Tech Forum

ckmcdonald wrote:Found the following in the "Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations"
(here http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1828.pdf pg 24)

That is interesting, since it might explain a potential source for the rumor you mentioned earlier. However, it certainly provides no valid reason why a clerk could choose not to distribute tax statements to anyone.

aebrown wrote:That is interesting, since it might explain a potential source for the rumor you mentioned earlier. However, it certainly provides no valid reason why a clerk could choose not to distribute tax statements to anyone.

I agree - we should do what we are asked, but given a Tax Statement of less than $250 has no purpose, I find it interesting that Church asks us to provide them anyway.

lajackson wrote:We do not feel it our responsibility to track down a member who has moved from the ward. We do keep the statement on file in case they request it.

Is this consistent with official Church policy? I spend a considerable amount of time each January hunting down addresses of folks that have moved so I can mail them a Tax Statement. I'd love to be officially relieved of this task.

I printed 'em all. I handed out what I could, mailed the rest (after crossing out the words "RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED" on the envelope so the letter will have a chance of being forwarded to those who moved during the year but we had no new address for), then filed any that were returned as undeliverable.

ckmcdonald wrote:I agree - we should do what we are asked, but given a Tax Statement of less than $250 has no purpose, I find it interesting that Church asks us to provide them anyway.

Besides simply saying "it's the policy," you might consider other reasons for handing out these statements, beyond your assumptions as to what the current IRS code requires:

1. Those who itemize deductions need an accurate total of all their donations, even if they don't have to produce a signed receipt. This is required to accurately file a tax return, and to provide documentation to the IRS in the case of an audit, even if the particular $250 provision for a signed receipt does not apply.
2. The official Tax Statement is the only statement a unit provides (except upon request) that includes all donations to the unit for the year. Even if it is never used for tax purposes, it lets the donor know just what the Church records say they have donated.

It's this last point that seems to me to have universal applicability. In my family, I teach my children from an early age to account for their income and tithing throughout the year. This final annual statement closes the loop and allows any donor of any age to compare their own records with what the Church says they donated. That's a good benefit. Clearly not all donors will care about this, but you can't know which ones do.

ckmcdonald wrote:

lajackson wrote:We do not feel it our responsibility to track down a member who has moved from the ward. We do keep the statement on file in case they request it.

Is this consistent with official Church policy? I spend a considerable amount of time each January hunting down addresses of folks that have moved so I can mail them a Tax Statement. I'd love to be officially relieved of this task.

No, that is not an accurate statement of Church policy; clerks should mail receipts to donors who have moved, where reasonably possible. In the Tithing Settlement online lesson we read (slide 27):

The clerk should deliver the tax-valid statements to donors by January thirty-first. If the donor has moved from the ward, the clerk should try to obtain the new address and mail the receipt.

aebrown wrote:No, that is not an accurate statement of Church policy

I have edited the post and am headed off to remedial training.

ckmcdonald wrote:I'd be interested in hearing what other Fin Clerks do (have done). I'd be a little more nervous if I found out I'm the only Clerk not distributing Tax Statements for children!

I, for one, have done essentially the same as you. I figured if a young person needed the statement, they would ask.
In the future; however, I would probably reevaluate that decision if I'm called as a financial clerk again.

ckmcdonald wrote:It seems like I read in the instructions that came with CUBS that Tax Statements are now mailed by CHQ to members that have move during the year - meaning that as a Finance Clerk I no longer need to mail partial-year statements to members who moved from our ward during 2010. I'm I remembering/understanding correctly?

We now have the official word on this. The statement in the CUBS instructions about Tax Statements being mailed by CHQ in some situations is not correct. An MLS message was just sent to all units, letting them know:

As in prior years, for 2010 units should continue to distribute donation statements for donations received and recorded in MLS for all donors. A consolidated donor statement for donations received and recorded in multiple units will NOT be sent from Church Headquarters.

Mikerowaved wrote:I printed 'em all. I handed out what I could, mailed the rest (after crossing out the words "RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED" on the envelope so the letter will have a chance of being forwarded to those who moved during the year but we had no new address for), then filed any that were returned as undeliverable.

I don't think that method works in the post-CUBS world, at least using MLS 3.3.0. I followed the usual practice of printing the statements in two separate batches for separate physical processing -- those in the ward and those out of the ward. The first batch was handled out and mailed. The second batch was printed, but MLS refused to print mailing labels for it.