Tithing Settlement Statement vs. Tithing Declaration Report. Definition of "Exempt"

Discuss questions around local unit policies for budgeting, reconciling, etc. This forum should not contain specific financial or membership information.
mprusse
Member
Posts: 257
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 9:01 pm
Location: Littleton, CO-USA

Tithing Settlement Statement vs. Tithing Declaration Report. Definition of "Exempt"

#1

Post by mprusse »

As a new bishop conducting tithing settlement for the first time I've run across a couple of questions on procedures.

When the members arrive for tithing settlement they are provided their copy of the Tithing Settlement Statement showing their donations for the year. At the bottom of this sheet is a section entitled Declaration of Tithing Status where the bishop indicates whether the member was a full, part, non or exempt tithe payer. If a married couple has been grouped in MLS finance, both of their names will show together at the top of the Tithing Settlement Statement but there still is only one set of check boxes at the bottom to declare status for one individual. If both had income, it is certainly possible that each could have a different tithing status. This statement does not allow for this and can be confusing to mark "Full-tithe", for example, if one spouse was and the other was not. I know this can be remedied on the Bishop's Tithing Declaration Report as it lists every single member individually and not couples as does the Tithing Settlement Statement but it is confusing nevertheless. Anyone else notice that and/or have a solution?

The other question has to do with the "Exempt" status. The online Tithing Settlement training indicates: "Exempt members have no income and have not paid tithing, but they declare that they would have paid a full tithe if they had income." This raises the question in my mind again with regards to a couple. For example, the husband may have earned all the income and declares a "Full-tithe" status. But if the wife earns no income, according to this instruction from the training video, she should be declared as "Exempt" if she says she would have paid full if she had income. Anyone understand this differently? As a side note, if this is the case, then the temple recommend question should be changed to read, "Are you a full tithe payer or exempt?" or something of that nature.

Thank you for any help that can be provided.
User avatar
aebrown
Community Administrator
Posts: 15153
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:48 pm
Location: Draper, Utah

#2

Post by aebrown »

macsense wrote:The other question has to do with the "Exempt" status. The online Tithing Settlement training indicates: "Exempt members have no income and have not paid tithing, but they declare that they would have paid a full tithe if they had income." This raises the question in my mind again with regards to a couple. For example, the husband may have earned all the income and declares a "Full-tithe" status. But if the wife earns no income, according to this instruction from the training video, she should be declared as "Exempt" if she says she would have paid full if she had income. Anyone understand this differently? As a side note, if this is the case, then the temple recommend question should be changed to read, "Are you a full tithe payer or exempt?" or something of that nature.

Thank you for any help that can be provided.
There is additional instruction on tithing status regarding couples. The primary relevant instruction for couples is: Tithing status is normally the same for husband and wife who donate together. It may be different if they donate separately. (Page A-9 of MLS Software Manual)

That same source says under "Exempt-Tithe Payer": All donors who have no income and have not contributed to tithing funds but declare they would have paid a full tithe if they had income. Full-time missionaries are not exempt-tithe payers. They are full-tithe payers. A married donor with no income should be reported the same as the spouse unless the member declares otherwise.

So a wife who earns no income should not declare herself as exempt, unless she chooses to make a separate declaration. I suppose she might make a separate declaration if the husband is not a full-tithe payer, but the wife declares that she would be a full-tithe payer if she had her own income. But note also (from the Tithing Settlement training lesson, slide 21): Only the member can declare that he or she is exempt. The bishop should not make an exempt declaration on behalf of a member.

In the context of the temple recommend questions, I think the meaning of "full-tithe payer" is clear, so I doubt the Church would add words to that question for a quite exceptional situation, but that's just my opinion.
greggo
Member
Posts: 286
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 9:36 am
Location: Battle Creek, MI

#3

Post by greggo »

Alan_Brown wrote: In the context of the temple recommend questions, I think the meaning of "full-tithe payer" is clear, so I doubt the Church would add words to that question for a quite exceptional situation, but that's just my opinion.

I may be stating the obvious, but I just want to clarify that the issuance of a temple recommend has no connection at all to the tithing declaration during tithing settlement. Whether or not a member is determined to be a full-tithe payer for the purpose of a temple recommend is between the member and the bishop during the recommend interview. For instance, the Church will not throw up a flag if a recommend is issued to a member who was not declared a full-tithe payer in the most recent declaration report. For the purpose of the temple recommend, certainly the bishop has authority to judge a member to be a full-tithe payer if they were faithful in paying a full-tithe only within the time since their last tithing settlement interview.
jbh001
Senior Member
Posts: 856
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:17 pm
Location: Las Vegas, NV

#4

Post by jbh001 »

macsense wrote:If a married couple has been grouped in MLS finance, both of their names will show together at the top of the Tithing Settlement Statement but there still is only one set of check boxes at the bottom to declare status for one individual.
Alan_Brown wrote:There is additional instruction on tithing status regarding couples. The primary relevant instruction for couples is: Tithing status is normally the same for husband and wife who donate together. It may be different if they donate separately. (Page A-9 of MLS Software Manual)

This answers why there is only one set of checkboxes at the bottom of the form.

When I went through the online training, I came away with the understanding that the "Tithing Settlement Statement" is only for the member. That is, the report is printed out and given to the member for tihing settlement. During tithing settlement, the member hands the report to the bishop who then marks it up as appropriate and then hands it back to the member. The bishop does not retain this report nor a copy of it. Instead the bishop makes notes on his copy of the "Bishop's Tithing Declaration Report" as it lists every single member individually. At the end of tithing settlement the bishop's marked up copy of the Bishop's Tithing Declaration Report is used to enter information into MLS.

This process vastly reduced the amount of paper were were printing and storing as a result of tithing settlement. Tithing settlement statements are now printed "on-demand" for those with appointments with the bishop instead of en masse for every ward member. The bishop only has one report he needs to keep track of. As a result it is much simpler than the previous tradition.
User avatar
mkmurray
Senior Member
Posts: 3266
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:56 pm
Location: Utah
Contact:

#5

Post by mkmurray »

jbh001 wrote:This process vastly reduced the amount of paper were were printing and storing as a result of tithing settlement. Tithing settlement statements are now printed "on-demand" for those with appointments with the bishop instead of en masse for every ward member. The bishop only has one report he needs to keep track of. As a result it is much simpler than the previous tradition.
If I understand you correctly, you are only talking about this "on-demand" printing for the actual Tithing Settlement appointments. Just to clarify for anyone else reading this thread, it is standard practice each year that the Church asks us to deliver Year-to-Date Donor statements to each donor at least a week in advance of when Tithing Settlement appointments start. See this post for the quote from the letter from the First Presidency:

http://tech.lds.org/forum/showthread.ph ... #post19955
travisallen
New Member
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jan 11, 2015 8:18 am

Re: Tithing Settlement Statement vs. Tithing Declaration Rep

#6

Post by travisallen »

What do you do with adult members that the bishop has declared as exempt. The system will not accept an exempt status from the bishop.

Thank you
User avatar
benjamincarleski
Member
Posts: 77
Joined: Wed Aug 25, 2010 5:03 pm
Location: Corvallis, OR, USA

Re: Tithing Settlement Statement vs. Tithing Declaration Rep

#7

Post by benjamincarleski »

If you review the "Identifying and Recording Tithing Status" section of the online finance training, it states under the Exempt section that the bishop cannot declare that status for a member.
https://www.lds.org/help/support/tithin ... s?lang=eng
woxof@aol.com
New Member
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Feb 08, 2015 2:46 pm

Re: Tithing Settlement Statement vs. Tithing Declaration Rep

#8

Post by woxof@aol.com »

Wow. I just learned that I have been using exempt wrong. I specifically called the clerk support line and asked directly if full time missionaries were "exempt" and was told directly that they were.
Now I read from the help link that they are not.
pobryon
New Member
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Nov 10, 2019 11:32 am

Re: Tithing Settlement Statement vs. Tithing Declaration Report. Definition of "Exempt"

#9

Post by pobryon »

Do I understand that members can now do their Tithing Declaration on-line verses having to meet with the Bishop for Tithing Settlement?
russellhltn
Community Administrator
Posts: 34417
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:53 pm
Location: U.S.

Re: Tithing Settlement Statement vs. Tithing Declaration Report. Definition of "Exempt"

#10

Post by russellhltn »

pobryon wrote:Do I understand that members can now do their Tithing Declaration on-line verses having to meet with the Bishop for Tithing Settlement?
Members can look up their donations online, but I haven't heard anything about members making declarations online. I'm sure the bishop can record the declaration online.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
Post Reply

Return to “Local Unit Finance”