The tax world as we knew it was turned upside down on 13 September 2007 when the Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”) announced its decision to deem the right to use an interest-free loan as an amount that accrued to the taxpayers in the case Commissioner for South African Revenue Service v Brummeria Renaissance (Pty) Ltd and others 69 SATC 205. The findings of SCA brought about a “great deal of consternation in the business world” (Loubser, 2007:20). Due to the controversy as a result of this case, SARS drafted an Interpretation Note that illustrates the reasoning and tax treatment of an interest-free loan. On 30 June 2010, Interpretation Note No 58 was finally issued by SARS, providing guidance with regard to “an amount” that “accrues” to a taxpayer for the purposes of the gross income definition. This Interpretation Note will have a significant impact on a number of taxpayers. The purpose of this study is to understand the nature of an interest-free loan and identify its tax implications. The methodology followed in this study will be that of qualitative research. This will be conducted through analyzing the nature of a loan, specifically an interest-free loan, the gross income definition, including the value and timing of such amount, and whether a deduction may be claimed in respect of an interest-free loan. Notwithstanding the above, the study also includes an investigation of other taxes inter alia capital gains tax, donations tax, value-added tax, secondary tax on companies and newly proposed dividends tax. / Thesis (M.Com. (Tax))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The work deals with the legal and ethical aspects of Christian foundations and endowment funds. The first step is to familiarize ourselves with the basic concepts. The next part of the thesis deals with donations from an ethical a Christian perspective. A brief introduction to the historical development of the foundations and endowment funds, description of the current legislation, foundations and endowment funds and their comparison are integral part parts. In conclusion, the work discusses the possible problems associated with the activities of foundations and endowment funds, the very credibility of Foundations and the degree of people's willingness to participate in fundraisers. The thesis analyzes the compliance with obligations for these entities, including the available public and private mitigation activities, are a foundations and endowment funds greatest problems in complying with the requirement to prepare and publish an annual report. These annual reports should include a true picture of the activities of the foundation.

The current literature regarding the relationship between campaign contributions and roll call voting by elected officials has primarily focused on the congressional level. This study begins to fill the holes in this topic by utilizing city councilor contributions from likely business owners and their stance on tax classification in their respective communities. In this study, I examine contribution data from municipal officials in fourteen communities in Massachusetts as well as the expressed opinions made by city councilors in the 2018 tax classification hearings in order to test the theories that (1) there is a correlation between the actions of political elites and the interests of campaign contributors at the municipal level and (2) that municipal candidates heavily rely on contributions from the business community to finance their campaigns. Though the results are limited, the evidence suggests that if any relationship exists it is negligible and unlikely to exist at any level that would validate concern. The findings also suggest that candidates for office in smaller municipalities are not as dependent on contributions from the business community as those in large cities or at the congressional level. Keywords: Massachusetts, tax classification, municipal, campaign contributions, municipal campaign donations, special interest contributions.

The master thesis is focused on analysis of the main requirements in order to acquire financial resources from the Operational program for business and innovation. It forms actions necessary for successful project control. The thesis aim is to provide complex overview of the facts considerable for successful resources delivery from the Operational program for business and innovation.

Chapter one: The influence of charitable activity on Indigenous communities’ well-being and other socio-economic outcomes Hitherto and within the Canadian context, no one has investigated the role played by the charitable sector on the economic well-being for “on-reserve” First Nations and Inuit communities. On the one hand, Indigenous peoples face longstanding and complex social problems and economic hardships. On the other hand, there are charities which provide public goods and services and benefits to communities by helping to fill needs. This is the first study to examine how the presence of charities may affect some measurable socio-economic outcomes of Indigenous communities and their people, by triangulating data from multiple sources: administrative data from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) on registered charities, the 2001 and 2006 Census Surveys, the 2011 National Household Survey and the Community Well-Being (CWB) Index developed by the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada (AANDC). My findings indicate that having access to at least one charity is associated with increases in a community well-being measure of 3 points on a 100-point scale, in household income (5.1%) and in individual’s wages (6.9%). When the number of charities increases in a reserve by one unit, the CWB rises by 1.1 points (on the 100-point scale), household income by 2.7%, individuals’ total income by 1.9% and individuals’ wages by 3.4%. Chapter two: Government funding to Indigenous charities The government is an important revenue source for charitable organizations in Canada. Big differences in public funding can be observed across registered charities that serve Indigenous peoples and all other registered charities. Using charitable organizations’ tax returns, the T3010 Registered Charity Information Return for the years 2003 to 2017 I investigate these government-funding patterns. I test different hypothesis on financial support from government sources by discerning first between Indigenous and non-Indigenous charities, and second between Indigenous charities on reserve and off reserve. I also analyze the relationship between the funding across levels to see if one level of government funding is contingent on other levels. The results of my study point to a higher likelihood of Indigenous charities receiving government support as compared to non-Indigenous charities, with a 24% increase in the predicted probability of funding. Indigenous charities on reserve have a predicted probability of receiving government funding that is almost 17% lower than those off reserve. From the exploration of the link between the three levels of Canadian government funding for Indigenous and non-Indigenous charities two insights emerge. Firstly, the federal government is more likely to support Indigenous charities if they do not receive any other public funds, and the provincial government supports them if they do not get any municipal funding. Secondly, Indigenous charities are more likely than non-Indigenous charities to get both federal and provincial funding, and federal and municipal funding. The comparison between Indigenous charities off reserve and on reserve reveals that the on-reserve ones are less likely to be funded simultaneously by two levels of government. Chapter three: The causal relationship between government funding and donations to Indigenous charities While billions of dollars are donated annually to charitable organizations, relatively modest amounts go to charities that specifically serve Indigenous populations. In comparison to their non-Indigenous counterparts, these charities get fewer private donations, have less fundraising revenue and receive less gifts from other charities. This chapter studies the causal relationship between public funding and these three types of revenues, focusing on the Indigenous charities and distinguishing between on-reserve and off-reserve charities. I use the large T3010 dataset with financial information for over 95,000 registered charities, covering a 15-year period from 2003 to 2017. The estimation and identification strategy relies on novel instruments using a 2SLS model. The results indicate a crowding out effect of public funding on donations for Indigenous charities; I also find evidence that the level of government funding matters. With the preferred instrument, a one dollar increase in government funding crowds out seven cents of private contributions; the three levels of federal, provincial and municipal funding decrease private donations by 15, 6 and 46 cents respectively. Government funding negatively affects fundraising effort and gifts from other charities. For every dollar in public support the former decreases by one to seven cents and the latter by three to 12 cents. These reductions imply an economically substantial effect on charities’ revenue. Little evidence is found that government grants impact differently Indigenous charities on reserve compared to those off reserve. The area and programs in which charities operate matter though, which is critical for how governments structure grants to Indigenous charities.

Social enterprises are hybrid organizations that tackle societal challenges by using conventional business models. Being hybrid organizations means that social enterprises pursue dual objectives: social (developmental) and financial. By taking performance, subsidization and internationalization perspectives, this thesis contributes to understanding the hybridity of social enterprises and how this hybridity drives their general operations and key decisions such as foreign market selection and targeting strategy. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Ungefär en fjärdedel av den klimatpåverkan som de svenska hushållen orsakar kommer från maten vi äter, eller närmare bestämt från de utsläpp av växthusgaser som maten ger upphov till på sin väg från jord till bord. Om maten slängs innan den konsumeras har denna miljöpåverkan skett i onödan. Uppsatsen undersöker VIS (Välgörenhet Istället för Svinn), en svinnåtgärd där fullvärdiga livsmedel istället för att slängas, skänks till välgörenhet. Målet är att undersöka hur VIS fungerar, samt att bidra till ökade kunskaper om detta för Sverige nya sätt att bemöta svinnproblematiken. VIS styrkor och svagheter, liksom de hot och möjligheter som kan finnas, har undersökts med hjälp av en SWOT-analys. Uppsatsen utgår ifrån företaget Allwin i Göteborg, en av få som professionellt arbetar med VIS i Sverige idag. Studien är kvalitativ och utgår från sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med Allwin och deras samarbetspartners. Uppsatsens resultat kan sammanfattas i fem slutsatser: 1) Att skänka livsmedel, med hjälp av svinnåtgärden VIS, innebär att nya värdekedjor skapas. 2) En professionalisering av VIS/Allwin har ökat förutsättningarna för en långsiktigt hållbar svinnåtgärd. 3) VIS/Allwin är pionjärer och drabbas av de svårigheter det innebär att trampa upp nya stigar. 4) Efterfrågan på VIS/Allwins tjänster kommer med all sannolikhet att öka. 5) VIS är en komplex åtgärd som kräver ett tydligt engagemang från alla inblandade parter, det finns därmed risk för att enklare lösningar prioriteras. / About a fourth of the climate impact originating from Swedish households can be derived from food, or rather from emissions caused in different stages of food production from field to fork. If food is being thrown away instead of being consumed the environmental impact has been in vain. The essay investigates CIW (Charity Instead of Waste, in Swedish VIS), a measure to deal with food losses where food is given to charity instead of becoming waste. The aim is to investigate how CIW functions and to contribute to increased knowledge on this, in Sweden, new way of responding to the problem with food losses. The strengths and weaknesses of CIW as well as the threats and opportunities that might be, have been examined by a SWOT-analysis. The company Allwin in Gothenburg is the concrete example of CIW that the essay is based on. The essay is a qualitative study with its starting point in six semi structured interviews with representatives from Allwin and its partners. The results of the essay can be summarized in five conclusions: 1) Donating food using CIW means that new value chains are created. 2) Allwin has gone from being a nonprofit organization to being a company. This professionalization has improved the conditions for making CIW a long term sustainable measure to deal with food losses. 3) CIW/Allwin are pioneers and have to deal with many difficulties related to breaking new ground. 4) The demand for services from CIW/Allwin is most likely to increase. 5) CIW is a complex measure, which requires a lot of engagement from all involved partners. This suggesting a risk that easier solutions could be prioritized.

Contexte. L’insécurité alimentaire touche près de 11% des ménages au Québec. Les programmes alimentaires communautaires et l’aide alimentaire des banques alimentaires sont les principales interventions pour répondre à ce problème. Ces organismes communautaires en sécurité alimentaire (OCSA) opèrent avec des ressources humaines, financières et matérielles instables et souvent insuffisantes : pour ajuster l’offre à la demande, ils doivent souvent limiter le nombre de ménages desservis, la qualité de provisions ou de l’aide offerte. Considérant ces contraintes, est-ce qu’ils ont des opérations efficaces pour accomplir leur mission? Aucun modèle d’évaluation de l’efficacité organisationnelle (EO) n’existe. Une poignée d’études réalisées en milieu urbain ont analysé les opérations des OCSA, alors qu’une hétérogénéité de façons de faire existe. Objectif. Cette étude exploratoire propose un modèle permettant d'associer les capacités d’OCSA à des mesures d’EO, selon une approche multidimensionnelle. Elle vise aussi à comparer les opérations des OCSA dans quatre régions du Québec. Méthode. Une analyse secondaire des données a été réalisée sur les données d’une enquête téléphonique préliminaire à l’étude longitudinale PARCOURS : demander de l’aide alimentaire, et après?. Entre novembre 2017 et juin 2018, des représentants de 141 OCSA ont répondu à un questionnaire dressant un portrait de leurs opérations. L’échantillon incluait 64 organismes DON (i.e. don d’aliments) et 77 organismes classés DON+ (i.e. don avec des activités de développement des capacités en alimentation), situés en milieu urbain (n=60), semi-urbain (n=43) et rural (n=38). Trois dimensions de l’OE des OCSA, réparties en cinq mesures ont été analysées : le volume de service (ménages desservis annuellement), la qualité des paniers offerts (diversité alimentaire et valeur monétaire) et la qualité de l’aide (fréquence du don et conditions d’accès). Les associations ont été testées pour les capacités suivantes : la présence d’employés, les liens de collaboration avec des entreprises alimentaires, la présence d’usagers sur des comités, la publication en ligne de documents stratégiques, en plus du type de milieu et de programme. Résultats. Les organismes DON+ étaient plus développés que les organismes DON, sans nécessairement desservir plus de ménages. Pour l’ensemble des OCSA, lorsque le nombre de ménages desservis était plus faible, la qualité des paniers offerts était meilleure en ce qui concernait la diversité. La collaboration avec des entreprises alimentaires, la publication en ligne de documents stratégiques, la présence d’employés et le fait d’être situé en milieu rural étaient positivement associés à l’EO. Conclusion. Au-delà du nombre de ménages desservis, d’autres mesures de l’EO doivent être considérées pour évaluer le travail des OCSA. Notre modèle propose quelques pistes pour évaluer l’EO et identifier les meilleures pratiques. Davantage d’études sont nécessaires pour valider le modèle proposé. / Background. Food insecurity affects 11% of households in Québec. This problem is partially relieved by community food programs and food pantry assistance. These food security community organizations (FSCOs) operate with insufficient and unstable human, financial and material resources. To adjust supply with increasing demand, they must limit either: the number of households served, the quantity of the food offered or the quality of the assistance. In the face of these constraints, are FPs effectively accomplishing their mission? No model assessing FPs’ organizational effectiveness (OE) exists. Many ways of doing so exists, yet only a few studies in urban settings have documented FSCOs operations. Objective. This exploratory study aims to propose a model that associates capacities with measures of OE, defined by a multidimensional approach. This study also aims to compare operations of FSCOs located in four Quebec regions. Methods. We draw on data from a preliminary phone survey of the PATHWAYS STUDY: Asking for food aid, and then?. Between November 2017 and June 2018, respondents from 141 FSCOs were surveyed to provide in-depth description of their operations. The sample included 64 FD (food donation organizations) and 77 FD+ (FD organizations that included other food capacity-building activities), located in urban (n=60), semiurban (n=43) and rural (n=38) settings. Three dimensions of FSCOs’ OE, for a total of five measures, were analyzed: service volume (annual number of households), quality of hampers (diversity and monetary value) and quality of assistance (frequency of FD and access limitations). Associations with these capacities were tested: presence of employees, online publication of strategic documents, collaboration with private food suppliers, user implication in committees, and FP settings and program type. Results. FD+ organizations seemed overall more developed without necessarily providing food to more households. For all FSCOs, when the number of households requesting assistance was lower, the quality of the offered food was higher in variety. Collaborating with private food suppliers, publishing strategic documents online, presence of employees and being located in rural settings were capacities positively associated with OE. Discussion. Beyond the number of households served, other measures of OE need to be considered to assess FSCOs. Our model provides some guidance to assess their OE and identifies best practices. More research is needed to validate our model.

From time to time the court delivers a judgment that has a ripple effect beyond what was expected, resulting in estate planners reconsidering their planning strategies. Such a judgment was the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in the case of the Commissioner for the South African Revenue Services v Brummeria Renaissance 2007 6 SA 601 (SCA) (Brummeria case). In this case the interest-free loan and the right to use loan capital free of any interest obligation were under scrutiny. The SCA had to rule on whether or not this right had a determinable value and whether or not this value could be taxable in the hands of the borrower. The SCA ruled that the right under an interest-free loan should be included in the gross income of the borrower. Since estate planning often involves the use of an interest-free loan, as estate planning tool, to remove a growth asset from the estate of a planner, it could not be generally accepted any more that the granting of such loan would not have any tax implications. Although the interest-free loans used in the Brummeria case, did not relate to an estate planning exercise, the ruling resulted in much speculation regarding the future of the interest-free loan as estate planning tool. SARS tried to ease the uncertainty by issuing Interpretation Note 58, but there is still uncertainty to some extent. The focus of this mini-dissertation is to explain when and to what extend the provisions of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 (ITA) as well as the Estate Duty Act 45 of 1955 (EDA) will apply to the granting of an interest-free loan as part of an estate planning exercise. The provisions of the gross income definition, sections 7 and 64E, the provisions of donations tax as well as paragraph 12(5) and 12A of the Eighth Schedule to the ITA, were explored. Sections 3(3) and 3(5) of the EDA are discussed with the use of these loans for estate planning in mind. The question whether or not the interest-free loan is still a useful estate planning tool is also answered. / LLM (Estate Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

From time to time the court delivers a judgment that has a ripple effect beyond what was expected, resulting in estate planners reconsidering their planning strategies. Such a judgment was the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in the case of the Commissioner for the South African Revenue Services v Brummeria Renaissance 2007 6 SA 601 (SCA) (Brummeria case). In this case the interest-free loan and the right to use loan capital free of any interest obligation were under scrutiny. The SCA had to rule on whether or not this right had a determinable value and whether or not this value could be taxable in the hands of the borrower. The SCA ruled that the right under an interest-free loan should be included in the gross income of the borrower. Since estate planning often involves the use of an interest-free loan, as estate planning tool, to remove a growth asset from the estate of a planner, it could not be generally accepted any more that the granting of such loan would not have any tax implications. Although the interest-free loans used in the Brummeria case, did not relate to an estate planning exercise, the ruling resulted in much speculation regarding the future of the interest-free loan as estate planning tool. SARS tried to ease the uncertainty by issuing Interpretation Note 58, but there is still uncertainty to some extent. The focus of this mini-dissertation is to explain when and to what extend the provisions of the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962 (ITA) as well as the Estate Duty Act 45 of 1955 (EDA) will apply to the granting of an interest-free loan as part of an estate planning exercise. The provisions of the gross income definition, sections 7 and 64E, the provisions of donations tax as well as paragraph 12(5) and 12A of the Eighth Schedule to the ITA, were explored. Sections 3(3) and 3(5) of the EDA are discussed with the use of these loans for estate planning in mind. The question whether or not the interest-free loan is still a useful estate planning tool is also answered. / LLM (Estate Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015