Generate CRA Tax Receipts

This guide walks you through generating annual tax receipts (donation statements) that are compliant with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) requirements. You will configure statement settings, select a date range, generate statements in bulk, preview them, and distribute them via email or print.

Prerequisites

• All giving sessions for the tax year must be entered and posted in Steward
• Donor profiles should have correct legal names and mailing addresses (CRA requires the legal name and address on receipts)
• Your church's CRA Charitable Registration Number must be configured in Settings → Church
• SUPER_ADMIN or FINANCE_ADMIN role

Phase 1 — Review Your Data

Before generating statements, verify that your giving data is clean.

1. Navigate to Steward → Sessions
2. Filter by the tax year (e.g., January 1 – December 31, 2025)
3. Confirm all sessions have status POSTED or LOCKED — DRAFT or SUBMITTED sessions are not included in statements
4. Check for any sessions flagged with DISCREPANCY on their deposits and resolve them first

Phase 2 — Create a Statement Run

1. Navigate to Steward → Statements
2. Click “New Statement Run” — a side drawer opens
3. Configure the run:
   • Run Name — e.g., “2025 Annual Tax Receipts”
   • Type — choose one:
     • Annual — full calendar year (select the year)
     • Monthly — select a month and year for interim receipts
     • Custom — any custom date range
   • For Annual type, select the Year (e.g., 2025)
4. Click “Generate”
5. The run enters QUEUED status, then GENERATING as it processes each donor
6. SanctuaryOS generates one PDF statement per donor with eligible gifts. The page auto-polls for progress.

Phase 3 — Preview Statements

1. Once the run status changes to GENERATED, click the run row to open the detail drawer
2. The drawer shows a summary: total donors, total amount, and the number of statements generated
3. Click “Preview” on any individual statement to view the PDF
4. Review the statement for accuracy: donor name, address, donation dates, amounts, and your church's registration number

Phase 4 — Distribute Statements

Email Distribution

1. In the statement run detail drawer, click “Email All”
2. Confirm the action — statements are emailed to donors who have email addresses and whose statement preference is set to EMAIL or HOUSEHOLD
3. The run status changes to EMAILING, then COMPLETED when all emails are sent
4. Donors without email addresses or with preference set to PRINT are skipped

Print Distribution

1. In the detail drawer, click “Download ZIP” to download all statement PDFs as a ZIP file
2. The system generates a ZIP archive (this may take a moment for large batches)
3. Print the PDFs for donors whose preference is PRINT or who do not have an email address

Individual Lookup

1. On the Statements page, click “Donor Lookup”
2. Search for a specific donor by name
3. Select a date range and preview or download their individual statement

What's Next