The Income Tax Regulations (subsection 3501(1)) state that every receipt must contain the following:
“(a) the name and address in Canada of the organization as recorded with the Minister;
(b) the registration number assigned by the Minister to the organization;
(c) the serial number of the receipt;
(d) the place or locality where the receipt was issued;
(e) where the gift is a cash gift, the date on which or the year during which the gift was received;
(e.1) where the gift is of property other than cash
(i) the day on which the gift was received,
(ii) a brief description of the property, and
(iii) the name and address of the appraiser of the property if an appraisal is done;
(f) the date on which the receipt was issued;
(g) the name and address of the donor including, in the case of an individual, the individual’s first name and initial;
(h) the amount that is
(i) the amount of a cash gift, or
(ii) if the gift is of property other than cash, the amount that is the fair market value of the property at the time that the gift is made;
(h.1) a description of the advantage, if any, in respect of the gift and the amount of that advantage;
(h.2) the eligible amount of the gift;
(i) the signature, as provided in subsection (2) or (3), of a responsible individual who has been authorized by the organization to acknowledge gifts; and
(j) the name and Internet website of the Canada Revenue Agency.”
In the Kueviakoe case decided in March 2021, the Federal Court of Appeal confirmed that these requirements are absolute. If any detail is wrong or missing, the CRA can deny your tax credit for the donation, and you will not be able to succeed by appealing to the Tax Court of Canada, even though you genuinely made the donation.
What went wrong in the Kueviakoe case? Although it may seem absurd:
• The receipts were in the name “Thierry Kueviakoe”, and the taxpayer’s full name was actually “Ekue Arthur Thierry Kueviakoe”, so the receipts did not show his “first name and initial”, as required by paragraph (g) of the Regulations;
• One receipt showed the charity’s address, but did not show “the place or locality where the receipt was issued”, as required by paragraph (d) of the Regulations.
