This enactment amends the Income Tax Act to permit charities to provide their resources to a person who is not a qualified donee, provided that they take reasonable steps to ensure those resources are used exclusively for a charitable purpose.

Preamble

Whereas Canadian registered charities benefit significantly from tax subsidies under the Income Tax Act;

Whereas registered charities must devote their resources to charitable activities;

Whereas registered charities must also be able to operate efficiently when devoting their resources to charitable activities;

Whereas registered charities must be held to reasonable standards in the proper use of their resources;

And whereas registered charities should promote local capacity-building, ownership and participation and collaborative decision-making when working with communities in Canada — such as Indigenous communities — and with communities abroad as part of their charitable activities;

Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

charitable activities includes

• (a) public policy dialogue and development activities carried on in furtherance of a charitable purpose; and

• (b) making resources — including grants, gifts or transfers — available through transactions, arrangements or collaborations of any kind whatsoever in furtherance of a charitable purpose to a person that is not a qualified donee if those resources are made available by a charity that takes reasonable steps to ensure that those resources are used exclusively for a charitable purpose in accordance with subsection (27). (activités de bienfaisance)

• (a.‍1) all the resources of which are devoted to charitable activities,

• (e) a corporation all of the property of which is used by a registered charity in its administration or for charitable activities, or

• (b) fails to expend in any taxation year, on charitable activities and by way of gifts made by it to qualified donees, amounts whose total is at least equal to the organization’s disbursement quota for that year; or

• (i) in the course of charitable activities, or

(2.‍1) For greater certainty, a charitable foundation, as defined in subsection 149.‍1(1), may make resources — including grants, gifts or transfers — available by transactions, arrangements or collaborations of any kind whatsoever to a person that is not a qualified donee if the charitable foundation takes reasonable steps to ensure that those resources are used exclusively for a charitable purpose in accordance with subsection (27).

• (b)  fails to expend in any taxation year, on charitable activities and by way of gifts made by it to qualified donees, amounts whose total at least equal to the foundation’s disbursement quota for that year;

• (i) in the course of charitable activities, or

• (b) fails to expend in any taxation year, on charitable activities and by way of gifts made by it to qualified donees, amounts whose total is at least equal to the foundation’s disbursement quota for that year;

• (i) in the course of charitable activities, or

• (d) of a registered charity if it has, in a taxation year, received a gift of property (other than a designated gift) from another registered charity with which it does not deal at arm’s length and it has expended, before the end of the next taxation year, in addition to its disbursement quota for each of those taxation years, an amount that is less than the fair market value of the property, on charitable activities or by way of gifts made to qualified donees with which it deals at arm’s length;

Reduction

(5) The Minister may, on application made to the Minister in prescribed form by a registered charity, specify an amount in respect of the charity for a taxation year and, for the purpose of paragraph 149.‍1(2)‍(b), 149.‍1(3)‍(b) or 149.‍1(4)‍(b), as the case may be, that amount shall be deemed to be an amount expended by the charity in the year on charitable activities.

Devoting resources to charitable activity

(6) A charitable organization shall be considered to be devoting its resources to charitable activities to the extent that

Deemed charitable activity

(10) An amount paid by a charitable organization to a qualified donee that is not paid out of the income of the charitable organization is deemed to be a devotion of a resource of the charitable organization to a charitable activity.

Rule regarding disbursement excess

(20) If a registered charity has expended a disbursement excess for a taxation year, it may, for the purpose of determining whether it complies with the requirements of paragraph 149.‍1(2)‍(b), 149.‍1(3)‍(b) or 149.‍1(4)‍(b), as the case may be, for the immediately preceding taxation year of the charity and five or less of its immediately subsequent taxation years, include in the computation of the amounts expended on charitable activities and by way of gifts made by it to qualified donees, such portion of that disbursement excess as was not so included under this subsection for any preceding taxation year.

Definition of disbursement excess

(21) For the purpose of subsection (20), disbursement excess, for a taxation year of a charity, means the amount, if any, by which the total of amounts expended in the year by the charity on charitable activities and by way of gifts made by it to qualified donees exceeds its disbursement quota for the year.

(27) A charity is considered to have taken reasonable steps to ensure its resources are used exclusively for a charitable purpose if,

• (a) before providing resources to a person who is not a qualified donee, it collects the information necessary to satisfy a reasonable person that the resources will be used for a charitable purpose by the person who is not a qualified donee, including information on the identity, experience and activities of the person who is not a qualified donee; and

• (b) when providing resources to a person who is not a qualified donee, it establishes measures, imposes restrictions or conditions or otherwise takes actions necessary to satisfy a reasonable person that the resources are being used exclusively for a charitable purpose by the person who is not a qualified donee.

• (i) in the case of a registered charity, in the course of a charitable act in the ordinary course of charitable activities, unless it can reasonably be considered that the eligibility of the beneficiary for the benefit relates solely to the relationship of the beneficiary to the charity, and

Gifts not at arm’s length

(12) If a registered charity has, in a taxation year, received a gift of property (other than a designated gift) from another registered charity with which it does not deal at arm’s length and it has expended, before the end of the next taxation year — in addition to its disbursement quota for each of those taxation years — an amount that is less than the fair market value of the property, on charitable activities or by way of gifts made to qualified donees with which it deals at arm’s length, the registered charity is liable to a penalty under this Act for that subsequent taxation year equal to 110% of the difference between the fair market value of the property and the additional amount expended.

• (i) the total of all amounts, each of which is an expenditure made by the charity, on charitable activities before the particular time and during the period (referred to in this subsection as the “post-assessment period”) that begins immediately after a notice of the latest such assessment was sent and ends at the end of the one-year period