The Federal Court of Appeal has decided that, in light of Vavilov (2019 SCC 65), the standard of review for CRA charity revocation decisions is “palpable and overriding error.” Ark Angel Fund v. Canada (National Revenue), 2020 FCA 99. Molly…
Corporate gifts
Neal Armstrong reports that the Quebec Court of Appeal, in Emballages Starflex Inc. v Agence du revenu du Québec, 2016 QCCA 1856, has held that a corporation cannot deduct a gift to a charity as a business or promotional expense.…
ONCA: More Delay
It appears that the Ontario Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, 2010 (the “ONCA”) won’t come into force until 2017, seven years after it was enacted. What’s with the delay?
Castro
Craig Burley has written an interesting post on R v Castro, 2015 FCA 225. My summary of Craig’s summary: ouch!
NPO T1044 filing requirements
Under s 149(12) of the Income Tax Act (Canada), certain not-for-profits (“NPOs”, ie entities exempt from tax under s 149(1)(l)) must file a T1044 information return. An NPO must file the T1044 if (a) the total of all amounts each…
CRA charity nonsense—it’s insidious
Craig Burley is Unhappy about a recent CRA advisory on registered charities and partisan political activities, which advisory includes the following gem: When a charity invites comments on its website, blogs, or on social media, it should monitor them for…
CRA Duty of Care?
In Scheuer v R, 2015 FC 74, Mr Justice Diner dismissed an appeal from an order of a prothonotary in which he dismissed a motion to strike a statement of claim against the CRA for failing to warn taxpayers adequately about a particular donation tax shelter. The Court agreed that the duty alleged is novel, but it is not “plain and obvious” that a claim based on the duty will fail.
NPO Report
Interested readers can find the CRA’s “Non-Profit Organization Risk Identification Project Report” here.
Berg Overturned
The Federal Court of Appeal, at 2014 FCA 25, has overturned the Tax Court decision in Berg v R, 2012 TCC 406, which I wrote about here.
Kossow appeal dismissed
Apparently, the Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed the taxpayer’s appeal of Kossow v R, 2012 TCC 325. I say “apparently” because the decision was reportedly posted to the Federal Court of Appeal’s website and then taken down rather quickly.