Receipting for Canadian Registered Charities
A 3-hour online course with everything you need to know about how Canadian registered charities issue official donation receipts
Enroll in Course
Properly issuing official donation receipts has been challenging for many registered charities. According to the Charities Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), 89% of registered charities that are audited by CRA are not correctly issuing official donation receipts. Issuing incorrect receipts can result in revocation or penalties. It is easier to do it right than fix problems later!
Topics covered in this course include:
- When are charities allowed to issue official donation receipts? (“tax receipts”)
- Why are receipts so important
- What are the top Canadian registered charity receipting mistakes
- Review of information required on an official charitable tax receipt
- CRA’s sample official donation receipts
- What is a gift under the Income Tax Act (Canada)?
- Is the donation a gift?
- Is there an obligation to issue receipts?
- Who is the donor?
- What is split receipting and how does it affect galas, golf and other fundraisers?
- How do you correct or replace official donation receipts?
- Can you issue a receipt for a gift certificate?
- Can you return a gift?
- Are funds given by a business considered a gift or a sponsorship?
- Can you provide receipts for donors to third party fundraising events?
- Use of computer generated and e-mail receipts
- Is it appropriate to receipt for expenses of volunteers who travel abroad?
- Problems, abuses and consequences of improper receipts
- What is a gift in kind?
- What is fair market value of a gift and how to determine fair market value?
- What is “deemed” fair market value and how will it change the amount of the eligible amount of the gift?
- Receipting of gift in kind donations and special issues with gifts in kind
- When do you need to appraise gifts in kind?
- Can you receipt for donors of items to an auction?
- Can you receipt a successful bidder at an auction?
- What are some best practices for gifts in kind donations?
This receipting course will be of interest to staff at non-profits and charities responsible for compliance issues especially receipting and fundraising, professional advisors such as lawyers and accountants who advise charities and non-profits, and board members of Canadian registered charities.
Your Instructor
Mark Blumberg is a lawyer at the law firm Blumbergs Professional Corporation (Blumbergs) in Toronto and works almost exclusively advising non-profits and registered charities on their work in Canada and abroad. Mark has written numerous articles, is a frequent speaker on legal issues involving charity and not-for-profit law. He is the editor of a blog, www.CanadianCharityLaw.ca, and created the largest portal of data on the Canadian charity sector, www.CharityData.ca Mark also edits www.SmartGiving.ca, which provides information on due diligence when selecting charities.
Mark is particularly interested in the regulation of non-profits and charities in Canada, philanthropy, transparency requirements for the voluntary sector, providing accessible information on regulatory issues, and the use of data to make more informed decisions on the charity sector.
Mark is quoted regularly in print media and frequently appears on radio and television on topics relating to philanthropy and the regulation of charities in Canada. Mark has also appeared on a number of occasions in front of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance on topics such as charity regulation, transparency, accountability and tax incentives for philanthropy. Mark has testified at the Special Senate Committee on the Charitable Sector, the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance and the House Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.
Mark has also made presentations to the Charities Directorate Annual All Staff Meeting as well the Annual Divisional Staff Meeting of the Determinations Section of Charities Directorate. Mark presented to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) when the FATF conducted an evaluation of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism in Canada in 2015.
Mark sat for 4 years on the Charities Directorate Technical Issues Working Group, which is a bi-annual meeting between the Charities Directorate, the Department of Finance and the charity sector to discuss technical and policy issues pertaining to registered charities and the Income Tax Act (Canada). Mark is a member of the Exempt Organizations Committee of the American Bar Association. Mark spent 6 years on the Advisory Committee for the Master of Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership (MPNL) at Carleton University. Mark is on the Board of the Canadian Charity Law Association.
Mark has co-authored 20 Questions Directors of Not-for-Profit Organizations Should Ask About Mergers (Published by CPA Canada) and co-wrote a chapter on International Trends in Government-Nonprofit Relations: Constancy, Change, and Contradictions in Non-profits and Government: Collaboration and Conflict in Non-profits and government: collaboration and conflict (Edited by Elizabeth T Boris and C Eugene Steuerle)
Mark frequently lectures to various industry and professional groups on charity compliance issues including the Chartered Professional Accountants Canada (CPA Canada), as well as CPA Ontario, BC and Alberta, the Canadian Bar Association, Ontario Bar Association, Canadian Association of Gift Planners, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Ontario Hospital Association, Ontario Non-profit Network, and many other organizations.
Mark has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Toronto, an LLB from the University of British Columbia and an LLM from Osgoode Hall Law School in Tax Law.