Tax Statements for 2015 - printing necessary?

[emarkp]

In the US, tax summaries are required to be sent before Feb 1. Last year I didn't receive full-year donation records for members who moved in during the year until the last Sunday in January. I wouldn't expect it earlier than that.

[sbradshaw]

There's a letter dated December 17, 2015, that says that official tax statements should be "Print[ed] and give[n] to each donor by January 31, 2016." Further on, it says "Donors in the United States may print their annual statements, including their official tax statements, through lds.org/donations." Though, it's not clear whether or not a member printing their statement can/should replace the clerk printing them. I think it makes sense for a clerk to not have to print them if they're available online.

However – the clerk must make sure that all ward members' donor records are tied to their membership record numbers, otherwise, those members will not be able to view or print their full tax summary from online.

Statements will still need to be printed and sent for nonmembers or anyone you don't have a membership record for.

[eblood66]

My tax statement is not available yet. Does anyone know will the 2015 Official US Tax Statement become available to members?

There is now a statement on the online donations site that says that tax statements will be available by January 31st but no sooner than January 19th.

[sbradshaw]

There's an MLS message that was sent to wards in our stake on January 28 that explains the printing of tax statements and online donations a little more completely. I assume it applies to all wards in the United States who have Online Donations turned on. My reading of it seems to indicate that it's no longer necessary to print tax statements for those members who have donated online. Here's the full message:

TAX STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR 2015

On January 25th the Church Unit Banking System generated Tax Statements for the year 2015 which have been delivered in the following manner:

Online Donations
All individuals who have logged into Online Donations at least once since it was introduced early last year, and whether they have made a donation through Online Donations or not, will have received an email notification that their 2015 Tax Statement was available in Online Donations. They can pick it up and print it by logging into Online Donations, selecting the Donor Statements menu option, and clicking the link provided in the Generated Statements section.

Email or Mail
A small number of Individuals that have never logged into Online Donations but have made donations directly to Church Headquarters which are not visible to local units, will receive their 2015 Tax Statement directly by email or mail.

MLS
A PDF report has been delivered to MLS and which can be found under Finance > Finance Statements in the Official Tax Statements folder. This report will include the 2015 Tax Statements for individuals who have made donations to wards or branches other than the unit in which their membership record currently resides. The Tax Statement includes all donations associated with the donor regardless of which ward or branch receipted them. The ward or branch clerk should print and deliver this statement to the individuals affected. Note: This report will not include individuals who have logged into Online Donations.

Additionally, it is still expected that clerks will print Tax Statements from MLS for individuals who have not received their 2015 Tax Statement through any of the methods described above. This should mainly include individuals that have never logged into Online Donations and have not made donations to other wards or branches or directly to the Church Offices during the year 2015. Alternatively, members who have not logged into Online Donations before may still do so now and generate their own 2015 Tax Statement.

If you require further information or clarification please contact the Global Service Center.

[eblood66]

Additionally, it is still expected that clerks will print Tax Statements from MLS for individuals who have not received their 2015 Tax Statement through any of the methods described above. This should mainly include individuals that have never logged into Online Donations and have not made donations to other wards or branches or directly to the Church Offices during the year 2015.

The problem with this statement is that as a clerk I don't know of any way to know who has logged onto Online Donations. We're a new ward so pretty much everyone was in a different ward for most of last year. Our ward clerk called LUS and they said that given that we're a new ward we probably don't need to worry about printing anything other than the statements sent from CHQ. But I hope they have something in place next year to let us know who really needs a statement and who doesn't.

[russellhltn]

There's two ways I'd consider doing it. First, print them all up and hand them out best I could. File the reset away.

Second, is to hand them out to everyone who requests one. (But they'd have to wait for the bishop's signature.)

It seems to me that trying to look at the data and determine who to print for would be additional work.

[catmulls]

I agree with russelltn, it would be ideal to have a better experience next year to have the option of excluding/filtering printing of those members who have donated online during the year.

Our weekly batch size was cut in at least half when online donations went live in our unit. We would also like to reduce our year-end work (and the Bishop's) in half too.

[sbradshaw]

The batch of PDF reports that the letter mentions are delivered to MLS, in the Official Tax Statements folder, come pre-signed (no bishop's signature required). This batch includes anyone who's donated to another ward, minus anyone who's donated online (members who have donated online are automatically excluded from the batch). For a ward with a lot of turnover, all you have to do is see which members have been in the ward the whole year (for some YSA student wards, you could count them on one hand) and print theirs separately, having the bishop sign. For a ward with less turnover, it's a little more work to print statements for those who have been in the ward the whole year.

[davesudweeks]

Clerks in other wards in our building have told me they are only printing them when requested. However, there is still the Audit Question that asks if they all were printed and distributed so I don't know how one can honestly answer that in the affirmative when they are only printing them by exception. There is no good way to know who got their own online and how did not - we have a mix of those who do everything online and those who do nothing online and everything in between.

Knowing our Stake Auditor as I do, I printed them and distributed all but a very small handful during our meetings in January. The rest were mailed.

[chad.stewart]

Clerks in other wards in our building have told me they are only printing them when requested. However, there is still the Audit Question that asks if they all were printed and distributed so I don't know how one can honestly answer that in the affirmative when they are only printing them by exception. There is no good way to know who got their own online and how did not - we have a mix of those who do everything online and those who do nothing online and everything in between.

Knowing our Stake Auditor as I do, I printed them and distributed all but a very small handful during our meetings in January. The rest were mailed.

This is probably why our Stake directed that all statements be printed, signed, and delivered. I was only printing by request, so we rushed to get these out as soon as we were directed.

I wonder if it has something to do with electronic statement delivery laws. You know, like with your bank you usually click or sign something authorizing electronic delivery of statements. I don't think the Church had an equivalent opt-in so the IRS probably requires a paper statement to still be delivered.