Automatic Tax Receipts for Donations

You know the process. Someone donates. You open your receipt template, fill in their name and amount, generate a PDF, email it to them, file a copy somewhere, update your spreadsheet. Twenty minutes gone. Now do it again for the next donation.

December hits and suddenly you have 50 receipts to generate while also running year-end campaigns. Donors email asking for copies of receipts you sent months ago. You can't find them because your filing system is "that folder somewhere."

This is what automatic tax receipts fix.

What automatic actually means

When we say automatic, we mean: donor gives, receipt appears in their inbox, copy gets filed in your system. You do nothing. The whole thing happens in seconds.

Not "automatic after you click approve." Not "automatic once you run the batch process." Truly automatic. Donation comes in, receipt goes out.

The manual receipt problem

Here's what manual receipt generation actually costs you:

Every receipt takes 10-20 minutes when you account for finding the template, filling it in correctly, generating the PDF, writing the email, sending it, and filing everything. If you get 200 donations a year, that's 30-60 hours just on receipts.

But the real cost is the mistakes. Typos in names. Wrong amounts. Duplicate receipt numbers. Receipts you sent but can't find when someone asks. Year-end scrambles when you realize your records don't match your bank statements.

Automatic receipts eliminate all of this because the system handles it the same way every time.

CRA compliance requirements

For Canadian registered charities, the CRA is specific about what a donation receipt must include:

• Your charity's registered name and address
• Your registration number (the BN format with RR)
• A unique receipt number (sequential, no gaps)
• Where the receipt was issued
• Date the receipt was issued
• Date the donation was received
• Donor's full name
• Donor's address
• Amount of the gift
• Eligible amount (same as gift amount for cash donations)
• Description of any advantage received (usually "nil" for straight donations)

Good donor management software includes all of these fields automatically. You enter your charity information once during setup, and every receipt that goes out is compliant.

If you issue receipts missing required fields, donors can't claim the deduction and you could face CRA penalties. This is why using proper software beats Word templates.

Why immediate receipts matter

Some organizations batch receipts and send them weekly or monthly. We'd strongly recommend against this.

When someone donates, they expect immediate confirmation. A receipt arriving days later feels unprofessional. Worse, it generates support emails: "Did you get my donation?" "Where's my receipt?"

Immediate receipts also matter for year-end giving. Someone making a December 31st donation needs that receipt for their tax return. They can't wait until your next batch run in January.

Setting this up right

Your charity information

Enter your organization's legal name exactly as registered with the CRA. Your registration number. Your address. The name of your authorized signatory (the person whose signature appears on receipts).

Get this right once and every receipt uses it correctly.

Receipt numbering

Receipt numbers need to be unique and sequential. The CRA can audit this. Most software handles numbering automatically, but verify that numbers don't reset unexpectedly and there are no gaps in the sequence.

The email that delivers the receipt

Configure the email with:

• A from name that's your organization (not "[email protected]")
• A clear subject line ("Your tax receipt from Organization Name")
• A brief thank-you message
• The receipt attached as a PDF

Test this by making a small donation yourself. Make sure everything arrives correctly and looks professional.

Handling the edge cases

Non-receiptable transactions

Not everything qualifies for a tax receipt. Event tickets with food and entertainment, merchandise purchases, auction items (except the amount over fair market value). Your system should let you mark these so no receipt generates automatically.

Receipt corrections

Sometimes you need to fix a mistake. Maybe a donation was logged with the wrong amount. The proper way: void the incorrect receipt and issue a new one with a new receipt number. Never edit an already-issued receipt.

Donor requests for copies

Donors lose receipts. Tax time arrives and they need copies. With receipts stored in your system, you can resend any receipt in seconds. Even better: give donors access to a self-serve portal where they can download their own receipt history.

Recurring donations

Recurring donors—whether weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual—get a receipt for each gift. Monthly donor means twelve receipts, weekly means fifty-two, all automatic.

Some organizations worry this is too many emails. It's not. Donors expect receipts. Each one is also a reminder of their ongoing support.

If donors really want fewer emails, some systems can generate annual consolidated summaries. But the default of one receipt per donation is what most donors prefer.

The switch from manual

If you're currently doing receipts manually, switching to automatic feels dramatic. Suddenly something that took hours happens without you.

The key is testing before you go live. Make test donations. Verify receipts generate correctly. Check that all the fields are right. Look at the receipt as a donor would and make sure it looks professional.

Once it's working, trust it. The system will handle receipts more reliably than manual processes ever could.

The payoff

Organizations that switch to automatic receipts describe the same thing: they forgot tax receipts were ever a problem. The system just handles it. Staff time goes to programs and fundraising instead of paperwork.

That's the point. Tax receipts are necessary but they shouldn't be where your time goes. Automate them and move on to work that actually matters.