IN THIS SECTION:
Charities and Not-for-Profit Measures
The 2014 Budget introduced several changes and developments that are of particular relevance to registered charities, their donors and not-for-profit organizations (NPO); these include:
- Enhanced tax recognition for individuals who donate ‘ecologically sensitive’ land in the form of an increased tax credit carry-forward period.
- Introduction of electronic filing of applications for charitable registration and annual charity returns.
- Revocation of charitable status for the acceptance of donations from state supporters of terrorism.
- Removal of the exemption for donations of ‘cultural property’ from the tax shelter anti-avoidance rules.
- Announcement that in the wake of CRA’s NPO Risk Identification Project, the Federal Government is now reviewing the tax exemption provision for non-profit organizations with a view to determining whether NPOs are currently subject to sufficient transparency and accountability provisions.
Additional information can be found in a more detailed report on the Budget’s provisions relating to registered charities, their donors and NPOs.
The Federal Government has entered into 35 sales tax arrangements under which Indian Act bands and self-governing Aboriginal groups levy a sales tax within their settlement or reserve lands. The Federal Government has also entered into 14 income tax arrangements under which self-governing Aboriginal groups impose personal income tax on residents of their settlement lands. The Federal Government confirmed its continued support for direct tax arrangements between Aboriginal governments and provinces and territories.
