholic) […]
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 […]
The Complex New Charitable Tax Credit Provisions
By Arthur B.C. Drache, CM, QC From the time it became clear that the Liberals would form a government and would bring in changes to the tax rate structure including a new 33% bracket for high income taxpayers (those with more than $200,000 of taxable income), charities and fundraisers have been concerned about what changes […]
Disclosure Obligations of Labour Organizations
By Arthur B.C. Drache, CM, QC One of the most contentious pieces of legislation recently was a private member’s bill, Bill C-377, which required what we believe to be hugely intrusive public reporting by labour organizations. The legislation was so contentious that event the Senate, controlled by the Harper Conservatives, initially amended the bill to […]
Ecological Gifts and Change of Use Tax
By Arthur B.C. Drache, CM, QC A recent ruling letter 1 from the CRA highlighted what for most is an obscure provisions of the Income Tax Act which related to gifts of ecological property. Section 207.31 of the Act imposes a tax on any charity, municipality in Canada or municipal or public body performing a function […]