News release

Canada Customs and Revenue Agency launches new services for charities

Ottawa, December 3, 2002... Elinor Caplan, Minister of National Revenue, today announced new Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) services--including improved Web site information--that will make it easier for people to get information about registered charities and reduce the workload for charities in dealing with the CCRA.

The new services come as a result of extensive consultations with charities, the public, and other stakeholders in recent years. The consultations were part of the CCRA's Future Directions Initiative (www.ccra.gc.ca/futuredirections).

"The CCRA is strongly committed to providing better service to our clients, and using new technology dramatically improves the service we can offer," said Minister Caplan. "These new Internet services make more information available more easily, and I think this is a real advantage for charities and the generous Canadians who support them."

The new Web services complement the information and the searchable list of all Canadian registered charities already on the CCRA Web site (www.ccra.gc.ca/charities). The new services include:

• Online display of annual information returns
  
  The publicly available parts of charities' annual information returns are now available online.
  
  At this time, only returns from the 2000 tax year are available. Work continues on adding more recent years, and the list will become current as soon as possible.
  
  
• Online lists of charities
  
  In addition to the existing list of all Canadian registered charities, two new lists have been added and will be updated weekly:
  • charities that were registered within the previous 12 months; and
  • charities whose registered status was revoked within the previous 12 months.

As well, the consultation undertaken by the CCRA with registered charities and voluntary-sector stakeholders made it clear that many charities considered their annual information return difficult to complete because of its length and complexity. The CCRA has therefore worked in close co-operation with the Joint Regulatory Table (JRT) to develop a new form. The JRT is part of the Voluntary Sector Initiative, which is a co-operative initiative of the voluntary sector and the Government of Canada (www.vsi-isbc.ca).

As a result, a new Registered Charity Information Return (called the T3010A) is being introduced in 2003. A sample of the return is available on the CCRA Web site at www.ccra.gc.ca/charities

"The redesigned form is much shorter and easier to use than the previous one," said Minister Caplan. "This was very important for charities, and it's a great example of the direct and positive outcomes of our more collaborative approach."

Other services that have been introduced as a result of the consultations include extending the Charities Call Centre's hours of service (1-800-267-2384 [English] or 1 888-892-5667 [bilingual]) and a much faster average turnaround time for processing applications to become a registered charity (from four months to four weeks).

"All of these things are important early successes in the CCRA's long-term plans to better serve Canada's charities," said Minister Caplan. "A stronger voluntary sector is something that ultimately benefits all Canadians."

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