tithing settlement sign up.

We used to just put sign up sheets on the clerks office door and let people sign up. Last year for fall stake conference training they had an area auditor. We were told that doing it that way was a violation of privacy. Being a new ward clerk I was paying attention especially when it didn't match common practice. So I ran a private sign up sheet last year. This year only a few of us were there for the stake conference training and the oldtimers in clerks positions didn't remember this comment at all. It would certainly be easier to run the sheets on the door like in the past. I have checked the hand books and online and they don't really say.

Is it enough to have the option to sign up privately while leaving the sign up sheets on the door for those who don't care?

This sounds like a local decision. Our assistant area auditor hasn't said anything about the practice of posting signup sheets, so most of the wards in our stake still do it.

I'm not exactly sure what would be a privacy issue. If anything it would be the absence of a name that could cause speculation.

I would remove old signup sheets and not have the prior day out for public display.

I'll add a further suggestion. After your bishop sets Tithing Settlement dates, only post the first couple of dates' signup sheets. As they fill up, add additional dates and remove the complete ones. When I was a ward clerk, we found this practice ensured blocks were full of appointments.

Over a decade ago I had a few people complain about the sign up sheets citing some privacy issue. The following year I came up with a system where I print out two cards for each time slot. The first card the member puts their name on the card and returns it to a clerk or bishopric member. The other card they take home as a reminder of their appointment date/time. I mount the appointment cards on a poster board where I have cut slits to mount the cards. The feedback from the members have been nothing but positive.

daveywest wrote:I'll add a further suggestion. After your bishop sets Tithing Settlement dates, only post the first couple of dates' signup sheets. As they fill up, add additional dates and remove the complete ones. When I was a ward clerk, we found this practice ensured blocks were full of appointments.

Ditto.

daveywest wrote:I'll add a further suggestion. After your bishop sets Tithing Settlement dates, only post the first couple of dates' signup sheets. As they fill up, add additional dates and remove the complete ones. When I was a ward clerk, we found this practice ensured blocks were full of appointments.

Another advantage to only posting a couple-of-dates-at-a-time is the avoidance of "crossed out times", which makes it difficult to identify current available slots. Also, less chance of someone forgetting their appointment!

What is the process for locating tithing information for individuals who have contributed in other wards & branches. Individuals who have tithing settlements in their home ward but state they have contributed in other wards & branches.

simmonsmf wrote:What is the process for locating tithing information for individuals who have contributed in other wards & branches. Individuals who have tithing settlements in their home ward but state they have contributed in other wards & branches.

Your question (and my answer) will likely be seen as a new topic. The moderators will make the adjustment (and remind us of the code of conduct which tells us we must start new topics when our question is different enough from what is being discussed).

Here's my answer: The donor must request donation records from the other wards or branches where they've made donations. They do not need to bring those records to tithing settlement in the ward where they have tithing settlement. And the Bishop of the "home ward" should not ask to see those other records either. The donor does not need to tell the Bishop how much they donated as tithing through another unit of the church. (It would be like the Bishop asking to see my paycheck stubs before accepting my declaration that I'm a full tithe payer.) The Bishop is only entitled to see financial records for his own ward.

Is it a question of the donor not knowing how much they've donated to other wards, rather than a nosey Bishop trying to see that information from other wards? Then are you saying that the donor can't confidently attend tithing settlement until the donor receives the information from the other wards? Well, then, the process is still the same. The donor has to call the other wards and ask for the numbers. After the current year ends, the donor should also receive (and/or ask for) official tax receipts from the other wards to help them file with the government.

Note: Anyone with access to the current Handbook 1 is welcomed to correct anything I just wrote.

mrrad wrote:After the current year ends, the donor should also receive (and/or ask for) official tax receipts from the other wards to help them file with the government.

From what others have said, I believe that will flow automatically to the current ward. But it will not arrive in time for tithing settlement.

russellhltn wrote:

mrrad wrote:After the current year ends, the donor should also receive (and/or ask for) official tax receipts from the other wards to help them file with the government.

From what others have said, I believe that will flow automatically to the current ward. But it will not arrive in time for tithing settlement.

Actually, the ward gets two PDFs for those who donated in other units. They should have already received one in November which shows the year-to-date donations of those who donated in more than one unit. They should have printed it and distributed the appropriate pages to members prior to starting tithing settlement.

Another PDF should show up before the end of January with official tax valid receipts also for those who donated in more than one ward.

Both of these show up in the Financial Statements part of MLS.

Of course, this applies to the US and Canada. I don't know about other areas.

eblood66 wrote:

russellhltn wrote:

mrrad wrote:After the current year ends, the donor should also receive (and/or ask for) official tax receipts from the other wards to help them file with the government.

From what others have said, I believe that will flow automatically to the current ward. But it will not arrive in time for tithing settlement.

...Another PDF should show up before the end of January with official tax valid receipts also for those who donated in more than one ward.

Both of these show up in the Financial Statements part of MLS...

FYI: Our PDF for "2012 donations made to other units" arrived in MLS on February 2nd of this year, so I had to distribute them after the Official Tax Valid Receipts for donations in our ward went out.

BTW: This topic was also discussed in a post to this subgroup (Clerk and Technology Support > Local Unit Finance) on 10 Nov 2013 "Instructions & Question- Donation Statement of Contributions".

Norman Barry Labrum and Lynda Labrum

This forum is primarily for user-to-user support. You can not sign up for tithing settlement here. Please contact your ward leaders to make arrangements to attend tithing settlement.