Tax Receipts - Canada - Making Corrections

Tax receipts in Church Social are immutable, meaning, once they've been generated, you cannot make changes to them. It is designed this way to meet certain government requirements, in particular those of the Canada Revenue Agency. Instead, in the event that a tax receipt contains an error, the recommended approach is to cancel that receipt, and then issue a new one.

This support article will go over a number of common situations where tax receipts must be corrected, and explain how to do it.

Deleting receipts

Before we explore cancelling (and replacing) receipts, it's first worth mentioning that tax receipts can be deleted in Church Social. Meaning, if you have a tax receipt that contains an error, you can simply delete that tax receipt and reissue it. To do this:

Go to the Receipts page
Find the receipt you'd like to delete.
Click the ... button beside the receipt.
Click the Delete option.
Click the Delete button to confirm that you'd like to delete the receipt.

Now that the receipt has been deleted, you can make whatever changes are necessary to the contributions, and then issue a new receipt for that person. This approach, however, is only recommended for tax receipts that have not yet been distributed. Once a tax receipt has been distributed, it should be kept for historical records, and not deleted. In these situations, you can cancel and replace the receipt instead.

A contribution was missing

In the event that a contribution wasn't entered into Church Social, and consequently wasn't included on a person's tax receipt, there are two ways you can correct the tax receipt.

First, you can simply add the missing contribution to Church Social, and then issue an additional tax receipt for that contribution. To do this:

Go to the Deposits page.
Select the deposit that you'd like to add the missing contribution to.
On the deposit page, enter the details for the missing contribution.
Click the Create button to create it.
Go to the Receipts page.
Click the Create receipts button.
You will now see a new tax receipt that you can issue for this person, for the contribution you just created. Click the check box beside this receipt to select it.
Click the Create button at the bottom of the page to generate the receipt.
Distribute the new tax receipt to the person.

The result in this situation is the person will receive two tax receipts for that year. This is typically the easiest way to handle these situations. Alternatively, if you'd prefer that the person receives only one tax receipt, you can manually cancel their existing tax receipt, add the missing contribution, and then issue a replacement tax receipt. To do this:

Go to the Receipts page.
Find the receipt you'd like to cancel.
Click the ... button beside the receipt.
Click the Cancel option.
Click the Confirm button to confirm that you'd like to cancel the receipt.
Go to the Deposits page, and select the deposit that you'd like to add the missing contribution to.
On the deposit page, enter the details for the missing contribution, and click the Create button to create it.
Go to the Receipts page.
Click the Create receipts button.
You will now see a new tax receipt that you can issue for this person, for the contribution you just created, as well as the contributions from the receipt you cancelled. Click the check box beside this receipt to select it.
Click the Create button at the bottom of the page to generate the receipt.
Distribute the new tax receipt to the person.

It's important in this situation that you make the person aware that their previous tax receipt has been cancelled, and replaced with this new tax receipt. The new tax receipt will include a note indicating that it replaced the previous tax receipt.

A contribution had the incorrect amount

In the event that a contribution was entered with the incorrect amount, and consequently the issued tax receipt amount is also incorrect, you can cancel the receipt, correct the contribution amount, and then issue a replacement tax receipt. To do this:

Go to the Deposits page.
Select the deposit that contains the contribution with the incorrect amount.
On the deposit page, click to edit the contribution with the incorrect amount.
In the edit contribution dialog, enter the correct amount, and click the Save changes button. Note, this will automatically cancel the receipt for this contribution.
Go to the Receipts page.
Click the Create receipts button.
You will now see a new tax receipt that you can issue for this person, for the contribution you just corrected, as well as any other contributions from the receipt that was cancelled. Click the check box beside this receipt to select it.
Click the Create button at the bottom of the page to generate the receipt.
Distribute the new tax receipt to the person.

A contribution was assigned to the wrong person

In the event that a contribution was assigned to the wrong person, and consequently the tax receipts issued for those people is incorrect, there are two ways you can correct the tax receipts.

First, you can cancel the incorrect receipt, fix who the contribution was assigned to, and then issue a replacement tax receipt for the person with the incorrect tax receipt, and generate a new, additional, tax receipt for the person who the contribution should have been originally assigned to. To do this:

Go to the Deposits page.
Select the deposit that contains the contribution assigned to the wrong person.
On the deposit page, click to edit the contribution assigned to the wrong person.
In the edit contribution dialog, assign the contribution to the correct person, and click the Save changes button. Note, this will automatically cancel the receipt for this contribution.
Go to the Receipts page.
Click the Create receipts button.
You will now see two tax receipts that you can generate. First, you'll see a replacement tax receipt for the person with the cancelled receipt, and second, an additional tax receipt for the person you assigned the contribution to. Click the check box beside these receipts to select them.
Click the Create button at the bottom of the page to generate the receipts.
Distribute the new tax receipts to these people.

With this approach, the person you assigned the contribution to will now receive two tax receipts for that year. The one you already issued to them, and a second for this additional contribution that was assigned to the wrong person. Alternatively, if you'd prefer that they receive only one tax receipt, you can manually cancel their existing tax receipt for that year, and then issue a replacement tax receipt for them as well. To do this:

Go to the Deposits page.
Select the deposit that contains the contribution assigned to the wrong person.
On the deposit page, click to edit the contribution assigned to the wrong person.
In the edit contribution dialog, assign the contribution to the correct person, and click the Save changes button. Note, this will automatically cancel the receipt for this contribution.
Go to the Receipts page.
Find the existing receipt for the person you assigned the contribution to.
Click the ... button beside the receipt.
Click the Cancel option.
Click the Confirm button to confirm that you'd like to cancel the receipt.
Click the Create receipts button.
You will now see two tax receipts that you can generate. First, you'll see a replacement tax receipt for the person with the cancelled receipt, and second, a replacement tax receipt for the person you assigned the contribution to. Click the check box beside these receipts to select them.
Click the Create button at the bottom of the page to generate the receipts.
Distribute the new tax receipts to these people.

It's important for both of these approaches that you make these people aware of the changes to their tax receipts. All replacement tax receipts will include a note indicating that they replaced a previous tax receipt.