Laptop donation receipt and tax liability

A member donated a laptop to our relief society for typing the discussions to be viewed by deaf members in our ward. Now the donor wants a receipt for the donation, not for a tax deduction but as proof that he donated it from his company since the laptop was depreciated down to zero. What wording should we write and would the church owe taxes on the donation?

vanceanderson wrote:A member donated a laptop to our relief society for typing the discussions to be viewed by deaf members in our ward. Now the donor wants a receipt for the donation, not for a tax deduction but as proof that he donated it from his company since the laptop was depreciated down to zero. What wording should we write and would the church owe taxes on the donation?

I tried to find something related to this situation in the CHI. The closest was the section on taxes on page 162 of Book 1. To get the most reliable answer to the question have the bishop counsel with the stake president. If he needs further guidance then he should contact the administration office. Questions regarding taxes should be addressed to:

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

If the procedures are the same as for recieving donated computers in the family history center then the following apply. The donation must not be solicited. It can be accepted as a charitable contribution but not as a tithing in kind. If the donor needs a receipt it should be provided by the stake. The receipt for the donation should include the date of the donation, a description of what is donated, and who made the donation. No value for the donated equipment should be provided on the receipt. That is to be left to the donor and the taxing authority.

Thanks. That helps to know the Stake should do the receipt. I will get them involved. The member just offered this computer since he saw a need and does not want a tax break just something to show his employer that he gave it away. I do think it would be just like our computer given to the Family History Center so the Stake should know what they did for that situation. I just worried that the chruch was getting something of value and may owe tax but we are non-profit so maybe we don't pay tax anyway.

I think the main reason for the stake being responsible for the receipt in family history centres is that the centre is associated with the stake, not with any one ward (ie, they are not associated directly with or controlled by the ward they share a building with). In this case, the donation was made to the ward, and I would assume therefore that the Bishop could issue the receipt. However, if he had any doubts, I would still run it past the stake president, even if only to get a nice template they have used before to make it look professional. However, there is no handbook policy on this that I am aware of, as wards are not supposed to accept donations of computers for use in clerks offices anymore (at least no in any area I know of), and so this scenario is an exception to the usual state of affairs.