Prorogation and Donation Receipts

What does prorogation mean for the government’s proposed donation receipt extension?

UPDATE (January 7, 2025): We received confirmation that the Department of Finance intends to honour the December 30, 2024 announcement to extend the deadline for making donations. Legislation to extend the deadline will be introduced at the first available opportunity. Further details are expected to be released soon, including about how the extension will be administered.

We’ll continue to keep you updated as information becomes available.

Proposed Donation Receipt Extension

On December 30 the Minister of Finance announced that the federal government intended to amend the Income Tax Act (ITA) to extend the deadline for making donations eligible for tax receipts in the 2024 tax year, until February 28, 2025. The legislation was supposed to be introduced when Parliament returned.

Now Parliament is prorogued. What does that mean for the proposed donation receipt extension?

Prorogation Implications

Prorogation means that the Parliamentary session is over, no new business is conducted, and any unfinished business in the House and the Senate die. Unfinished business generally refers to bills that have not received Royal Assent. These bills must be reintroduced in the next Parliamentary session. There are exceptions to this rule:

• Private Members’ bills and motions don’t have to be reintroduced.
• Government bills in the House of Commons may not have to be reintroduced if the House unanimously consents to a motion to reinstate the bill, or, if after notice and debate, such a motion is adopted.

Government bills in the Senate do not have the same procedural options as the House and must be reintroduced.

For donation receipts, the proposed legislative changes hadn’t even been tabled (formally proposed) in Parliament. The donation receipt changes were merely announced in a news release. That means unless something unusual happens, the amendments cannot be proposed or passed until the next Parliamentary session. Parliament is now prorogued until March 24, 2025.

CRA’s Role

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) does not pass legislation and cannot operate outside the scope of an existing legislative mandate. The CRA administers tax, benefits and other programs. The Charities Directorate oversees compliance, provides education, enforces rules, and offers services to the charitable sector.

Regular Receipting Rules Continue to Apply*

The ITA sets the rules for donation receipts and the regular rules continue to apply. Charities should therefore likely process receipts according to the regular rules *unless and until CRA or the Department of Finance issue clarifying instructions.

There are differing opinions on the issue – some suggest that mere intention to change the law changes the rules; others suggest that charities should continue receipting in the normal way with adjustments for an extension period to issue a separate receipt for January and February 2025.

CCCC at Work

We understand that this will likely create confusion within the charitable sector. We’ve asked whether there will be any more information forthcoming from either the CRA or the Department of Finance. If we hear anything additional or different, we’ll be sure to update this post.