Bulk-issuing Section 18A certificates for a whole tax year¶
In short: Go to 18A Management → Pending Certificates, choose the Tax Period, and issue. ActiveDonor issues a certificate for every donor with uncertificated Section 18A donations for that year as a background job, and the result lands under the Batch History tab with a status (SUCCESS, PARTIAL, FAILED or TIMEOUT) and a breakdown of how many were issued, skipped or failed.
Overview¶
Bulk issuing certificates many donors at once — instead of opening each donor and issuing one at a time. ActiveDonor gathers every donor who still has uncertificated Section 18A donations for a tax year, issues a certificate for each, and runs the whole thing as a background job so you don't have to wait at the screen.
This is different from putting one donor's several donations onto a single certificate. To combine one donor's donations into one certificate, see Batch and combined Section 18A certificates (which puts several of the same donor's receipts on one certificate).
📌 Note: Each donor in a bulk run gets one batch certificate for the tax year, covering all their uncertificated Section 18A donations in that 1 March–end-of-February period.
Before you start¶
You'll need:
- The Manage Certificates permission.
- Donors with uncertificated donations on a Section 18A project for the tax year you want to issue.
- Your PBO number set, or the certificates are marked invalid (see Section 18A eligibility and required donor tax details).
- Each donor's required tax details (tax number, ID/registration number, and address). Donors missing these are skipped — see the result breakdown below.
Bulk-issuing for a tax year¶
Step 1: Open Pending Certificates¶
Go to 18A Management and open the Pending Certificates tab. It lists donors who still have uncertificated Section 18A donations for a chosen tax year, ready to be issued.
Step 2: Choose the tax period¶
Choose the Tax Period — the 1 March–end-of-February year you want to issue for (for example 2026-2 covering 1 Mar 2025 – 28 Feb 2026).
Step 3: Issue and wait¶
Issue certificates for the listed donors. The job is queued and runs in the background: the page shows "Issuing…" with a loading indicator and refreshes itself every 30 seconds while a batch is still pending, so you can leave the page and come back.
Step 4: Check Batch History¶
When the job finishes, the batch appears under the Batch History tab with a Status and a Result. You can filter Batch History by Tax Period, and click View on a row to open the batch detail and download a report of what was issued, skipped or failed.
What each Batch History status means¶
On the Batch History tab each batch shows a Status:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 🟢 SUCCESS | The batch completed and every certificate was issued. |
| 🟡 PARTIAL | Some certificates were issued and some were skipped or failed. |
| 🔴 FAILED | The batch failed. |
| ⏳ TIMEOUT | The batch didn't finish in the expected time. |
What the Result column tells you¶
The Result column breaks the batch down into how many certificates were issued, skipped or failed:
| Result label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ALL ISSUED | Every donor in the batch got a certificate (nothing skipped or failed). |
| N ISSUED | That many certificates were issued. |
| N SKIPPED | That many donors were skipped — usually missing required tax details or no eligible donations. |
| N FAILED | That many certificates failed to generate. |
| ALL FAILED | Nothing was issued (shown for older batches without a detailed breakdown). |
Click View on a batch row to see exactly which donors were issued, skipped or failed, and download the report.
Field reference (bulk issuing)¶
| Item | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending Certificates | The 18A Management tab listing donors with uncertificated Section 18A donations for a tax year. |
| Tax Period | The 1 Mar–end-Feb year to issue for, e.g. 2026-2. |
| Batch History | The tab listing the bulk-issue batches you've run, with status and result. |
| Status | SUCCESS, PARTIAL, FAILED or TIMEOUT. |
| Result | ALL ISSUED, N ISSUED, N SKIPPED, N FAILED, or ALL FAILED. |
| View | Opens the batch detail and the downloadable report. |
Common issues & solutions¶
| What you see | What it means | How to fix it |
|---|---|---|
| A batch shows PARTIAL with N SKIPPED. | Some donors were missing required tax details or had no eligible donations. | Open the batch with View to see which, fix the donor details (see Section 18A eligibility and required donor tax details), and re-issue those. |
| A batch is stuck on "Issuing…" / shows TIMEOUT. | The background job didn't finish in time. | Refresh the Batch History page; if it stays in TIMEOUT, contact support. |
| A batch shows FAILED / ALL FAILED. | The batch couldn't issue any certificates. | Open it with View for detail; check that your PBO number is set and donors have the required tax details, then re-run. |
| A donor I expected isn't in Pending Certificates. | They have nothing to certificate for that year. | They have no uncertificated Section 18A donations for the chosen tax year, or their donations are on a non-Section 18A project. |
| Certificates issued in bulk are marked INVALID. | No PBO number was set when they were generated. | Add your SARS PBO number in settings and refresh the certificates — see Refreshing a certificate and removing SAMPLE text. |
FAQ¶
How do I certificate everyone for the year in one go? Use 18A Management → Pending Certificates, choose the tax period, and bulk-issue. The job runs in the background and lands in Batch History.
Do I have to wait on the page while it runs? No. Bulk issuing runs as a background job. The page refreshes itself every 30 seconds, and you can leave and come back to Batch History to see the result.
What does PARTIAL mean in Batch History? Some certificates were issued and some were skipped or failed — usually donors missing required tax details. Open the batch with View to see which.
What does N SKIPPED mean? Those donors were skipped, usually because they were missing required tax details (tax number, ID/registration number, address) or had no eligible donations for the year. Fix their details and re-issue.
Why is a batch stuck on TIMEOUT? The background job didn't finish in the expected time. Refresh the Batch History page; if it stays in TIMEOUT, contact support.
Where do I download a report of what was issued? Click View on the batch row in Batch History to open the detail and download the report of issued, skipped and failed certificates.
Related¶
- Batch and combined Section 18A certificates
- Issuing a single Section 18A certificate
- Section 18A eligibility and required donor tax details
- Refreshing a certificate and removing SAMPLE text
- Section 18A issued and revoked reports
- Generating the IT3(d) file for SARS
Need a hand?¶
If a bulk batch keeps failing or stays in TIMEOUT, contact ActiveDonor support with the tax period and we'll take a look.