OTTAWA - Gordon O'Connor, Minister of National Revenue, assures Canadians that they can be confident in their charitable giving thanks to the work of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), and encourages donors to become more informed by accessing CRA resources to research registered charities before they give.

"The Canada Revenue Agency works to support charitable giving in Canada by helping donors make informed choices about the charities they support, and warning Canadians about organizations that are not playing by the rules," says Minister O'Connor.

Most of the approximately 83,000 charities registered in Canada abide by the tax laws. When non-compliance is suspected based on public complaints or the information provided on annual information returns, the CRA undertakes an audit. Last year, 847 charities were selected for audit and as a result the CRA revoked the charitable status of 27 organizations for serious infractions of the law. Many additional charities also lost their charitable status for failure to file their annual return.

When charitable status is revoked, an organization can no longer issue official tax receipts for the donations it receives. The CRA also publishes the fact that charitable status has been revoked on its Web site, so that potential donors are aware that the charity can no longer issue tax receipts.

Revoking charitable status is a serious step that is generally only used in cases of serious non-compliance. This includes, but is not limited to, instances where an audit identifies:

- significant non-charitable activity;
- private benefit;
- gaps in books and records; and/or
- lack of control and/or direction over expenditure of funds.

The CRA Charities Listings, available at www.cra.gc.ca/donors, allows donors to search for any charity to view its annual information returns and verify that the charity they wish to donate to is registered. Visitors to the site can also find information on how the CRA regulates charities and tips for donating wisely.