ShulCloud supports a specific mode that ensures complete compliance with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) requirements. All system functionality is based on CRA guidelines at: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/charities-giving/charities/operating-a-registered-charity/issuing-receipts/what-information-must-on-official-donation-receipt-a-registered-charity.html, as published December 2017.
CRA Functionality Notes
- Receipts for payments, Gift in Kind receipts, and account tax receipts all use a single numbering scheme.
- There is a draft mode (in Settings) that will prevent the generation of new receipt numbers during testing. Draft mode can also be set on an individual basis when generating individual receipts.
- If a CRA receipt is revoked, all the individual payments on that receipt will be considered revoked/unreceipted (and will have to be reprinted)
- If a CRA receipt is printed for a payment, that payment will not show up on any further receipt.
- Payments can be marked as Gift in Kind, which will enable the entry of a description that will appear on the Gift in Kind receipt.
- Gift in Kind items (as indicated by the payment type) will always appear on their own receipt.
- A default CRA receipt template is provided; the template can be edited, as other templates are in ShulCloud (this may require some HTML editing).
- There is a Statement report which shows total, eligible, and advantage contributions, accessible by visiting the Transactions page, and clicking the Statements button on the top right.
- In the Mail system, the Tax Letter mailing list will
- Skip people with non-valid addresses (if this option is selected in Settings)
- Skip sending statements to foundations and donor-advised funds (if an Account Type for these is properly defined)
- Skip receipts that have already been printed
- Separate Gift in Kind receipts from cash payment receipts
- Ensure payments have only one receipt number, even if sent to multiple persons in the account.
- Regarding previously printed receipts:
- If you previously used receipts to provide tax receipts you will have to create a new start number but the system will recognize already-printed receipts
- If you previously used tax letters, the system will not know which items were previously printed. You may consider setting your start number higher than any previously printed receipt number.
- Receipts can be reprinted from the Statements tab within an account. Currently there is no option to bulk reprint all receipts generated in a year.
Enabling and Setting up CRA Mode
- In Settings, click Edit Settings. Find the Tax Mode section. Change the Special Tax Mode to “CAN - CRA Mode”.
- Set the starting number for your receipt range, the CRA Charity Full Name, CRA Authorized Officer Name.
- Set option to skip accounts without valid postal addresses, to skip payments which only include “advantage” (non-deductible) amounts, show the payment method/check number on the receipt, and if the application of the payment (the charge type) should be shown only for payments that include an “advantage”, or for both “eligible” and “advantage” applications.
- In the CRA Tax Statements section, select if receipts should include unapplied payments (e.g., over-payments), if payment notes should be included on the receipt, and the language that should be used for deductible (eligible) and non-eligible (advantage) payments.
- Click Update Settings at the bottom of the Settings page.
- Go to admin menu -> Settings -> Upload Logos and upload a CRA logo
- If needed, in My Lists.Account Types, create an account type for entities who do not require receipts (e.g., foundations, donor-advised funds). Please consult the CRA documentation to determine which organizations do not require receipts to be sent.
- In My Lists.Payment Types, set up a payment type for Gifts in Kind payments. Payments with this type will a) appear on their own CRA receipt and b) enable admins to include descriptive text. Make sure to check off Payments of this Type need CRA Gift in Kind Receipts. You may also want to create a Gift in Kind payment type for non-monetary items, such as the donation of a vehicle or property. If you do, make sure to check off This payment type is not monetary.
- In My Lists.Charge Types, ensure that all charges types which are “eligible” are so indicated.
- In My Lists -> statement Templates, there is a new section called CRA Tax Receipt. Tailor this to fit your needs.
- Note that the signature shows up in the CRA Tax Receipt - Body template. It will appear as if it is a broken image as per this image:
- You can use the HTML editor to adjust the layout of the receipt.
Generating Receipts
- Generate a CRA receipt on an account by viewing the account in the normal way. Click Create Statement on the right menu bar within the account. Select CRA Tax Receipt, and ensure the correct tax year is showing. Select Generate PDF (Send Email will not work on this test server). Note that if a CRA receipt has already been produced for all payments on the account, no receipt will be produced. You can reprint CRA receipts by visiting the Statements tab in the Account screen.
- Generate CRA receipts using the Mail system. As above, if receipts have already been generated for given charges, new receipts will not be generated for those charges.