Tax ID numbers....Does each Ward have one?

I'm asking because our Cub Scouts recently made an agreement with a local restaurant to have 20% of all proceeds on a certain day donated to them. The restaurant needs a Tax ID, and I'm not sure if the Ward has one or if there is a general ID used for the church in general. Of course nobody in the Ward remembers what number was provided in the past or where the number they used could be located.

Thanks for your help on advance.

Greetings, and a warm welcome to the forum.

I'd sure hate to steer you wrong, so for tax related questions, you're probably best off contacting the Church directly at...

Tax Administration
50 East North Temple Street, Room 2223
Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3620
Telephone: 1-801-240-3003 or 1-800-453-3860, extension 2-3003

Cheers,
Mike

Thanks Mike, I will contact them!

Thanks for the information. I had much the same problem. The people at the Tax Administration told me that each Stake has a federal tax id number and that the wards under the stake share it. They were very helpful and found the id number for me very quickly.

Thanks for the info. I just called and was told that it's now just one number for the entire church, which is 23-7300405. (also found here... http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/planne ... tions.html)

00dave wrote:Thanks for the info. I just called and was told that it's now just one number for the entire church, which is 23-7300405. (also found here... http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/planne ... tions.html)

Great research 00dave, the link you provided in your post is very useful.

As was pointed out in this post the same EIN number is used for any Church Unit, Stake, Ward or Branch in the US.

kh_design wrote:As calebpusey stated in the quote above, "This can be obtained for the stake by contacting the Tax Administration Department at CHQ."

....

By the way, the Church's EIN, Employer identification number, is now included on the official donor's tax statement. Take a look at your own official donor's tax statement and you will find the Church's EIN under the Church's headquarters address.

This is, of course and possibly could go without saying, only applicable to Church units and members in the US.

Also noted the observation of the same EIN number in this post.

Mikerowaved wrote:Interesting. The EIN printed on my year end statement from the ward and also direct from the church from the donations-in-kind folks both match the number rontilby posted above.

kh_design wrote:As was pointed out in this post the same EIN number is used for any Church Unit, Stake, Ward or Branch in the US.

Actually, in the U.S., each stake has its own EIN number; the wards are under the umbrella of the stake and use its EIN.

mlh78 wrote:Actually, in the U.S., each stake has its own EIN number; the wards are under the umbrella of the stake and use its EIN.

Many years ago, when stakes employed custodians, each stake in the U.S. applied for and received an EIN number from the IRS. Any stake that had a number still has one, but there are not a lot of stakes that know what that number is any longer.

And any stake that was created since the need to pay custodians probably does not have an EIN unless they have applied for one for some other reason.

The Church, as an employer, has an EIN, and that is the number that appears on the U.S. tax statements each January.

Our stake is brand new and headquarters mailed us an EIN that is different than the one mentioned above.

mlh78 wrote:Our stake is brand new and headquarters mailed us an EIN that is different than the one mentioned above.

Very interesting. We are a year old, and never got an EIN. Or, at least, got told we had one.

Having just went through the process of obtaining an IRS Tax ID number, it is done through the stake with the wards sharing the same number. This could be a little confusing on how to handle say a Google Docs nonprofit account specific for each ward.

My work has a matching gift campaign that we can utilize where they match our funds for donations i.e. Fast offerings, missions, or other things of that nature. I see the Church EIN number but that is a general number. How would the Church know to apply it to my sons mission fund? On my works website I can see other EIN numbers for wards as well as stakes and the general number pointed out. I would think for the money to be applied to my sons mission account I would need the ward EIN and then on my work donation request I just put my sons name and our ward clerk would get the my funds directly from my paycheck and my works matching funds. Our ward clerk would then apply it to his account but if sent to the general number how would the church know who to apply it to? It would show up from me when the church got it but wouldn't include further guidance. Any help would be great! Our open enrollment closes tomorrow so I am kind of in a hurry to file this Thanks

dougdillon wrote:My work has a matching gift campaign that we can utilize where they match our funds for donations i.e. Fast offerings, missions, or other things of that nature. I see the Church EIN number but that is a general number. How would the Church know to apply it to my sons mission fund? On my works website I can see other EIN numbers for wards as well as stakes and the general number pointed out. I would think for the money to be applied to my sons mission account I would need the ward EIN and then on my work donation request I just put my sons name and our ward clerk would get the my funds directly from my paycheck and my works matching funds. Our ward clerk would then apply it to his account but if sent to the general number how would the church know who to apply it to? It would show up from me when the church got it but wouldn't include further guidance. Any help would be great! Our open enrollment closes tomorrow so I am kind of in a hurry to file this Thanks

If I understand correctly (I am not a tax expert): You cannot designate where the donation goes as that could make the donation taxable. There was a US legal case some years ago (I think in Arizona?) where a family deducted the money they sent to their missionary as a tax deduction and the IRS ruled against them. However, you should speak with your tax advisor on this, rather than take advice from this user-to-user help forum.

davesudweeks wrote:If I understand correctly (I am not a tax expert): You cannot designate where the donation goes as that could make the donation taxable. There was a US legal case some years ago (I think in Arizona?) where a family deducted the money they sent to their missionary as a tax deduction and the IRS ruled against them.

I'm quite certain that money donated to the church's missionary fund IS tax deductible, even if "credited" to a specific missionary. As I understand it, it's because of the church's equalizing of the contributions (regardless of the actual cost), the money is not sent to or otherwise controlled by the missionary, and that the missionary would not be sent back if payment wasn't made. Or something like that. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm quite certain that any missionary donations are shown on the annual tax statements given to members regardless of if they are "credited" to a specific missionary who happens to be a son or daughter. Which I'd think would be a pretty strong indicator.

I suspect what the "Arizona" couple was doing was deducting money sent directly to their son. I could see where the IRS would have a problem with that. In fact, if my web search is correct, the equalized payment system may have been a response to that as it appears to have started the same year a particular case (that sounds like the one you're describing) was lost.

davesudweeks wrote:However, you should speak with your tax advisor on this, rather than take advice from this user-to-user help forum.

Absolutely. However, I don't think that's what dougdillon was asking about. I think he's looking for a donation method similar to bill pay so his workplace matching donations are credited to a specific missionary. I'm not sure as that's possible via the bill pay system. My only suggestion there is to send an email to Donations@ldschurch.org and see what they can suggest.

russellhltn wrote:My only suggestion there is to send an email to Donations@ldschurch.org and see what they can suggest.

The new address is onlinedonationsupport@ldschurch.org

I have no evidence, but I suspect both are active with different areas of specialization.

russellhltn wrote:I'm quite certain that money donated to the church's missionary fund IS tax deductible, even if "credited" to a specific missionary. As I understand it, it's because of the church's equalizing of the contributions (regardless of the actual cost), the money is not sent to or otherwise controlled by the missionary, and that the missionary would not be sent back if payment wasn't made. Or something like that. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm quite certain that any missionary donations are shown on the annual tax statements given to members regardless of if they are "credited" to a specific missionary who happens to be a son or daughter. Which I'd think would be a pretty strong indicator.

I suspect what the "Arizona" couple was doing was deducting money sent directly to their son. I could see where the IRS would have a problem with that. In fact, if my web search is correct, the equalized payment system may have been a response to that as it appears to have started the same year a particular case (that sounds like the one you're describing) was lost.

My response was poorly worded, for which I apologize. My point was that I don't think a member can establish a matching funds program and "force" the matching funds to be deposited into their child's mission account at the ward level. Donations to the ward mission fund are tax deductible. However, the member does not control how the donation is used which is one of the reasons it is tax deductible (as I understand). If they can set up a matching funds program that would mail a check to the local ward with the missionary listed, the ward could then deposit that check into the missionary's account (we did this for 2 years for a missionary - we received a check with instructions to deposit it into a specific missionary's mission fund (the check was from a family member who did not want it to be known who was funding the mission so the donation was from "anonymous" each time per their request. Most matching funds are direct deposits to the church so I would suspect they would go into the general missionary fund.

You can specify which missionary it goes to that's how the church tracks that your missionary has been funded. I've reached out to the church 'In-Kind' people to get the answer but wanted to know if anyone in this forum had this experience already and could help. I do appreciate all those responses!

davesudweeks wrote:My response was poorly worded, for which I apologize. My point was that I don't think a member can establish a matching funds program and "force" the matching funds to be deposited into their child's mission account at the ward level.

I have my doubts as well. But the definitive answer would have to come from CHQ, perhaps from one of the two emails mentioned up-thread.

dougdillon wrote:I've reached out to the church 'In-Kind' people to get the answer but wanted to know if anyone in this forum had this experience already and could help. I do appreciate all those responses!

I have not rushed to reply since you said your open enrollment has ended.

For future reference in a situation such as yours, I would recommend working through LDS Philanthropies. Your donation there can be directed to any of the Church contribution accounts, tithing, fast offering, etc. In the past, you could not contribute to a ward missionary fund, but it appears from their page that you are now able to do so.

Even though that page refers to IRA qualified charitable distributions, the same process works for other donations on your behalf from various institutions, as well. There is a phone number to call where you will be able to get answers to specific questions you may have. The EIN to be used is also on that page.

For future reference in a situation such as yours, I would recommend working through LDS Philanthropies. Your donation there can be directed to any of the Church contribution accounts, tithing, fast offering, etc. In the past, you could not contribute to a ward missionary fund, but it appears from their page that you are now able to do so.

I am sure this was a 'mis-type'. Tithing cannot be paid through LDS Philanthropies. It is true that Humanitarian can, as I have done for a few years, but Tithing cannot. According to the LDS Philanthropies website: https://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/curre ... ortunities donations can be made to the four Church colleges and Pathways, Humanitarian Services, Church General Fund (which I was not aware of), Family History/FamilySearch Fund, Perpetual Education Fund, General Missionary Fund. In other words, basically the non-tithing options on the donation slip.

One of the advantages of using LDS Philanthropies for donations to the places they allow, is you can have them charged to your credit card, and get what ever benefits you get from it. Since we now have the Online option for paying tithing and F.O., we should never have to write another check to the Church. .

lajackson wrote:
For future reference in a situation such as yours, I would recommend working through LDS Philanthropies. Your donation there can be directed to any of the Church contribution accounts, tithing, fast offering, etc. In the past, you could not contribute to a ward missionary fund, but it appears from their page that you are now able to do so.

Even though that page refers to IRA qualified charitable distributions, the same process works for other donations on your behalf from various institutions, as well. There is a phone number to call where you will be able to get answers to specific questions you may have. The EIN to be used is also on that page.

I am sure this was a 'mis-type'. Tithing cannot be paid through LDS Philanthropies. It is true that Humanitarian can, as I have done for a few years, but Tithing cannot. According to the LDS Philanthropies website: https://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/curre ... ortunities donations can be made to the four Church colleges and Pathways, Humanitarian Services, Church General Fund (which I was not aware of), Family History/FamilySearch Fund, Perpetual Education Fund, General Missionary Fund. In other words, basically the non-tithing options on the donation slip.

One of the advantages of using LDS Philanthropies for donations to the places they allow, is you can have them charged to your credit card, and get what ever benefits you get from it. Since we now have the Online option for paying tithing and F.O., we should never have to write another check to the Church. .

waynecooke wrote:I am sure this was a 'mis-type'. Tithing cannot be paid through LDS Philanthropies.

It appears that you are correct about tithing not being paid through LDS Philanthropies. But in looking back over that page again, it also appears that you can make IRA Qualified Charitable Distribution contributions that include Tithing by contacting the Donations Department, according to the instructions on that same LDS Philanthropies page. The page includes information about both kinds of contributions with two different contact points to coordinate the transfer from an IRA.

And you had better be sure I am going to do that this year, use my 'pre-tax' dollars to pay Tithing. It makes a lot of sense to me.

00dave wrote:Thanks for the info. I just called and was told that it's now just one number for the entire church, which is 23-7300405. (also found here... http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/planne ... tions.html)

The Church has a new tax ID number as of a year or two ago. It is now 87-0234341 (instead of 23-7300405). Anyone relying on this should verify this via an official source to be sure that it is correct.

I know I'm responding to a very old post. However, this is the thread that came up when I was googling for the Church's tax ID. If it has the old tax ID, it should also have the new one.

Current feedback that I got from calling the church tax guys is that the whole church uses the IRS Group Exemption No. 5376 for donations or discounts to any ward/stake/church generally.

jmskarda wrote: Fri Aug 06, 2021 2:17 pm

00dave wrote:Thanks for the info. I just called and was told that it's now just one number for the entire church, which is 23-7300405. (also found here... http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/planne ... tions.html)

The Church has a new tax ID number as of a year or two ago. It is now 87-0234341 (instead of 23-7300405). Anyone relying on this should verify this via an official source to be sure that it is correct.

I know I'm responding to a very old post. However, this is the thread that came up when I was googling for the Church's tax ID. If it has the old tax ID, it should also have the new one.

As of Dec 2023, "87-0234341" is still correct for the general church Tax Exempt tax ID. Each stake does have an EIN which is for issuing 1099's if needed. This is what the church tax dept told me when I called and asked about what number to use for setting up a texting service for my ward.

you can check the tax ID here:
https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/