Exactly what to do
- By January 31 of the following year, each donor who designated a §25F gift gets a written acknowledgment showing your EIN, the donor’s total designated contributions for the year, the donor’s unique donor number, whether you provided any goods or services in return, and if you did, a description and good-faith estimate of their value (temporary § 1.25F-4T(c)). Email works if the donor consents and hasn’t withdrawn that consent. This is the donor’s proof: the credit is claimed on Form 8525 (not released yet) with your donor number, a missing number creates a presumption that no qualified contribution was made, and your acknowledgment is the donor’s main way to rebut it. First deadline: January 31, 2028, for 2027 gifts.
- By February 28, report to the IRS, through the SGO portal unless guidance says otherwise, each donor number’s name, address, and total qualified contributions for the year. You never collect donors’ Social Security numbers; the donor number does that matching (how donor numbers work). First deadline: February 28, 2028.
Questions people actually ask
Do we still send ordinary gift receipts?
Yes. The part of a gift above the credit (the $300 of a $2,000 gift, in Treasury’s own example) may be deductible under the normal charitable rules, which have their own receipt requirements, so keep issuing your regular receipts alongside the §25F acknowledgment.
Primary sources: Treasury temporary regulations, T.D. 10057 (our summary) · Form 8525 and donor numbers
