Tech Forum

I am working on tax statements from last year and a sister who had donations under both her married name and her maiden name wanted all of the donations put under her maiden name. I know there is a menu item for transferring the amounts between names but before I do that I want to make sure I am not getting into trouble with Church accounting practices. Does anyone know what they would say is the correct way to do it before I call them up?

I believe the option you are looking for is merge donors.

Greg66666 wrote:I am working on tax statements from last year and a sister who had donations under both her married name and her maiden name wanted all of the donations put under her maiden name. I know there is a menu item for transferring the amounts between names but before I do that I want to make sure I am not getting into trouble with Church accounting practices. Does anyone know what they would say is the correct way to do it before I call them up?

The process you need is described in the in the section Merging donors and changing status of the wiki article Donor records (MLS).

I think what Greg66666 is asking is if this particular merge is acceptable. Assuming this sister got married during the year, and she did indeed change her name, she's not combining them into the name she had at the end of the year. That does raise a flag in my mind if that's correct. From the Church standpoint, I don't think it makes much difference, but I'm wondering if there's a tax law implication that could create problems for the church.

AFAIK, it is OK, but abundance of caution for tax law says that it would be best to call - just to "make sure".

Greg66666 wrote:I am working on tax statements from last year and a sister who had donations under both her married name and her maiden name wanted all of the donations put under her maiden name.

Normally, she would donate under the name on her membership record. It may be in this case that she is still using her maiden name for tax and work purposes, in which case combining the donations in that direction seems fine to me. It doesn't change her tax status at all.

Greg66666 wrote:I am working on tax statements from last year and a sister who had donations under both her married name and her maiden name wanted all of the donations put under her maiden name. I know there is a menu item for transferring the amounts between names but before I do that I want to make sure I am not getting into trouble with Church accounting practices. Does anyone know what they would say is the correct way to do it before I call them up?

You also need to do some research to understand how there are two separate donor records, and how they are linked to the membership record. There is something a bit strange going on here.

MLS will only allow one donor record to be linked to a particular membership record. So which of these two records (or neither) is linked to her membership record? You can check this out by going into Add/Update Donors and clicking on the blue link for each of the donor names.

If you do merge the donors, make sure that the donor record that survives is properly linked to her membership record. Otherwise, you won't be able to submit the 2010 Tithing Declaration Report. Note also that if you have already submitted the Tithing Declaration Report, and you make changes to which donor record is associated with any 2010 donations, you will need to resubmit the Tithing Declaration Report (both electronically and the printed copy to the stake president).

You didn't mention whether we are talking about a marriage or a divorce here. If it is a divorce, then were some donations linked to her membership record, and others to her ex-husband's membership record? If so, you need to be careful and make sure that you are not simply transferring their joint donations to her -- the records need to indicate who really made the donations.

In any case, once you get this all worked out, the final tax statement that you print will show the name on the membership record that is linked to the donor record -- MLS will ensure that the name on the donor record matches that linked membership record.

This sister's situation is that she has been married under the new name for about 6 years and that is how her name appears in the records portion of the MLS. But when she donates the name on the check is her maiden name. She has trusts, etc. under that maiden name and it would be difficult to use the married name. We clerks were unclear on what she was doing until nearly the end of last year and the beginning of this one. We would get checks with her maiden name and we would think it was an entirely different persons and, hence, we entered it as such. Thanks for the link.

Thanks for the clarification, but

Greg66666 wrote:But when she donates the name on the check is her maiden name.

She didn't provide a tithing slip?