By: Kara Johnson When average Canadian taxpayers pay attention to the receipts issued to them by Canadian charities to which they have donated, it is probably for two reasons: to ensure they actually have them all in hand at tax filing time, and to identify the dollar amounts therein so that they can put them […]
Reimbursing Volunteer Expenses: Opportunities and Pitfalls
By: Arthur B. C. Drache It is very common that volunteers and board members of charities lay out funds in support of the organization’s activities. It may be to pay for gas while driving clients of the charity to travel and accommodation expenses to attend board meetings away from one’s own city. In […]
Receipt Issuing and Donor Goodwill
By: Arthur Drache Each year in January and February we review our list of charitable donations made and start checking to see whether we have received receipts for the donations. Over the years we have found that inevitably there will be some problems though generally the issuing of receipts has become more expeditious with the […]
Donations In Kind and Appropriate Due Diligence
By Mark S. Anshan Charities need to be vigilant when accepting donations in kind. These include any non-monetary items, such as art, rare books, equipment and materials, personal objects of value, real property and computer-related assets. Receiving such donations is quite acceptable, but only after proper due diligence and professional advice is sought and followed. […]
Charitable Receipting Can be a Charity’s Achilles Heel
Charitable Receipting Can be a Charity’s Achilles Heel By Adam Aptowitzer In Greek mythology Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War. Although mortal when born, the goddess Thetis tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river Styx. Ostensibly to ensure he did not drown, she held him by the heel […]
New Hope For Taxpayers Caught in Charitable Donation Tax Shelter Schemes
New Hope For Taxpayers Caught in Charitable Donation Tax Shelter Schemes by Alexandra Tzannidakis In November 2012, the Tax Court of Canada added an interesting new twist to the epic story of Canada Revenue Agency versus tax shelters with its decision in Berg v The Queen. The story is an old one. Every year, many […]
Check Those Receipts
CHECK THOSE RECEIPTS By C. Yvonne Chenier, Q.C. In Alberta, and potentially in some of the other provinces that have regulated fundraising, there may already be confusion about receipts issued by entities referred to as “charitable organizations”. Now, potentially because of the new super credit that was announced for first time donors in the Federal […]
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 […]