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Why does it say "Date of birth is required" when I issue a Section 18A?

In short: Date of birth is a required field on a Section 18A certificate for individual donors. The error appears when an individual donor has no date of birth on file — most often a passport or foreign donor. Type it in as CCYY-MM-DD (for example 1980-07-15). For a South African ID donor it's read from the 13-digit ID number automatically, so you won't be asked.

Why this happens

SARS requires a date of birth for every individual on a Section 18A certificate. ActiveDonor fills it in for you when the donor has a 13-digit South African ID number — the date of birth is derived from the ID and must match it. A passport or foreign donor has no SA ID for ActiveDonor to read, so the date of birth is blank until you enter it, and you'll see "Date of birth field is required."

This only applies to individuals (a person). Entities such as a company, CC, NPC or trust don't have a date of birth.

How to fix it

  1. Open the donor, or open the Generate Certificate modal where the error appears.
  2. Find the Date of Birth field (for passport or foreign individual donors it will be empty).
  3. Enter the donor's date of birth in CCYY-MM-DD format — four-digit year, month, day, e.g. 1980-07-15.
  4. Click Issue Certificate again.

💡 Tip: For a South African ID donor, don't type the date of birth manually — make sure the 13-digit ID number is correct and ActiveDonor fills in the matching date of birth for you. If you see "Date of Birth does not match with SA ID number provided," correct either the date of birth or the ID number so they agree.

Common issues

What you see What it means How to fix it
"Date of birth field is required." An individual donor (often passport/foreign) has no date of birth. Enter it in CCYY-MM-DD format on the donor or the certificate.
"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.
  • Section 18A eligibility and required donor tax details