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I corrected a donor's tax or ID number — how do I update all their Section 18A certificates?

In short: After you correct a donor's details, their existing certificates still show the old values. Fix the donor record, then run update all certificates for that donor — ActiveDonor copies the new details onto every certificate and regenerates each PDF. Certificates already submitted to SARS are locked; revoke and re-issue those instead.

How to update all certificates

  1. In the top navigation bar, click Donors and open the donor.
  2. Correct the details that were wrong — tax number, ID/registration number, address, contact details or donor type.
  3. Tick Update all Section 18A with above info. before saving (this re-syncs and regenerates every certificate for the donor).
  4. Click Save (or Update).

When it finishes you'll see All certificates have been updated successfully. Every certificate PDF for that donor is rebuilt with the corrected details, so you don't have to fix each one by hand.

What gets refreshed

Re-syncing copies the donor's current address and post code, email and phone, donor type, identity type and country of issue, ID/registration number, tax number, trading name and date of birth onto each certificate, then regenerates the PDF.

⚠️ Important: Any signed PDF you previously uploaded for those certificates is cleared and replaced by the freshly generated PDF — re-upload your signed files afterwards if you still need them.

Certificates already submitted to SARS

Re-syncing updates the certificate in ActiveDonor only; it does not notify SARS. A certificate that has already gone on an IT3(d) submission is locked — its Edit Certificate button is disabled with This Section 18A cannot be edited as it has been submitted to SARS. Please revoke it and re-issue a new one. For those, revoke the old certificate, issue a corrected one, and include the new certificate on your next IT3(d) file.

I fixed the donor but the certificate still shows the error

A certificate keeps its own copy of the donor's details from when it was issued, so correcting the donor record alone doesn't change existing certificates — that's why a certificate can still show the old value or stay non-compliant after you've fixed the donor. Running Update all Section 18A with above info. (above) copies the corrected details onto every certificate and clears the error.

💡 Tip: If it still errors after re-syncing, re-check the value on the donor for a stray space or character (a space in an ID or tax number is a common culprit) — open the donor, remove it, and re-sync again.

  • Regenerating certificates after changing details