Issuing a single Section 18A certificate¶
In short: Open the receipt (or the donor), click Issue Certificate, check the pre-filled details, and click Issue Certificate. The donation must already exist as a receipt on a Section 18A project, and your PBO number must be set — without it the certificate is marked INVALID.
Overview¶
A Section 18A certificate (also called a tax certificate, 18A or S18A) is the document you give a donor so they can claim an income-tax deduction for their donation. ActiveDonor pre-fills the certificate from the receipt and donor details you already captured, assigns the next certificate number automatically, and generates a ready-to-send PDF — so issuing one is mostly checking the details and clicking a button.
This article covers issuing one certificate for one donation (receipt). To combine several donations from the same donor onto a single certificate, see Batch and combined Section 18A certificates (which puts several receipts on one certificate, typically for a donor who gave many times in a year).
📌 Good to know: A certificate can only be issued once a donation has been captured as a receipt. If you haven't created the receipt yet, do that first — see Creating a receipt.
Before you start¶
You'll need:
- The Manage Certificates permission.
- The donation captured as a receipt, on a Section 18A project. Only donations on Section 18A projects can be certificated.
- The donor's required tax details — tax number, ID/registration number, and address. See Section 18A eligibility and required donor tax details for exactly what each donor type needs.
- Your PBO number entered in settings.
⚠️ Important: Without a PBO number, the certificate carries the warning "You need be a registered with SARS as a PBO to issue tax certificates. Your certificate is INVALID without a PBO number." and is not valid. On the free trial, certificates also carry a SAMPLE watermark — see Refreshing a certificate and removing SAMPLE text.
Issuing the certificate¶
Step 1: Open the donation¶
Open the donor, or open the receipt you want to certificate, and start issuing the certificate for that receipt. ActiveDonor opens the Generate Certificate modal and pre-fills the form from the receipt and donor details.
Step 2: Check the donor details¶
The fields shown depend on whether the donor is a person or an entity:
- Person (Individual / Estate): Donor Name, Donor Surname, Identity Type (ID or Passport), Country of Issue.
- Entity (Company, Company (Public), CC, NPC, Trust, Association): Entity Name, Entity Type, and an optional Trading As name.
Step 3: Check the donation details¶
Confirm the Type of Donation — one of Bank Transfer, Cash Deposit, Cheque Deposit, Card Payment, Cash, or Goods in Kind — along with the donation amount and date.
💡 Tip: If the donation is Goods in Kind, extra fields appear that you must complete: a Description of the goods, their Condition, how they were Valued As, and any Notes.
Step 4: Add or override contact details (optional)¶
Open Extra Fields to set or override the address, email, and phone details that print on the certificate.
Step 5: Issue the certificate¶
Click Issue Certificate. ActiveDonor assigns the next certificate number, generates the PDF, and opens the certificate page (titled Section 18A Certificate # followed by the number).
How certificate numbers are assigned¶
ActiveDonor numbers certificates automatically using a running counter plus an optional prefix and suffix you set in certificate settings. The full number is prefix + number + suffix (for example PBO-00123-A), must be unique, and is generated the moment you issue — so two certificates can never share a number. You set the starting point ("Last Certificate No.") and the prefix/suffix under Certificate settings.
When a description is required¶
The Type of Donation records how the donation was made. A free-text description is required for:
- Goods in Kind, and
- any "Other" (non-cash-method) donation.
It is not required when the donation type is one of Cash, Cash Deposit, Bank Transfer, Card Payment, or Cheque Deposit.
What you can do after issuing¶
From the certificate page (Section 18A Certificate #) you can:
- Download the certificate PDF.
- E-mail Certificate to the donor — see Emailing certificates to donors.
- Edit Certificate to correct details, then regenerate.
- Re-generate PDF File (the refresh button) — useful after changing settings or coming off the trial. See Refreshing a certificate and removing SAMPLE text.
- Upload your own signed PDF in place of the generated one — see Uploading your own certificate PDF.
- Revoke Certificate if it was issued in error (a reason is required). See Revoking a Section 18A certificate.
⚠️ Editing a certificate that's already with SARS: Once a certificate has been included in an IT3(d) submission to SARS it locks, and the form shows "This Section 18A cannot be edited as it has been submitted to SARS. Please revoke it and re-issue a new one." To change it, revoke it and issue a new one.
What this does not do¶
- It does not submit anything to SARS. Issuing a certificate only creates the document for the donor; declaring it to SARS happens separately in the IT3(d) file — see Generating the IT3(d) file for SARS.
- It does not create the donation. The receipt must already exist (see Creating a receipt).
- It will not produce a valid certificate without a PBO number (see the warning above).
Field reference (certificate form)¶
| Field | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Donor Surname / Entity Name | Yes | Max 120 characters. Labelled "Donor surname" for a person, "Entity name" for an entity. |
| Donor Name (first names) | Yes for Individual / Estate | Max 100 characters. |
| Identity Type | Yes for Individual | ID or Passport. |
| Country of Issue | Yes for Individual | Country that issued the ID/passport. |
| Date of Birth | Yes for Individual | Format CCYY-MM-DD. Derived from a 13-digit SA ID (and must match it); entered manually for passport/foreign donors. |
| ID / Registration number | Yes | Validated by donor type (ID number, company/trust registration number, etc.). |
| Tax number | Yes | The donor's SARS tax reference number. |
| Certificate number | Yes (auto) | Max 30 characters; must be unique (prefix + number + suffix). |
| Date issued | Yes | Format dd/mm/yyyy; cannot be in the future. |
| Donation date | Yes | A single date or a date range. |
| Type of Donation | Yes | Bank Transfer, Cash Deposit, Cheque Deposit, Card Payment, Cash, or Goods in Kind. |
| Description | Required for Goods in Kind / Other | Not required for cash-method donations. |
| Condition / Valued As | Required for Goods in Kind | Only shown for goods donations. |
| Recipient address | Yes | Max 100 characters. |
| Post code | Yes | 4–10 characters, alphanumeric. |
| Recipient email | No | Valid email; needed to e-mail the certificate. |
| Recipient phone | No | Numeric, 10–15 digits, starts with 0. |
Common issues & solutions¶
| What you see | What it means | How to fix it |
|---|---|---|
| "Donor type … is not recognised and cannot be submitted to SARS." | The donor type can't be mapped to a SARS person code. | Set the donor type to one of: Individual, Company, Company (Public), CC, NPC, Trust, Association, or Estate. A bare "Entity" is rejected — choose the specific type. |
| "A tax number is required." / "An ID/Registration number is required." | These are mandatory on every certificate. | Add the donor's tax number and ID/registration number. See Adding tax and ID information to a donor. |
| "A description is required for Goods In Kind or Other Donations." | A description is missing. | Add a description, or set the donation type to a cash method that doesn't need one. |
| Certificate number is "already in use." | Another certificate has the same prefix + number + suffix. | Adjust the numbering in Certificate settings. |
| Certificate shows "INVALID without a PBO number." | No PBO number is set. | Add your SARS PBO number in settings, then refresh the certificate. |
| Certificate has a SAMPLE watermark. | You're on the free trial. | Move to a paid plan and refresh the certificate. See Refreshing a certificate and removing SAMPLE text. |
| "Date of birth field is required." | An individual donor (often passport/foreign) has no date of birth. | Add the date of birth in CCYY-MM-DD format. SA-ID donors get it from the ID automatically. |
| "Date of Birth does not match with SA ID number provided." | The date of birth doesn't match the 13-digit SA ID. | Correct the date of birth or the ID number so they agree. |
| The donation shows as Bank Transfer instead of Goods in Kind. | The Type of Donation wasn't set to Goods in Kind. | Edit the certificate and set Type of Donation to Goods in Kind, or fix the receipt method's 18A Donation Type. See Receipt methods (what they are and managing them). |
FAQ¶
Why is my certificate marked INVALID? Your PBO number isn't set. Add your SARS PBO number in settings, then use Re-generate PDF File on the certificate.
Can I edit a certificate after it's been submitted to SARS? No. Once it's in an IT3(d) submission it's locked. Revoke it and issue a new one instead.
Do I need a description for a normal cash or EFT donation? No. A description is only required for Goods in Kind or "Other" donations, not for Cash, Cash Deposit, Bank Transfer, Card Payment, or Cheque Deposit.
Why won't my donor's type submit to SARS? A generic "Entity" can't be mapped to a SARS person code. Pick the specific type — Individual, Company, Company (Public), CC, NPC, Trust, Association, or Estate.
Why does my certificate have a SAMPLE watermark? You're on the free trial. Move to a paid plan, then refresh the certificate — see Refreshing a certificate and removing SAMPLE text.
Can I put several donations on one certificate? Yes — see Batch and combined Section 18A certificates.
How do I delete or cancel a certificate? You "delete"/"cancel" a certificate by revoking it: open the certificate, click Revoke Certificate, and enter a reason. See Revoking a Section 18A certificate.
Why does my goods-in-kind donation show as a bank transfer on the certificate? The Type of Donation wasn't captured as Goods in Kind. Edit the certificate and set Type of Donation to Goods in Kind (or correct the receipt method's 18A Donation Type so new ones map correctly).
Can I issue a certificate to an anonymous donor? No — a certificate needs the donor's name, ID/registration number and tax number. See Section 18A eligibility and required donor tax details.
Related¶
- How do I issue a Section 18A for a past tax year or a backdated donation?
- Section 18A eligibility and required donor tax details
- Batch and combined Section 18A certificates
- Bulk-issuing Section 18A certificates for a whole tax year
- Revoking a Section 18A certificate
- Emailing certificates to donors
- Electronic signatures on certificates
- Refreshing a certificate and removing SAMPLE text
- Regenerating certificates after changing details
- Certificate settings
- Section 18A issued and revoked reports
Need a hand?¶
If a certificate won't issue and the fixes above don't help, contact ActiveDonor support with the donor's name and the receipt number, and we'll take a look.