{"id":556,"date":"2026-09-30T12:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T10:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/10bucksonly.co.za\/resources\/?p=556"},"modified":"2026-10-16T14:05:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T12:05:47","slug":"what-is-a-tax-deductible-donation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/10bucksonly.co.za\/resources\/what-is-a-tax-deductible-donation\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a tax-deductible donation?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A tax-deductible donation is a qualifying donation that a donor may use to support an income tax deduction claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the South African context, this usually applies when the donation is made to an organisation approved by SARS for Section 18A purposes and the donor (a South African taxpayer) receives a valid Section 18A receipt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not every donation to an NPO or PBO is automatically tax deductible. The eligibility to issue section 18A receipts is restricted to specific organisations approved by the SARS that use the donations to carry on or fund specific public benefit activities in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">In simple terms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Donation = money, goods or qualifying property donated to an organisation<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tax-deductible donation = a qualifying donation made to a SARS-approved Section 18A organisation<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Section 18A receipt = the certificate received from the approved Section 18A organisation that the donor uses to support an income tax deduction claim<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A donation should not be described as tax deductible unless the organisation is approved for Section 18A purposes and the donation meets the relevant requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the full guide, read: <a href=\"\/resources\/understanding-it3d\/\">Understanding IT3(d)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Related question: <a href=\"https:\/\/10bucksonly.co.za\/resources\/how-donor-tax-claims-work\/\">How donor tax claims work<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Official guidance and further reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sars.gov.za\/businesses-and-employers\/tax-exempt-institutions\/section-18a-and-it3d-third-party-data\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SARS: Section 18A receipts and IT3(d) reporting<\/a> \u2014 tax and donation-reporting guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dsd.gov.za\/index.php\/16-obligations\/28-obligations?highlight=WyJyZWdpc3RyYXRpb24iLCJzdWJtaXQiLCJucG8iLCJucG8ncyJd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DSD: Obligations of registered NPOs<\/a> \u2014 NPO recordkeeping, financial reporting and registration obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"tbo-article-review-footnote has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#747474;font-size:13px\">Written by: Ridhwaan Khan, CA(SA) \u00b7 Last updated: 12 October 2026<br><br><a href=\"https:\/\/10bucksonly.co.za\/resources\/it3d\" style=\"display:inline-block;padding:10px 18px;background-color:#4BA5CA;color:#ffffff;border-radius:6px;text-decoration:none;font-family:Poppins,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-weight:600;line-height:1.4;\">IT3(d) home<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A tax-deductible donation is a qualifying donation that a donor may use to support an income tax deduction claim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,31],"tags":[76,37,34,82,33,30,80,81],"class_list":["post-556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-section-18a","category-compliance","tag-donor-tax-claims","tag-npo-compliance","tag-pbo","tag-qualifying-donation","tag-sars","tag-section-18a","tag-section-18a-receipt","tag-tax-deductible-donation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/10bucksonly.co.za\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/10bucksonly.co.za\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/10bucksonly.co.za\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/10bucksonly.co.za\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/10bucksonly.co.za\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=556"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/10bucksonly.co.za\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":998,"href":"https:\/\/10bucksonly.co.za\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions\/998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/10bucksonly.co.za\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/10bucksonly.co.za\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/10bucksonly.co.za\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}