ckmcdonald wrote:I agree - we should do what we are asked, but given a Tax Statement of less than $250 has no purpose, I find it interesting that Church asks us to provide them anyway.
Besides simply saying "it's the policy," you might consider other reasons for handing out these statements, beyond your assumptions as to what the current IRS code requires:
- Those who itemize deductions need an accurate total of all their donations, even if they don't have to produce a signed receipt. This is required to accurately file a tax return, and to provide documentation to the IRS in the case of an audit, even if the particular $250 provision for a signed receipt does not apply.
- The official Tax Statement is the only statement a unit provides (except upon request) that includes all donations to the unit for the year. Even if it is never used for tax purposes, it lets the donor know just what the Church records say they have donated.
It's this last point that seems to me to have universal applicability. In my family, I teach my children from an early age to account for their income and tithing throughout the year. This final annual statement closes the loop and allows any donor of any age to compare their own records with what the Church says they donated. That's a good benefit. Clearly not all donors will care about this, but you can't know which ones do.
Questions that can benefit the larger community should be asked in a public forum, not a private message.