Using "Reimbursed Tax Expense" category on for Fast Offerings

[Benrobb]

I'm a Stake Finance Clerk based in Utah, with a question from one of our ward finance clerks.

For reimbursements to ward members, our ward makes frequent use of the "Reimbursed Tax Expense" category for any sales tax that was paid so that the Church can claim the tax credit and get reimbursed for that tax.

However, it seems that this category should not be used for Fast Offerings (for example, a utility bill that the Bishop has approved payment for on behalf of a ward member). In this case, the tax burden falls to the individual, not the Church, and as such, it seems that the tax would not be covered under the Church's tax exempt status.

I can find no specific mention of this in documentation anywhere. The only vaguely related thing I did find is in the Church's Help Center (https://www.lds.org/help/support/sales-taxes?lang=eng), where it says "The Church receives tax credits (reimbursements) for Sales tax paid by wards and stakes in Utah and North Carolina." which seems to imply that since the sales tax wasn't paid by the ward or the stake, it should not be reimbursed.

Is anyone aware of specific guidance for this situation?

[Mikerowaved]

Greetings Ben and welcome to the forum. I brought up that same question about 7 years ago. Here's a link to the thread.

https://tech.lds.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1149

If you skip to the last page, you can see where a church employee settled the debate. He also updated the Wiki. Here's a link to that:

https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Sales_tax

In the Wiki, the last paragraph sums it up:

Units in Utah and North Carolina will enter all sales tax paid by the unit on any expense.

[Emphasis mine.]

[Benrobb]

Thank you =)