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How do I move a receipt and its Section 18A certificate to a different donor?

In short: A receipt's donor can't be swapped while its Section 18A certificate stands. Revoke the certificate, change the donor on the receipt (the ✕ Change Donor icon next to the name), re-issue a new certificate to the correct donor — and if the original was already submitted to SARS, declare the revocation and include the new certificate in your IT3(d) submissions. This is the same process whether you're moving a donation from one spouse to another, from an individual to a company or trust, or simply off the wrong person.

Why you have to revoke first

While a Section 18A certificate is attached to a receipt, ActiveDonor hides the ✕ "Change Donor" control, so you can't reassign the donor until the certificate is gone. There's a good reason: a certificate keeps its own copy of the donor's name and tax details from when it was issued, so the old certificate wouldn't follow the change anyway. Revoke the wrong certificate first — the donor field then becomes editable and you can issue a fresh certificate to the correct donor.

Steps

  1. Revoke the existing Section 18A. Open the certificate (its Section 18A Certificate # page), scroll to the bottom and click Revoke Certificate. A reason is required. The revoked certificate is kept on record — its number is prefixed REVOKED- and you can still download or email the revoked PDF.
  2. Change the donor on the receipt. Open the receipt and click Edit. Next to the donor's name, click the ✕ icon (tooltip Change Donor), then search for and select the correct donor. Click Save.
  3. Issue a new certificate to the correct donor. From the updated receipt, issue a new Section 18A. It gets its own new certificate number — you can't reuse the revoked certificate's number or date.
  4. Tell SARS — if the original was reported. If the original certificate had already been submitted to SARS, declare the revocation in a revoked IT3(d) submission (open IT3D Management → Section 18A Revoked, or use the Click here to submit IT3D link on the revoked certificate) so SARS cancels the original, then include the new certificate in your next normal IT3(d) submission. Do this whenever the donation falls in a tax period you're required to report — for example a donation dated before March 2026.

The bottom of a Section 18A certificate page showing the red Revoke Certificate button (which prompts for a revocation reason).

The receipt edit form's Donor field — the selected donor's name with the ✕ "Change Donor" icon beside it, and the donor search box that appears after clicking it.

⚠️ Important: Revoking in ActiveDonor doesn't reach SARS on its own. If you revoke a certificate that was already on an IT3(d) file and don't declare the revocation, SARS will still expect the original donor's claim — and you won't be able to void the receipt either (you'll see "This receipt cannot be voided because its 18A certificate was revoked but SARS has not been notified. Please submit an IT3D revocation to SARS first.").

Just changing the amount or date instead?

If you only need to fix the amount or donation date (not the donor), the steps are the same shape — revoke, edit, re-issue — because those two fields also lock once a certificate exists. See How do I change a receipt's amount or date after a certificate has been issued?