A Section 18A certificate is a tax document issued by a South African non-profit organisation that proves a donor made a qualifying donation. With this certificate, the donor can deduct the donated amount from their taxable income when they file their annual tax return. It is the paper trail that turns generosity into a legitimate tax benefit — but only if the organisation issuing it has the legal authority to do so.
Who can issue a Section 18A certificate?
Not every registered NPO or charity can issue these certificates. The authority comes from Section 18A of the Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962, and it is granted exclusively to organisations that SARS has approved as Public Benefit Organisations (PBOs). The most visible sign of this approval is the PBO number — a unique exemption reference number issued by SARS.
According to the SARS IT3(d) Business Requirement Specification (v4.0.0D, October 2022), the PBO number is described as mandatory: without it, the entity cannot have Section 18A status. In practice, this means that if your organisation does not yet have a PBO number, any certificates you issue will not be valid for tax purposes, even if your intentions are entirely legitimate.
It is worth noting that not all PBOs automatically qualify to issue Section 18A certificates. SARS approves Section 18A status separately, and it applies only to organisations carrying out certain approved public benefit activities — typically those related to welfare, health, education, conservation, and similar categories. If you are unsure whether your organisation qualifies, check your approval letter from SARS or contact a tax practitioner.
What must the certificate contain?
SARS prescribes the minimum information that every Section 18A certificate must show. Leaving out any of these fields means the certificate is not valid for a tax deduction:
- The name and PBO number of the issuing organisation
- The donor's full name (and ID number or registration number for companies)
- The date the donation was made or transferred
- The amount of the donation (in rands)
- Whether the donation was in cash or in specie (in-kind)
- A unique certificate reference number
- The tax year the donation falls within
Some organisations also include a description of the donated goods for in-kind donations, which is good practice even when not strictly required.
Cash donations vs in-kind (in specie) donations
The IT3(d) BRS makes a clear distinction between two types of qualifying donations:
- Cash donations — a payment of money, whether by EFT, cheque, card, or any other monetary transfer. The amount is straightforward to record.
- In specie (in-kind) donations — a donation of goods, property, or other non-monetary assets. The certificate must reflect the fair market value of what was donated at the time of the donation.
Both types qualify for the deduction, but the record-keeping obligations differ. For in-kind donations, it is worth documenting how the value was determined in case SARS ever queries it.
How much can you deduct?
Qualifying donations are deductible up to 10% of your taxable income for that tax yearVerify: sars.gov.za. If your total qualifying donations exceed that threshold in a given year, the excess is not simply lost — it may be carried forward and claimed in the following tax yearVerify: sars.gov.za.
The South African tax year for individuals runs from 1 March to 28 or 29 February. So a donation made in June 2025 falls into the 2026 tax year (1 March 2025 – 28 February 2026), and the certificate should reflect that tax year accordingly.
How do you claim it on your tax return?
Keep your Section 18A certificate safe. When you file your annual tax return, you will need it as supporting documentation if SARS asks for proof.
- Individuals — claim the deduction on your ITR12 return under the section for donations.
- Companies and close corporations — claim on the IT14 return.
If you use a tax practitioner, simply hand them your certificates along with your other documentation. If you file yourself via eFiling, enter the total qualifying donation amount in the relevant field and retain the certificates for five years in case of a SARS audit.
What is the IT3(d) and how does it relate to my certificate?
The IT3(d) is the annual third-party data submission that approved PBOs must send to SARS. It is essentially a machine-readable report of every qualifying donation received during the tax year — the same information that appears on the individual certificates, but consolidated into a structured file that SARS can match against donor tax returns.
The SARS BRS specifies that each IT3(d) file covers one submitting entity and one fiscal year. The typical submission deadline is 31 MayVerify current year deadline: sars.gov.za. Missing this deadline can expose your organisation to penalties, so it pays to keep your records up to date throughout the year rather than scrambling at the end.
From the donor's perspective, the IT3(d) submission is what allows SARS to pre-populate donation information on their eFiling return in some cases. From the organisation's perspective, it is a compliance obligation that sits alongside certificate issuance — the two processes are linked but separate.
Issue certificates and export your IT3(d) without the admin headache
Managing certificates manually — generating PDFs one by one, tracking certificate numbers, and then reformatting everything into the SARS IT3(d) BRS format at year-end — is one of the most time-consuming parts of running a compliant NPO.
Hopely handles this for you. The platform generates SARS-compliant Section 18A certificates on demand, sends them to donors by email, and produces a ready-to-submit IT3(d) export at tax year-end. If you run a Section 18A-approved PBO, it is built specifically for your workflow.