How to Cancel an Invalid Tax Receipt

Sometimes a receipt is issued and it becomes invalid. If, for example, the donation amount or date was incorrectly entered, the receipt needs to be cancelled and a new receipt issued for the correct amount. This article explains how to cancel an invalid tax receipt and issue a new one.

Update any stored copies of the incorrect receipt

Most organizations retain copies of the tax receipts they've issued. For example, you may have saved all the receipts to a folder on your server. If this sounds like you, make sure to find the receipt document and move it into a folder called “Cancelled Receipts.”

If you keep paper copies of receipts, you should also find the paper copy of the invalid receipt, mark the paper copy “Cancelled,” and store it in a separate paper folder.

Cancel and correct the invalid receipt

In Sumac, find the donation record for this invalid receipt, and double-click to open it. In the Receipt Numbering area of the donation record, put a checkmark next to “Cancelled Receipt.”

Sumac will prompt you for some information about how you want to cancel and correct this receipt. It will ask you if you want to:

Cancel and Replace the Donation Receipt - use this option if you intend on cancelling the donation receipt and replace it with a new corrected one.
Cancel Donation Receipt - use this option if you intend on cancelling the donation and receipt without creating a new donation receipt. For example, perhaps the donation was not eligible for a tax receipt.

Cancelling and replacing the donation receipt

If you've chosen to cancel and replace the donation receipt with a new one, Sumac will prompt you for additional information to carry out this process. It will ask you to enter your reason for cancelling the donation receipt, and will give you options to clear things like the receipt issue date and amount, and modify the replacement donation record.

Next, it asks you to choose the template it should use for the replacement receipt. You can use a Set of templates saved in your database, or use a template file saved on your computer.

Finally, Sumac asks you to choose the location where the new receipt should be saved.

Click OK and Proceed. You'll see that Sumac brings up a new donation record with all of the information filled out. Make the necessary corrections to the donation (e.g. the amount, the date, etc.). Once you've made the necessary corrections, click OK to save the new donation.

Sumac proceeds to save and receipt the new corrected donation!

It will also prompt you to save a communication record to indicate you're sending a replacement receipt.

Cancelling the donation receipt without replacing it

If you've chosen to cancel the donation receipt and not replace it with a new one, Sumac will prompt you for additional information to carry out this process. It will ask you to enter your reason for cancelling the donation receipt, and will give you options to clear things like the receipt issue date and amount.

It will also remind you that cancelling receipts is not reversible, so you should only proceed when you are ready and confident that you want to make this change.

Click Proceed and Sumac cancels the donation receipt.

Important note: When cancelling a donation receipt without replacing it with a new one, Sumac cancels both the receipt and the donation itself. If this is a case where the donation was made and just should not have been receipted, you should proceed with entering a new donation record, filling in the appropriate details, and putting a check mark next to "Will Never Be Receipted."

We recommend selecting the original donation and clicking "Duplicate" to quickly create the donation and mark it as "Will Never Be Receipted."