Tithing history for spouse when paying jointly

When my husband and I paid our tithing the old fashioned way, with a check, His name was on it and I assumed it was recorded for us both. In fact, it was as we saw at tithing settlement each year. But now as we are going online, I will be the one doing the "tithing" and so I signed in and registered with all our info and our bank's info. I also clicked the button so my spouse has permission to see "my" donations. So... just out of curiosity, I wanted to check our history, and it's not there! It says that "donations will be listed under each individual making the donation." Does this mean we have to pay our tithing separately? Or is my account going to show I haven't been paying? I've looked through all these subjects till I've given myself a headache and so I'm just asking, in hopes that someone else has asked, and solved this and is willing to share a nugget of wisdom with me. Thanks!

See Q7 and Q8 from the Online Donations: Answers to General Questions.

Most likely, your husband will have to go in and check that button on his account. And then you'll see the donation history.

To answer your question, all tithing is tied to an individual account. In the past the finance database in MLS had an open-field text to allow setting up a payer as something like 'John and Jane Doe' but it was always tied to a single membership account. The Church allowed for reports, etc.. to show that if a spouse showed no income the print-out showed 'Jane and John Doe' on the account, or printed both accounts if men and women tithed separately. A good clerk would always contact a new family when a donation showed up as 'Jane and John Doe' to determine if there was a specific split to make the tithing donation or to put it all on one account.

I'm not sure it really matters, does it? On the on-line donation slip, I put both our names and submit both our tithing. Same as I used to do it. Doesn't matter for tax accounting as we file Jointly anyway. If filing separately one may need to have the two donation accounts. We attend tithing settlement and state we are both full-tithing payers. Same for temple recommends. I don't see how or why it makes a difference for the Church; I know it doesn't to the Lord. Do what ever you wish; it can work both ways: together or separate.

m3styd1y wrote:I'm not sure it really matters, does it?

I think it only makes a difference for tax reporting purposes. In your situation, it does not matter. But keep in mind that the Church is recording your donations under one of your names, even though you are both listed on the reports. It works for you because you file your (U.S.) taxes jointly.

I am confident that it does not matter to the Lord, however. You're good.

m3styd1y wrote:I'm not sure it really matters, does it? On the on-line donation slip, I put both our names and submit both our tithing. Same as I used to do it.

To be clear, there is no place to manually enter names for online donations. The name(s) come directly from the membership records.

If you want your spouse's name to be connected to your donations, you can go into the Settings on the online Donations page. There you will see a checkbox labeled "Display spouse name"; the checkbox is followed by this clarification:

When this box is checked, your spouse's name will be displayed along with yours on all donor statements and donation slips.
(Note: Although your spouse's name will appear on donation slips and statements, donations are recorded to individual membership records.)

Does that mean I can pay my husbands tithing etc under my church account number as he does not use computers and has no church account only his membership number ?

Anything you pay under your account will be shown as paid by you. What we're talking about here is the ability of someone to see what their spouse has paid.

eileenrea wrote:Does that mean I can pay my husbands tithing etc under my church account number as he does not use computers and has no church account only his membership number ?

That is up to you and your husband. Some people are really concerned that their tithing be associated with their membership record; others not so much.

My wife pays our tithing when she pays the bills. On paper, I haven't paid tithing since online donations went into beta. That works for us, but others may prefer a different way.