How to Complete T3010 Schedule 6: Key Lines and Common Filing Errors

Schedule 6 is the long form of the T3010's financial section, and a charity that crosses any one of three thresholds completes it rather than the short Section D. The two are not interchangeable, they use different line numbers for the same money, and filling in both is a filing error. This guide covers which one applies to you, what belongs on the lines that carry the most risk, and the places where the right amount lands in the wrong box. It is not a walk through every box on the schedule; it is the ones that get filed wrong.

Do you complete Section D or Schedule 6?

Complete Schedule 6 instead of Section D if any one of three conditions applies to your charity. They are not cumulative. One is enough.

The three triggers are:

1. Your gross revenue for the fiscal period is more than $100,000.
2. The amount of all property not used in charitable activities or administration is more than $25,000. Investments and rental properties are the usual examples.
3. Your charity had permission to accumulate property during the fiscal period.

Do not fill out both, or parts of both. That is stated explicitly in CRA's guide and it is a common error. Pick the one that applies and complete it fully.

On the third condition, note that CRA stopped accepting requests to accumulate property on 1 January 2023, following the repeal of the provision. Approvals granted before then remain valid until the approved period expires. If you hold one, this condition can still apply to you.

One narrow exception runs through the whole schedule. Certain religious organisations that existed on 31 December 1977, have never issued official donation receipts and have never received gifts from a receipting registered charity may be exempt from completing Schedule 6 altogether, but only with written confirmation from the Charities Directorate.

Why do the two versions use different line numbers?

Because Schedule 6 asks for a breakdown where Section D asks for a total. Government revenue is the clearest example, and it is a common source of errors.

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If you moved from Section D to Schedule 6 this year because your revenue crossed $100,000, a single Grant Revenue account will not answer the return. You need the government split in your ledger.

One quirk to expect. The Schedule 6 instruction for line 4530 still directs government revenue to line 4570, even though a Schedule 6 filer reports it on 4540, 4550 and 4560. That is an inconsistency in CRA's own guide. Report on the Schedule 6 lines.

Which revenue lines are easiest to get wrong?

The four gift lines, because they look interchangeable and are not. Getting these wrong distorts your receipted total, which is one of the first figures a reader of your return looks at.

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The 4530 and 4630 boundary is the one to get right. Money in a collection plate is fundraising revenue on 4630. An unreceipted bequest, or a gift where the donor cannot be identified, is 4530.

Two further lines catch out charities with international donors. Line 4571 is the receipted amount from sources outside Canada, already included in 4500. Line 4575 is the unreceipted amount from outside Canada.

How do the expenditure lines fit together?

Lines 4800 to 4920 record expenditure by account type, and lines 5000 to 5040 break the same total down by function. They are two views of one number, not two separate totals.

Line 4950 is the total of lines 4800 to 4920. Lines 5000, 5010, 5020 and 5040 then allocate that total across charitable activities, management and administration, fundraising, and other activities.

The functional split is not three categories. That simplification causes real errors. Alongside 5000, 5010 and 5020 the return carries line 5040 for other activities, line 5045 for grants to non-qualified donees, and line 5050 for gifts to qualified donees. Line 5100 totals 4950, 5045 and 5050.

Grants and gifts sit outside line 4950 entirely. If you fold a grant to another organisation into your programme costs, both numbers are wrong.

Where a cost spans functions, such as an executive director's salary or shared occupancy, allocate it. CRA requires allocations to be reasonable and applied consistently. Document the basis once and reuse it rather than deciding annually.

What goes on the statement of financial position?

Report capital assets at cost, except for donated ones, which go in at fair market value when the gift was made. That rule applies specifically to the capital asset lines: 4155 and 4157 and 4158 for land and buildings in Canada, 4160 for other capital assets in Canada, and 4165 for capital assets outside Canada. Other lines ask for the value of what you hold rather than its cost, so do not apply the cost rule to investments, inventory or other assets.

Line 4100 is cash including short term investments, with 4101 for cash and bank balances and 4102 for short term investments inside that total. Line 4170 covers other assets and is where prepaid expenses and restricted funds are reported. Line 4200 totals lines 4100 to 4170.

Line 4250 captures the part of your inventory, land, buildings, other capital assets and other assets that you did not use in charitable activities. Do not use line 4250 to calculate your disbursement quota. CRA says so explicitly. The quota is worked out from lines 5900 and 5910 through Schedule 8, and line 4250 does not capture every kind of property that matters for the $25,000 Schedule 6 trigger either.

Line 4200 does not have to balance to line 4350, your total liabilities. Your accounting system will carry a net assets, surplus or deficit account that reconciles the difference.

Where does the disbursement quota appear?

Lines 5900 and 5910 sit at the end of Schedule 6, and they feed a separate schedule rather than calculating anything themselves. This trips up people who go looking for the quota calculation on Schedule 6 and cannot find it.

Line 5900 is the average value of property not used directly in charitable activities or administration during the 24 months before the beginning of your fiscal period. Line 5910 is the same measure for the 24 months before the end of the period.

The calculation happens on Schedule 8, which is triggered by question C17 at line 5850. Schedule 8 pulls line 5900 into its step one and line 5910 into its step two. The rate is 3.5% on property up to $1 million and 5% on the portion above that.

The percentages are not applied to the raw figure. Where the charity holds a still-valid permission to accumulate property granted before 2023, the accumulated amount is subtracted at Schedule 8 line 810 before the rate is applied.

The threshold at C17 depends on your designation. It is more than $100,000 of average property not used directly in charitable activities or administration for a charitable organization, and more than $25,000 for a public or private foundation.

Lines 5500 and 5510 also live in this part of Schedule 6, for charities holding an unexpired permission to accumulate property, and line 5750 records an approved reduction to the quota.

What should your chart of accounts look like to support this?

Build the accounts the return asks for, at the level the return asks for them, and no finer. A chart designed around Schedule 6 turns filing into a mapping exercise rather than an analysis project.

Three structural decisions do most of the work. Split government revenue three ways at the account level. Keep gifts from other registered charities in their own account so they never contaminate line 4500. And give grants to qualified and non-qualified donees separate accounts outside your programme costs.

Our guide to building a chart of accounts covers the general principles. The charity-specific point is that your account structure and your return should be designed together, not reconciled afterwards.

If your ledger cannot produce these splits without manual work each year, that is a design problem worth fixing once. It is part of what a charity bookkeeping engagement is for.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can we complete Section D if we prefer it?

No. If any of the three conditions applies, Schedule 6 is required. The choice is determined by your revenue and property, not by preference. Completing the shorter section when Schedule 6 is required makes the return incomplete.

Our revenue was under $100,000 but we hold $40,000 in investments. Which do we use?

Schedule 6. The conditions are alternatives, so any one of them triggers it. Property not used in charitable activities or administration above $25,000 is enough on its own.

Does Schedule 6 change if we report on a cash basis?

The schedule accommodates both cash and accrual reporting, and line 4020 is where you identify which you use. Some lines apply only on an accrual basis, including deferred revenue at line 4310 and prepaid expenses within line 4170.

Where do GST and HST rebates go?

On line 4650, other revenue, but only if the related tax was included as an expense. If you did not expense the tax, do not report the rebate as revenue.

What is the difference between lines 5045 and 5050?

Line 5045 is grants to recipients that are not qualified donees. An organisation can hold registration or legal status of some kind and still not be a qualified donee for Income Tax Act purposes. Line 5050 is gifts to qualified donees, including designated gifts. They have different reporting worksheets attached and should never share an account.

This article describes T3010 version 24 as at August 2026. Line numbers and schedule content have changed between versions of the return. Confirm against the T4033 guide for the version that applies to your fiscal period before filing.

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