Annulment of charitable registration

Annulment is a legislative tool the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) uses to end a charity's registration without revoking it. Annulment cancels the registration of the charity as though it had never been registered. Therefore, an annulled charity is not subject to revocation tax.

A registered charity cannot request an annulment. It is a decision made solely by the CRA and is applied exclusively to charities whose registration was granted in error, and to charities that no longer qualify for registration because of a change in the law. 

The annulment process

If we identify you for possible annulment, we will send you a letter to explain the reasons. If you feel your registration should not be annulled, send us a letter to explain why.

If we do not receive a reply within 30 days of the date of our letter, or if the reply does not answer our concerns, we will send you a notice of annulment.

If you think we have misinterpreted the facts or the law, you have 90 days from the date of the notice of annulment to file an objection.

Consequences of an annulment

If your charitable registration is annulled:

• you cannot issue official donation receipts
• you are no longer exempt from income tax as a registered charity
• your name will be added to the list of annulled charities in the List of charities
• you will not be a charity for GST/HST purposes, which could affect:
  • the tax status of your supplies
  • the way you calculate your net tax
  • your ability to claim a rebate for GST/HST

An annulled charity does not have to file Form T2046, Tax Return Where Registration of a Charity is Revoked, and does not have to pay revocation tax.