Tech Forum

We are helping to pay for missions of extended family members living in other parts of the state. We pay the money directly to the unit from which the missionary left. Sometimes (rarely) we get a year end (tax) statement from those units but it is not consistent. Is there some way for us to receive a tax statement for all the units we contribute to?

If everything is done like it should be, your current ward should provide you with a tax statement that includes all donations made in all units. However, in order for this to happen each ward where you donate must enter your membership number on your donor record in their ward. They also have to make sure to always use the same donor name. So if your donations do not show up on the tax statement provided by your current ward, you need to contact the wards with missing donations and have them make sure that they have only one donor record for you and that your membership number is entered on that record. Once they make that update your current ward should be able to generate a new tax statement.

You can also get a copy of your tax statement (the same one your ward can provide) by going to https://lds.org/donations and clicking on Donor Statements. For this to work your membership number has to be entered on your LDS Account (if you can go to https://lds.org/directory and see your ward list then your membership number is entered correctly).

You can also use the online donation page to make donations for missionaries in other units (as long as both you and the home ward for the missionary are in the US). If you make online donations then the donations will always be on your consolidated statement.

If you can't or don't want to use online donations then make sure you always use the same name on your tithing slip and always include your membership number. This doesn't guarantee that the ward will correctly enter the donations with your membership number but it helps.

eblood66 wrote:If you can't or don't want to use online donations then make sure you always use the same name on your tithing slip

The reason for the consistant name is that the computers do not allow donations "as a couple". The donation must be processed under a single name. (The reports have an option to show the spouse's name.) But if the donations sometimes are processed under the husband's name and sometimes the wife's - well, things get messy.

russellhltn wrote:But if the donations sometimes are processed under the husband's name and sometimes the wife's - well, things get messy.

What actually happens is that you then have two donors, the husband and the wife, instead of just one, and you usually will wind up needing two statements at tax time.