Tax statement not showing all donations

Discussions about the Online Donation system.
Post Reply
adavidw
New Member
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2009 11:32 pm
Location: AZ

Tax statement not showing all donations

#1

Post by adavidw »

Hi,

We moved during 2018. When I go into the donations site and generate a tax statement, it correctly shows tithing donations I made online for both my old and new wards. However, it doesn't show any donations I made to the "Other" category in my old ward. My "Statement of Contributions" does correctly show those "Other" contributions.

What gives? Anyone else seen a similar problem? Would the clerk be able to print a tax statement that does include these contributions, or are they essentially using the same routine in LCR as I would on the donations site?

A bit of additional info: I was in the same situation with moving last year, and just went back and checked 2017 tax year records and noticed the same problem. So, the problem existed last year (and in hindsight caused me to lose out on a bit of tax deduction). In 2016, I did not move, and the tax statement correctly showed my "Other" contributions for the year, so I know "Other" contributions are supposed to show up on tax statements.
eblood66
Senior Member
Posts: 3907
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:17 am
Location: Cumming, GA, USA

Re: Tax statement not showing all donations

#2

Post by eblood66 »

There are several sub-categories in the Other account. I believe that the ones that show up in the online tool (specifically Book of Mormon and Temple Construction) are tax deductible and should show up on the tax statement. However, payments to the Other:Authorizied Member Finance Activities category (which is what is used for scout/girls camp payments, fundraisers and payments for any other local unit sponsor activities) are not considered tax deductible and so do not show up on the tax statement because they are considered payment for services.

It is possible that some of these donations/payments maybe legally tax deductible for some individuals in some cases but the church can't evaluate that. If someone thinks one of their "Other" donations does qualify then they should consult a tax professional about it.

But there is no way of getting a tax statement from the church with these listed because the church can't guarantee that the person didn't something of value in return.
adavidw
New Member
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2009 11:32 pm
Location: AZ

Re: Tax statement not showing all donations

#3

Post by adavidw »

eblood66 wrote:There are several sub-categories in the Other account. I believe that the ones that show up in the online tool (specifically Book of Mormon and Temple Construction) are tax deductible and should show up on the tax statement.
If someone made a payment to the ward directly for one of these sub-categories (and the ward correctly recorded it to one of those sub-categories) would that payment show up on the online tax statement? Or would you only expect it to print there if the payment itself was entered online?

I'm curious because a 2016 payment to the "other" category directly to the ward did indeed show up on my official tax statement for that year. For the life of me, I can't remember what the contribution was for, like whether it was Temple Construction or a camp or what, so I can't say for sure that it was supposed to be there...
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34417
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: Tax statement not showing all donations

#4

Post by russellhltn »

If the "Other" category is something sent to Church Headquarters (like temple construction or Book of Mormon), it's considered a charitable donation and shows on your tax returns. (I think you can see the details of your 2016 donation on-line).

If the "Other" category falls under "Authorized Member Financed Activities", it will NOT show up on your tax statement. That's typically things like a youth camp and may not meet the legal requirements to be a charitable donation. Those would have to be discussed with a tax professional. Most anything done locally will not show up. Nor can you donate to it on-line.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
eblood66
Senior Member
Posts: 3907
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:17 am
Location: Cumming, GA, USA

Re: Tax statement not showing all donations

#5

Post by eblood66 »

adavidw wrote:If someone made a payment to the ward directly for one of these sub-categories (and the ward correctly recorded it to one of those sub-categories) would that payment show up on the online tax statement?
Yes, it should assuming the ward has correctly linked your donor record to your membership number. But if the donation shows up in your Statement of Contributions or Donation History then it is linked correctly.

The tax deductibility depends on the specific category, not how the donation was made. But the online donation tool generally does not allow payments to non-deductible categories.
eblood66
Senior Member
Posts: 3907
Joined: Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:17 am
Location: Cumming, GA, USA

Re: Tax statement not showing all donations

#6

Post by eblood66 »

adavidw wrote:For the life of me, I can't remember what the contribution was for, like whether it was Temple Construction or a camp or what, so I can't say for sure that it was supposed to be there...
As russellhltn mentioned, you should be able to go to the Donation History tab in the Donations tool and find out the specific sub-category for each donation. My payments for scout and girls camp show up with the full category name.
johnmurphy
New Member
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2024 4:45 pm

Re: Tax statement not showing all donations

#7

Post by johnmurphy »

I pay all of our donations to the Church on line, and have for years this is my first problem. The one for March 29,2023 in the amount of, $1885.20 does not show up on this year's donation history nor the form for taxes. I checked with our Bishopric and was told I would have to straighten it out with online help. Which definitely makes sense. Please, could you help me. I try to always submit donations in my husband's name: [personal information removed - this is a public forum]
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34417
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: Tax statement not showing all donations

#8

Post by russellhltn »

This forum is primarily user-to-user. We do not have any way to fix the issue.

What you might try is looking for donation history under any other account you might have used.

Otherwise, I think call to GSD is in order.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
Post Reply

Return to “Online Donations”