From AFP International www.afpnet.org

(March 20, 2006) For the ninth consecutive year, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will be holding a series of workshops and information sessions designed to help charities comply with the requirements of the Income Tax Act.

This year, the information sessions will focus on the Registered Charity Information Return (form T3010A), GST/HST, Disbursement Quota, Sanctions and other important reminders.

The locations of the information sessions have not been determined yet, and charities must register online in order to be invited. The form is available on the CRA website and must be completed by May 5, 2006. Charities can also print out a hard copy of the registration form and fax it to CRA at (613) 946-2413 or mail it to:

The Roadshow
Charities Directorate
Canada Revenue Agency
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0L5

Once the CRA has received all of the registrations, it will notify charities of information sessions being planned in their communities.

This year, the CRA is encouraging recently registered charities to attend the sessions, although established organizations will also find useful material about new intermediate sanctions and changes to the disbursement quota.

Guidelines for Charity Registration

The CRA has also produced a new document about how it determines if charities meet the public benefit test and can therefore be registered as a charity.

An applicant for charitable status will be determined charitable only if it meets two fundamental requirements:

1. The organization's purposes must be exclusively and legally charitable.
2. It must be established for the benefit of the public or a sufficient segment of the public.

Within the public benefit requirement, there are several sub-requirements:

• The benefit should generally be tangible.
• The beneficiaries must be the public-at-large or come from a sufficient segment of the public as determined by the charitable purpose being considered.
• The organization may not otherwise benefit private individuals except under certain limited conditions.
• Subject to some exceptions, the organization cannot exist for the benefit of its members. Professional associations and trade unions are not typically considered charitable at law.
• The organization cannot restrict delivery of the benefits to a certain group or class of persons without adequate justification.
• The organization cannot charge fees for its services where the effect of the charge would be to unduly exclude members of the public.

Over the past several years, there has been much discussion of what “public benefit” truly means, including court cases that have challenged certain aspects of the law.

The CRA has produced the Guidelines for Registering a Charity: Meeting the Public Benefit Test to clarify the meaning of the term "public benefit" as applied by the agency when it makes determinations of charitable status.

The guidelines are available on the CRA website.