HAPPA has charitable status voluntarily revoked

The Horse and Pony Protection Association (HAPPA) has applied to have its charitable status cancelled — a request that was granted by the Canada Revenue Agency last month.

CBC Investigates reported on accountability issues at the Newfoundland charity nearly a year ago.

Former HAPPA board members raised concerns about the operation of the group, which at the time was taking donations for a horse sanctuary that had shuttered 18 months earlier.

• Horse charity HAPPA may have given wrong info to regulator
• Horse charity HAPPA takes website offline
• Charity faces questions after horse sanctuary closure

The Canada Revenue Agency won’t say who made the request for HAPPA to lose its charitable status, citing confidentiality provisions of the Income Tax Act.

HAPPA’s status was revoked as of Oct. 18.

“Voluntary revocation is a discretionary process and cannot be used by a charity to avoid any ongoing enforcement action,” CRA spokesperson Philippe Brideau noted in an email to CBC Investigates.

“Once revoked, an organization no longer qualifies for exemption from income tax as a registered charity, it cannot issue official donation receipts, and it is not eligible to receive gifts from registered charities.”

According to Brideau, when a charity’s registration is revoked, it must transfer all of its remaining property — including cash —  to an eligible donee, or be subjected to a revocation tax equal to the property's full value.

HAPPA president unavailable 

It’s not clear exactly what happened in HAPPA’s case.

Dennis Bishop, the association’s president, said he was in a meeting when contacted Monday, and unavailable to answer questions. Bishop said he would call back “at another time,” although he declined to say when.

As of last week, parts of the HAPPA website were still touting the organization’s charitable status. Information about how to donate to the group remained on the site, albeit with a line struck through the text.

On Monday, the site — www.happanl.ca — was not operational, displaying only a notice that “this account has been suspended.”

HAPPA is listed as “not in good standing” at Newfoundland and Labrador’s registry of companies, with an inactive mailing address.