There are times that a Canadian charity does not want to put its actual physical address on an official donation receipt – such as if you are a women’s shelter and the location is secret or perhaps you have preprinted receipts and you are frequently changing physical locations.  CRA allows you to use a POB if the POB address is provided to CRA.

Here is what CRA has to say about the issue:

Policy Commentary
Release Date
October 21, 1998
Reference Number
CPC – 015
Subject
Official donation receipts – Whether the registered charity’s address required on an official donation receipt can be a post office box, rather than a physical address
Purpose
To clarify the Directorate’s policy regarding the content of official donation receipts.
Commentary
1. Section 3501 of the Income Tax Regulations, provides for the content of official donation receipts issued by registered charities. Paragraph 3501(1)(a) refers to an address “as recorded with the Minister”.
2. When applying for registration, many charities provide both a street address and post office box number. In some cases, the books and records of the charity change locations from year to year, essentially residing with the current treasurer of the charity and therefore affecting the actual street address of the charity for the Canada Revenue Agency’s purposes. It is therefore more economical for the charity to have receipts printed showing a post office box rather than a street address.
3. Certain charities, such as shelters for battered women, have an interest in not disclosing the location where they operate.
4. Since the Canada Revenue Agency already has on file the physical location of the charity’s books and records, the use of a post office box on a charity’s official donation receipts is acceptable for income tax purposes.
References
• Income Tax Regulations, C.R.C. 1978, c. 945, para. 3501(1)(a).