The Tax Court of Canada (“TCC”) released an informal procedure decision in the matter of Nazih c La Reine on March 22, 2016. The TCC denied the taxpayer’s appeal of the Minister’s decision to allow only
$370 of the taxpayer’s $2,240 claimed as a charitable donation for the 2013 tax year.
In particular, the TCC held that the taxpayer’s contributions to an Arabic language school and various other donations did not meet the requirements of the Income Tax Act (“ITA”) and Income Tax Regulations (“Regulations”). More specifically, the only receipt the Taxpayer produced that satisfied the receipting requirements under the ITA and Regulations was for a $370 gift made to the Mosque of Aylmer.
The TCC denied the taxpayer’s claim and followed the Federal Court of Appeal’s reasoning in Castro v The Queen (discussed in our November 2015 Charity and NFP Law Update), which was denied leave to appeal by the Supreme Court of Canada on April 14, 2016. Although this case, as an informal procedure, does not have any precedential value, it serves as another practical example of the importance of registered charities complying with the receipting requirements of the ITA and Regulations.