Akinbo v. R. – TCC: Court rejects charitable donation receipt as bogus

Bill Innes on Current Tax Cases

http://decision.tcc-cci.gc.ca/tcc-cci/decisions/en/item/72424/index.do New Window

Akinbo v. The Queen (July 7, 2014 – 2014 TCC 214) was another of the recent spate of cases involving bogus charitable donation receipts. The taxpayer’s story was somewhat odd:

[4] Mr. Akinbo testified that he attended a church service at ICCC’s [Israelite Church of Christ Canada] premises on a single occasion and that he was so moved by the preacher’s sermon on that occasion that he gave $3824.10 in cash to ICCC. He said that he took $3800 in cash that he had in the glove compartment of his car, and $24.10 that he had in his pockets, placed it all in a donation envelope and placed the envelope in the collection basket during the service. Mr. Akinbo produced a bank statement for the period from September 1, 2006 to October 2, 2006 showing that he withdrew $7830.20 in cash on October 2, 2006. He stated that the $3800 he had in the glove compartment of his car was part of the cash he withdrew on October 2, 2006. When asked why he withdrew the cash, he said that part of it was to send to his family and the $3800 he kept was to purchase electronics.

The court pointed out the discrepancies in Mr. Akinbo’s evidence:

[6] The bank statement that was produced appears to indicate that just prior to the withdrawal made on October 2, loan proceeds of $10,000 were transferred into the account. Therefore the withdrawal made by Mr. Akinbo on October 2 was made out of borrowed funds. This makes it even more unlikely that he would have used part of the withdrawal to make a large spontaneous donation. It also is implausible that he would have intended to use $3800 of the borrowed money to buy electronics. I note that the balance remaining in his account after the withdrawal on October 2, 2006 was $9.33.

[7] Mr. Akinbo’s evidence that he made a single donation to ICCC was also at odds with the charitable donation receipt issued by ICCC, and with his Notice of Objection. The ICCC receipt showed the “date donation received” as “February – December 2006” rather than a single date. In his Notice of Objection Mr. Akinbo stated that “I made the donations at various times.” When asked in cross-examination about this statement Mr. Akinbo said that it had been written by his spouse. He also stated that he signed it without reading it. He did not call his spouse to confirm that she had prepared the objection.

[8] Another inconsistency between the letter attached to his Notice of Objection and his testimony in Court was that, he stated that he made the donations because he was a “a member of the organization,” whereas in his testimony he said he only attended ICCC once, and never became a member.

In the result the court concluded that Mr. Akinbo had not established that he made any donation to ICCC in 2006 and dismissed the appeal.