Documents · Glossary

What a tax deductible donation receipt must say

A tax deductible donation receipt is the document a deductible gift recipient issues to a donor so the donor can claim the gift. It names the organisation and its Australian Business Number, states that the receipt is for a gift, gives the amount and the date, and identifies the donor. Without those elements the claim is hard to support.

Most receipting problems are not about generosity or record keeping, they are about a template that was set up once and never checked against what the tax office actually asks for. The fix costs nothing and takes an afternoon.

Indunil Asanka · Co-founder

6 min read · Published 12 September 2026

What goes on the receipt
Item	Required or optional	Note
Name of the deductible gift recipient	Required	The entity endorsed as a DGR, not a trading name
Australian Business Number	Required	The ABN of the endorsed entity
That the receipt is for a gift	Required	The word gift or donation, plainly stated
Amount of the gift	Required	For money gifts; property gifts are described instead
Date of the gift	Required	The date received, which decides the income year
Donor name	Strongly advised	The claim belongs to the person who made the gift
Receipt number	Optional	Makes reconciliation and reissue much easier
Statement about benefits received	Situational	Needed where the donor got something in return

Why the benefit question decides everything

A gift is only deductible if the donor gets nothing material in return. That single rule is behind most of the receipting mistakes charities make, because fundraising events, raffles, auctions and membership drives all blur it. A ticket to a gala dinner is not a gift, even if the ticket price is well above the cost of the meal. A raffle ticket is not a gift because the buyer receives a chance to win. An auction item bought above market value is generally not treated as a gift either. Where an event mixes the two, such as a dinner ticket with an optional extra donation on top, the donation part can be receipted separately and the ticket part cannot. Getting this right at the point of sale is far easier than unpicking it at the end of the financial year.

Endorsement is what makes the receipt worth anything

Only an organisation endorsed as a deductible gift recipient, or one listed by name in the tax law, can issue a receipt that supports a deduction. Being a registered charity is not the same thing, and the two are commonly confused by donors and by volunteer treasurers. An organisation that is registered but not endorsed can absolutely accept donations and thank people for them; what it cannot do is issue a receipt implying deductibility. If in doubt, the endorsement status of an entity can be checked against its ABN on the public register, and it is worth checking annually because endorsement can be revoked or can apply only to a fund within the organisation rather than the whole entity.

Timing, thresholds and what donors actually need

The date on the receipt matters because it decides which income year the gift falls in, and a gift made on the thirtieth of June belongs to that year even if the receipt is issued in July. Gifts of two dollars or more are the general threshold for money donations to a DGR. Donors do not need a receipt for every small gift in every circumstance, but they do need records, and a receipt is the simplest form of one. Issuing a consolidated annual statement listing every gift with its date is popular with regular givers and perfectly workable, provided each gift is itemised rather than shown only as a total.

The mistakes that create work later

Four recur. Using a trading name or a chapter name instead of the endorsed entity, which makes the receipt hard to match to the ABN. Omitting the word gift, so the document reads like an invoice for services. Receipting the full price of an event ticket. And issuing receipts from a spreadsheet with no numbering, which makes a reissue request in October almost impossible to satisfy. A fifth worth avoiding is receipting in the name of a company when the payment came from an individual's account, or the reverse, since the deduction belongs to whoever actually made the gift.

Building the receipt as a document

A donation receipt is a one page record document, so it takes a letterhead and never a cover. A cover is never added to a receipt, and never to a document under three pages. Four letterhead styles are available, and the letterhead is used because the receipt speaks for the organisation issuing it. A key values block presents the amount, date and receipt number cleanly at the top, and the four layouts cover most house styles. Documents contain no input fields, so the donor name and amount are written as content for each receipt rather than left as blanks to fill in by hand.

Receipting regular givers well

Monthly donors are the group most often let down by receipting, because a system built for one off gifts produces twelve small documents nobody wants. A single annual statement, itemising every gift with its date and amount and carrying all the required details once, is easier for the donor and cheaper for the charity. Send it early in July rather than in October, since that is when people are assembling records, and include the total at the top with the itemised list beneath it. Two details make a disproportionate difference. Say what the year covers in plain words, because a financial year statement arriving mid year confuses people who think in calendar years. And give a single contact for corrections, since a regular giver who changed address or card mid year is the most likely person to need one.

Questions people ask

Can a receipt be issued by email?

Yes. There is no requirement that a receipt be on paper, and an emailed PDF with the required details is fine. Keep a copy on the organisation's side with the same receipt number, because donors lose emails and the reissue request always arrives in the week before the tax deadline.

What if the donor wants it in a different name?

Issue it to whoever actually made the gift. If a payment came from a joint account and the couple wants two receipts, that is a question about who made the gift rather than a formatting request. Reissuing in a different name to suit a claim is not something a treasurer should do on request.

Do workplace giving donations need receipts?

Where an employer runs workplace giving and the deduction is taken at the point of pay, the employee's payment summary information generally covers the record, and the charity does not issue individual receipts for each pay. A year end statement is still appreciated, but it should not be worded as if it supports a separate claim.

How long should receipt records be kept?

Keep the issuing records for at least five years, in line with general business record keeping expectations, and longer if the organisation's own rules or funding agreements require it. Donors are separately expected to keep their own records, but in practice the charity is the one that gets asked when something is missing.

Can non cash gifts be receipted?

Property gifts can be deductible in defined circumstances, and the rules depend on what the property is, how long it was held and how it is valued. The receipt describes the property rather than stating a dollar amount the charity has decided. Valuation is the donor's responsibility, and a charity putting a number on a donated item is taking on a risk it does not need.

What about donations collected by a third party platform?

Check which entity the donor is actually giving to and which entity issues the receipt, because it is not always the charity. Many platforms receipt in their own name as an intermediary and pass the funds on. Donors get confused when the receipt name does not match the cause, so say clearly on the campaign page who will issue it.

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Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked 12 September 2026.