Canadian Charity Law Updates: Spring 2026

5 New CRA Updates for Canadian Charities and Nonprofits:

Here are the five points in brief:

1. Axe the Fax — As of April 1, 2026, the CRA's fax lines are gone. All filings and applications now go through the My Business Account portal.
2. No more pre-approval — Since January 2026, the CRA won't tell you in advance whether a proposed change to your charitable purposes is legally sound. You change first, find out later.
3. Lobbying threshold drops — The registration trigger has fallen from ~32 hours/month to just 8 hours/month across the whole organization. Many advocacy-active charities may now need to register as lobbyists without realizing it.
4. NPOs face new reporting — The estimated 80,000–100,000 non-profits that aren't registered charities are facing new transparency and filing requirements, with ongoing debate about lighter rules for smaller organizations (under $50K revenue).
5. DQ enforcement tightens — The 5% Disbursement Quota for charities with over $1M in investment assets is being more actively enforced via enhanced T3010 data collection, targeting foundations that may be sitting on wealth rather than spending it.

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