Beyond the Grave: Balancing Confidence and Flexibility in Gift Planning
Balancing Confidence and Flexibility in Gift Planning By: Adam Aptowitzer One of the unstated pillars of gift planning is to find ways of assuring a donor that his/her wishes will be carried out after death. Unfortunately, this can be a double-edged sword. While it may help convince a donor to give now the future needs of a charity can be difficult to anticipate. Consequently, it is important to balance flexibility with respect for the donor’s wishes when discussing gift planning arrangements. Typically when donors are…
Drache Aptowitzer Client Appreciation Breakfast
On May 19, 2017, Drache Aptowitzer LLP hosted a breakfast information session for clients. We covered topics like Bylaws: Tips and Traps, How to run a better AGM and The Importance of Withholding Taxes for Contractors. Watch the session below:
Back to the Tax Basics
Lawyers and advisors in the charitable sector often discuss high level tax topics in articles and seminars – but, for many, tax remains a dark and mystical art. Indeed, even those who once professed an understanding of the system may, over time, lose touch with the basics if they do not remain current on developments. This is a somewhat reasonable reaction to the complexity of anything tax related, but ostriches do not have a good track record at avoiding difficulties. A donor’s reason to understand…
Start the Clock – New Case on Suing Tax Advisors
By: Adam Aptowitzer It is no secret that over the past few years there have been a number of circumstances which have led to lawsuits against tax lawyers and accountants. These have primarily been related to the proliferation of tax shelters but, as always, there are the usual negligence claims resulting from more typical work. One recent Ontario case is instructive in discussing the limitation period relating to such cases. It is common amongst the various provinces that a civil lawsuit cannot be brought after…
Seduction, Money and Tax New Court Decision: Sensible but Unsettling
In the still smoldering wreckage of the charitable donation tax shelters a new case has surfaced, which dealt with the involvement of some of the planners. Interestingly the case does not attack the individuals for their role as planners but rather for their own participation in an individualized version of the tax shelter they later peddled to others. And in this interesting reversal of the cobbler’s children phenomenon the individuals donated millions of dollars through the scheme rather than the tens of thousands that seemed…
Supreme Court Rules Against Director of a Charity
By: Adam Aptowitzer As Counsel for Ms. Guindon in her case with the Minister of National Revenue we have kept our readers abreast of developments as the appeal wended its way to the Supreme Court of Canada. On July 31st, 2015 the Supreme Court issued its ruling in the matter thus ending the appeal for Ms. Guindon. The Supreme Court found that Ms. Guindon was indeed civilly liable for her actions related to the issuance of tax receipts by a charity. By way of reminder,…
Charter Protection Cannot be Taken for Granted
By: Adam Aptowitzer It is almost trite to say that the Canada Revenue Agency is dedicated to the administration of the income tax system in this country. There are exceptions to this, of course, the most obvious being the regulation of charities. However, a recent amendment to the Income Tax Act giving the CRA new powers may have gone beyond adding ancillary duties and created a secondary mandate for the agency. New subsection 241(9.5) requires the Agency to deliver evidence of certain criminal code offences…
An Oscar Worthy Performance
By: Adam Aptowitzer Readers will likely agree that the study and practice of taxation can be both interesting and, at least at times, exciting. It is therefore surprising that there are not more movies featuring tax lawyers and accountants. One would imagine these movies would show a tax litigator with a well-muscled calculator finger fighting off the faceless hordes of CRA auditors to free the unjustly reassessed taxpayer in distress. Yet, despite the self-image of those in private practice as the Luke Skywalkers of the…
Tax Litigation and the Veil of Secrecy
There are many lawyers in the country who chafe at the name appropriated by the Department of Justice given the Orwellian connotation that it has a monopoly on its dispensation. In reality, the DoJ is the law firm for the federal government and thus acts as other law firms, providing advice to all government departments. That advice is either accepted or ignored by their clients. But unlike lawyers of the private bar whose paramount duty is to their clients DoJ lawyers must (or at least…
Fighting Back
By: Adam Aptowitzer One does not need to be a tax lawyer to be familiar with stories of CRA officials using their office and abusing their power to cause problems for their fellow citizens. Obviously, the vast majority of CRA representatives act in a professional manner but a small number of miscreants can cause such dramatic and catastrophic consequences for otherwise law-abiding citizens that their tales of woe colour the reputation of the entire Agency. And indeed, the power the CRA has over everyday individuals…