official donation statement for another country

[jstaubin]

There is a family that moved to the USA from Canada in January 2018. They are looking for an official tax receipt for their 2017 donations in Canada, but the online statement service only processes 2017 US donations (for which there are none). How can this family get their official Canadian tax receipts for their 2017 donations?

Thank you.

[lajackson]

How can this family get their official Canadian tax receipts for their 2017 donations?

They will probably need to contact their ward in Canada.

[jstaubin]

They did contact their old ward in Canada, but that ward said they had no access to that family's information anymore since they moved out of the country. Any other ideas?

[eblood66]

You'll probably need to contact the global service center and ask them how to proceed.

[davesudweeks]

They did contact their old ward in Canada, but that ward said they had no access to that family's information anymore since they moved out of the country. Any other ideas?

Membership information moves from MLS when the family record is moved, but finance information does not (at least in the US, it stays as long as the financial history is kept in MLS). Even though they are out of the ward, the ward clerk should be able to generate the Canadian equivalent of a US "Tax Valid Statement" (for as many years back as Canadian financial records are kept in MLS) and mail that to them. I have done this multiple times in past years.

[eblood66]

Membership information moves from MLS when the family record is moved, but finance information does not (at least in the US, it stays as long as the financial history is kept in MLS). Even though they are out of the ward, the ward clerk should be able to generate the Canadian equivalent of a US "Tax Valid Statement" (for as many years back as Canadian financial records are kept in MLS) and mail that to them. I have done this multiple times in past years.

Is that still possible now that tax statements are generally printed from LCR (and LCR doesn't give the option to print statements for anybody not currently in your unit unless they are listed as non-members)?

[russellhltn]

While the unit should have donation information, I'm not sure if they can print the tax statement if the membership record moved out before the end of the year. (But then I'm thinking "old school"/MLS.)

This might be a situation where someone needs to contact the "Area Office", which in this case is Church Headquarters.

But I'd also caution to read the instructions carefully about what is deductible for which country. When I go to the IRS website for Exempt Organizations and do a search for "Church' in Canada, I get zero returns.

(For anyone else wanting to do the search, Start here. However, the search system is so bad, I'd suggest downloading the whole database and opening it Notepad and searching that way.)

The question quickly becomes if the IRS will view donations to the church in Canada as donations to the "US" church, or to a "Canadian" church.

Standard disclaimers: I'm not a tax lawyer - I'm just advising caution. Seeking professional help would be wise.

[lajackson]

They did contact their old ward in Canada, but that ward said they had no access to that family's information anymore since they moved out of the country. Any other ideas?

As eblood66 suggested, the Global Service Center will be able to provide the information. Work with them.

And as russellhltn said, the form may only work for a Canadian tax return, but that may be exactly what is needed. This is where you are advised to ignore all of us here at the Forum and seek the advice of an accountant or tax specialist. We may be able to help you get the form but, at least in my case, the advice is worth the value of the piece of paper on which it is printed.

Still glad to help, though, because I will not be the one signing the tax return. [smile]

[russellhltn]

This is where you are advised to ignore all of us here at the Forum and seek the advice of an accountant or tax specialist.

Ignore all the advice except the advice to seek professional advice.

[jstaubin]

Thanks for everyone's help and advice. I'm only concerned on how to get access to the official tax receipt, not about the tax implications as that is up to the family to address.

As a new clerk I'm not sure how do I get a hold of global Service Center. Is there an email address I could use? Thank you again.