WHAT’S NEW AT THE CRA?

We have a couple of updates from Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), Charities Directorate, that will be of interest to registered charities in Canada.

CRA’S NEW WEBSITE ADDRESS

As many will know, the CRA (along with the entire Government of Canada), has moved – website address, that is!  All the Government of Canada’s online presence has been migrated to the domain www.canada.ca. For registered charities, this means updating your donation receipts. We wrote about this issue last summer, but at the time, we did not know when charities were going to have to make the switch.

The CRA has indicated that charities will have until March 31, 2019, to make the change on their donation receipts. Receipts will have to include the new address: “canada.ca/charities-giving”. Sample donation receipts can be viewed here.

NEW VIDEOS ON GIFT RECEIPTING

The CRA has also made some helpful videos on gift receipting. They have an overview video and some more specific videos that deal with a few of the more complex receipting challenges that face charities, such as issuing donation receipts for gift cards received by charities and receipting for charity auctions and golf tournaments. The whole series can be accessed here. Videos include colourful graphics and catchy theme music.

If you are a registered charity in Canada and have questions about updating donation receipts and/or charitable gifting more generally, Mills & Mills LLP would be happy to assist you. Contact us at 416­-863-0125 or send us an email.