New Missionary Finance Tips

I'm a fairly new Financial Clerk. A young man from my ward will be leaving on a full-time mission soon. I want to get some guidelines to his family regarding payment information. The only thing that comes to mind is how much the payment is, and when it should be paid by each month. Could anyone point me to some guidelines (at least for the latter question, and maybe just others in general)?

nbllds wrote:I'm a fairly new Financial Clerk. A young man from my ward will be leaving on a full-time mission soon. I want to get some guidelines to his family regarding payment information. The only thing that comes to mind is how much the payment is, and when it should be paid by each month. Could anyone point me to some guidelines (at least for the latter question, and maybe just others in general)?

Some important points to remember are:

• As with all donations to the Church, donations to the missionary fund are not refundable. This is particularly important to understand if the family decides to make a large donation in advance to cover several months or even the whole mission. Even if the missionary does not end up serving the full time for any reason, the donations cannot be refunded.
• The missionary will be supported financially, regardless of the family's donations. If the family is unable to make the donations as they have planned, they should let the bishop know promptly so that the ward can make other arrangements to cover the payments charged to the ward.
• On the donation slip the donors should make it clear which missionary the donation is on behalf of. That way the financial clerk can credit the donation to the proper subcategory of the Ward Missionary category so that donations and expenses can be properly tracked throughout the missionary's time of service.

Alan_Brown wrote:[*]On the donation slip the donors should make it clear which missionary the donation is on behalf of. That way the financial clerk can credit the donation to the proper subcategory of the Ward Missionary category so that donations and expenses can be properly tracked throughout the missionary's time of service.

I think there's a hidden tip in that last one. And it's the biggest one of all. I don't think it's part of any training, but you can make life a lot easier on yourself if you create subcategories of the Ward Mission account for each missionary the ward sends. Otherwise it gets ugly when the account is going in the red and you have to figure out what's going wrong.

It also makes clear if you have any excess in the Ward Mission account as opposed to a "paid in advance" situation. This is because you'll find pressure to send any excess up to the stake. And if anyone has paid for the whole mission in advance, you will have an apparent overage. You'll need this information to make sure you don't hand over money you'll need later.

nbllds wrote:and when it should be paid by each month.

We ask members who are intending to stay ahead of the curve to contribute to the missionary fund, if possible, by the end of the previous month.

The Church will sweep the ward missionary fund each month for 24 months (for a young man) beginning in the month he reports to the MTC. I think the transfer still takes place on the first Friday of the month.

Most of our wards keep a little extra in the fund, because many families contribute each fast Sunday, which is not always before the transfer.

The key is to stay in touch with the family, and for the family to let the bishop or clerk know if there is going to be a change in their contribution pattern. We let the family know that we appreciate their contributions, and ask them to let the bishop or clerk know if they have any temporary challenges that will cause them to change their contribution schedule or amount.

Then we track everything in subcategories so we always know what is happening, no matter who contributes what or how much.

Our family currently has a missionary serving. Last November, the bishop quietly informed me that there had been some "extra" contributions to the missionary fund representing over a month's expenses. He said he was telling me so I would be aware in case I needed to delay a contribution or would like to use the money elsewhere.

It was a great blessing for us. (And for each of the other families with missionaries serving from our ward who were told the same thing.)

One thing to watch out for - because of the timing of missionary payments and when the family pays, you could easily get one payment out of sync. Something along the lines of the missionary is home, but the family has only made 23 payments - and wondering why you're asking for one more (but he's home already!)

RussellHltn wrote:One thing to watch out for - because of the timing of missionary payments and when the family pays, you could easily get one payment out of sync. Something along the lines of the missionary is home, but the family has only made 23 payments - and wondering why you're asking for one more (but he's home already!)

This happens most often when a missionary reports to the MTC late in the month and the family doesn't make the first contribution until the first part of the next month.

When we are able to help the family understand how the Church funding of missionaries really works, and they make their first payment at the beginning of the month the missionary reports (or better yet at the end of the previous month), we find that they usually have completed the 24th (for elders) payment before the missionary returns.

Alan_Brown wrote:Some important points to remember are:

• On the donation slip the donors should make it clear which missionary the donation is on behalf of. That way the financial clerk can credit the donation to the proper subcategory of the Ward Missionary category so that donations and expenses can be properly tracked throughout the missionary's time of service.

I don't recall seeing a specific missionary name on a donation slip while I was working as the finance clerk. I did see missionary donations from families that had a son on a mission. These donations probably went to the general Missionary account. Have I missed something here? Was I supposed to create a sub account under Ward Missionary? No family has come to me (now I'm the Ward Clerk) wanting an accounting of missionary donations for their son. Recently we had to take funds out of our Missionary account and write a check to the Stake. This amount was considered 'excess funds' in the account. We still have a positive amount in the Missionary category. I'm feeling a bit lost on this one...any help is always greatly appreciated. Thank you.

cdawardclerk wrote:I don't recall seeing a specific missionary name on a donation slip while I was working as the finance clerk. I did see missionary donations from families that had a son on a mission. These donations probably went to the general Missionary account. Have I missed something here? Was I supposed to create a sub account under Ward Missionary? No family has come to me (now I'm the Ward Clerk) wanting an accounting of missionary donations for their son. Recently we had to take funds out of our Missionary account and write a check to the Stake. This amount was considered 'excess funds' in the account. We still have a positive amount in the Missionary category. I'm feeling a bit lost on this one...any help is always greatly appreciated. Thank you.

There are several good reasons to keep track of missionary donations made on behalf of a missionary:

• The ward has to make sure that it has sufficient funds in its Ward Missionary account for each currently serving missionary on the date the missionary payments are debited each month.
• As a missionary leaves on a mission, most bishops will ascertain how the mission will be paid for. The missionary application itself asks the candidate to specify where the funds will come from (self, family, others). It's important that those committing to funding the mission follow through so that sufficient funds are available. The bishop needs to know if these commitments are being met, and the family sometimes wants to know if they are current on their commitment.
• Some families pre-pay the entire cost of the mission, or some significant amount of it, generally for tax reasons. When the stake or area examines the ward's missionary fund balance and compares it with the number of missionaries serving, such pre-pays may appear to be surplus funds that the ward should not be keeping in its account. The ward needs to track these pre-payments so that these funds are not erroneously sent to the stake.
• Breaking down donations and expenses by missionary makes it possible to analyze trends and help the bishop plan for upcoming shortfalls and request additional donations from ward members to make sure that there is no deficit in the Ward Missionary account.

So to help you keep track of the Ward Missionary account properly, you should create a subcategory of the Ward Missionary account for each missionary. All donations on behalf of the missionary should be credited to that subcategory as the donation is added to the donation batch, and all expenses for the missionary should be entered each month and charged to that same subcategory. That way you can run an Income and Expense report and see the net balance for each missionary. This will help the bishop know if there are surplus funds for a missionary that should not be remitted to the stake, and also if a missionary's family is behind on its payments and may need a reminder or some assistance.

cdawardclerk wrote:I did see missionary donations from families that had a son on a mission. These donations probably went to the general Missionary account. Have I missed something here?

When you say "General Missionary" are you talking about the top-level Ward Missionary account, or that "General Missionary" account that automatically gets swept to SLC and the ward never sees again?

If it's the latter, you may want to ask the family what their intentions were.

RussellHltn wrote:When you say "General Missionary" are you talking about the top-level Ward Missionary account, or that "General Missionary" account that automatically gets swept to SLC and the ward never sees again?

If it's the latter, you may want to ask the family what their intentions were.

I think the Ward Missionary account...it's been a while since I last did donations (I have an assistant Financial clerk that handles the weekly donations and any expenses). I'm not sure the families specify their missionary 'name' on the donation slip. I suppose I could view past donations from the families since we only have two ward missionaries out in the field and look at the donation slips. You make a good suggestion though...I need to do some research. Thanks.

Thanks for all the responses.

Two more questions:

lajackson wrote:When we are able to help the family understand how the Church funding of missionaries really works, and they make their first payment at the beginning of the month the missionary reports (or better yet at the end of the previous month), we find that they usually have completed the 24th (for elders) payment before the missionary returns.

1 - Does this mean that if the missionary is entering the MTC in mid-June that the church will take out $400 at the beginning of June? I.e. Should the family make sure the money has been donated by the end of May before the missionary has entered the MTC?

2 - If a missionary comes back a month early or extends, there would be one less (or one more) payment to make?

nbllds wrote:1 - Does this mean that if the missionary is entering the MTC in mid-June that the church will take out $400 at the beginning of June? I.e. Should the family make sure the money has been donated by the end of May before the missionary has entered the MTC?

Yes, that's correct. Payments need to be made quite a bit earlier than people might suppose. Even if the missionary enters the MTC on June 30, 2009, the first payment will be deducted at the beginning of June. For a 24-month mission, that means the 24th payment will be deducted at the beginning of May, 2011.

nbllds wrote:2 - If a missionary comes back a month early or extends, there would be one less (or one more) payment to make?

Theoretically, yes. But in such cases, I would check with the Missionary Department to be certain of just how they are calculating the payments, since it's unlikely that the length of time the missionary departs early or late will be an exact number of months.

cdawardclerk wrote:I'm not sure the families specify their missionary 'name' on the donation slip.

And they didn't do it when I was a ward clerk either. It comes from knowing the ward. The family should be putting it in the "Ward Mission" box. You just know that when the Jones are doing the donation, that it's to support Elder Jones. So you put in in the Elder Jones subcategory instead of the top-level.

Since this is just Ward-level accounting, I think you can go back and change it with no hassles. Just as long as it was put somewhere in Ward Missionary.

nbllds wrote:If a missionary comes back a month early or extends, there would be one less (or one more) payment to make?

As Alan said, theoretically. Mission transfers now take place every six weeks. One transfer either side of the normal end-of-mission date usually will not affect the payments. More than that will.

The Missionary Department will know for sure.

OK, so I am new at this and have been reading this post and have gotten a pretty good idea about this. We are having our first missionary in several years go out next month. I have created a sub-category for her under our Ward Missionary budget. I will inform the Bishop to have the family start paying by the end of this month so that we don't have any problems there.

Now, here's my question: We have funds under our Ward Missionary that have already been donated these past couple of months; the sub-category will also start to get populated with donations from the family. I have noticed in past years when we had missionaries that the funds for the missionary was taken out of the "Missionary" fund (not "Ward Missionary" or even the "General Missionary" funds, just "Missionary"); am I supposed to transfer $400 to the "Missionary" fund from the "Ward Missionary" fund so that this is what is automatically taken out at the beginning of the month? I know that the church doesn't automatically take the funds from the "Ward Missionary" fund because we have money there and it stays until the Stake asks us to send them a check with our excess funds. I know that the church automatically takes the "General Missionary" funds, but from what I can research in our previous encounters with past missionaries is that it is taken from the "Missionary" fund. So, before we start this new adventure, how exactly do I get it from the "Ward Missionary" sub-category to the "Missionary" fund (write a check, do a transfer, etc.)?

pbhanney wrote:Now, here's my question: We have funds under our Ward Missionary that have already been donated these past couple of months; the sub-category will also start to get populated with donations from the family. I have noticed in past years when we had missionaries that the funds for the missionary was taken out of the "Missionary" fund (not "Ward Missionary" or even the "General Missionary" funds, just "Missionary"); am I supposed to transfer $400 to the "Missionary" fund from the "Ward Missionary" fund so that this is what is automatically taken out at the beginning of the month?

The "Missionary" fund should not be used. Create the subcategory under Ward Missionary; make all donations to that subcategory, and all payments from that subcategory. Each month you will have to manually enter the expenses for the missionary. They will show up on your Church Unit Financial Statement, but nothing automatic happens in MLS. Just use the Enter Expenses screen, and check the "Not a check" checkbox so that you can enter the reference number from your financial statement.

The "Missionary" category is an odd category that really should be cleared out by transferring to the "Ward Missionary" category, if you can figure out how to do it. All unspecified ward missionary funds should be in the "Ward Missionary" category, and all designated funds should be in a particular subcategory of "Ward Missionary."

It's a bit tricky to clear out the "Missionary" category, but you can see how to do it in this post.

In case it wasn't clear,

On the Church Unit Financial Statement (CUFS), the Missionary category corresponds to the Ward Missionary category in MLS. And as Alan stated, nothing happens automatically here, you will have to manually enter transactions in the CUFS Missionary column into MLS.

Origianally, MLS just had a Missionary category. This was later changed to General Missionary and Ward Missionary to distinguish between what funds got left in the ward and what funds got swept. As Alan stated, if you are still using the MLS Missionary Category, you should probably attempt to discuntinue using it and transfer the funds to the Ward Missionary category to avoid future confusion on the matter.

Alan_Brown wrote:... Payments need to be made quite a bit earlier than people might suppose. Even if the missionary enters the MTC on June 30, 2009, the first payment will be deducted at the beginning of June. For a 24-month mission, that means the 24th payment will be deducted at the beginning of May, 2011.

I'm pretty sure that you actually end up making 25 payments. If you read the packet that comes with the call, it says something like you have to pay for the first month they are in the MTC, even if it's the 30th, then continue paying including the last month of their mission. That would be 25 months. (for example June 2009 through and including June 2011.)

Also, it's important to note that missions are not 2-years long, due to the 6 week transfers. They are actually a little longer than two years, and this often causes problems for missionaries going to other countries (especially to the US from Canada), as they apply for a 24 month visa, then have to go home a couple weeks before the official end of their mission. (Before the rest of their group). They could have just as easily applied for a 30 month visa!

bcpalmer60 wrote:I'm pretty sure that you actually end up making 25 payments. If you read the packet that comes with the call, it says something like you have to pay for the first month they are in the MTC, even if it's the 30th, then continue paying including the last month of their mission. That would be 25 months. (for example June 2009 through and including June 2011.)

It's unfortunate that the packet would provide misleading information on this topic, but the fact is that (barring unusual circumstances), an elder's ward will be charged for exactly 24 payments. Our stake averages about 50 elders serving at any given moment, so I've seen a lot of missionary payments, and except for those who extend or come home early, it's always 24 payments.

In our stake, wards communicate the payment schedule clearly to the missionaries, which should help resolve any ambiguity in the general instructions.

bcpalmer60 wrote:Also, it's important to note that missions are not 2-years long, due to the 6 week transfers. They are actually a little longer than two years, and this often causes problems for missionaries going to other countries (especially to the US from Canada), as they apply for a 24 month visa, then have to go home a couple weeks before the official end of their mission. (Before the rest of their group). They could have just as easily applied for a 30 month visa!

Missions are a bit shorter than 24 months at least as often as they are longer than 24 months, in my experience. After all, most missionaries are in the MTC for 3 or 9 weeks (sometimes 8, sometimes 12), and 3 weeks plus 8 full transfers (8x6=48 weeks) makes 51 weeks, which is just under 2 years.

But if the mission length varies from 2 years by only a week or so, the cost will still just be 24 payments.

As for the visa issues, the polices on visas and residency permits vary widely from country to country, so the chance that those permits would have the same length as an actual mission is slim indeed. But in the particular case you mentioned, it does seem like it would be prudent to get a 30-month visa.

I have been trying to figure out how to see the balances for the ward missionary subcategories, but have not found any way to do so. I see "Income and Expense report" referenced by Alan. Is that the only way to see the individual missionary balances? Where is that report seen?

pburt wrote:I have been trying to figure out how to see the balances for the ward missionary subcategories, but have not found any way to do so. I see "Income and Expense report" referenced by Alan. Is that the only way to see the individual missionary balances? Where is that report seen?

The easiest way to see all the balances for your ward missionary subcategories is to:

1. Run the Income and Expense Report (on the Finances tab under Reports/Reconcile).
2. Choose "Summary by Sub-Category" from the Report dropdown in the upper right corner.
3. Generally the date range of Current Year will be fine.
4. Check the Ward Missionary parent category and that will automatically check all the Ward Missionary subcategories.
5. Print the report.

The balance for a subcategory doesn't actually exist anywhere in MLS, but rather it is a total of all the transactions in that subcategory. So running a report is the only way to see the balance.

Alan_Brown wrote:The "Missionary" fund should not be used. Create the subcategory under Ward Missionary; make all donations to that subcategory, and all payments from that subcategory. Each month you will have to manually enter the expenses for the missionary. They will show up on your Church Unit Financial Statement, but nothing automatic happens in MLS. Just use the Enter Expenses screen, and check the "Not a check" checkbox so that you can enter the reference number from your financial statement.

The "Missionary" category is an odd category that really should be cleared out by transferring to the "Ward Missionary" category, if you can figure out how to do it. All unspecified ward missionary funds should be in the "Ward Missionary" category, and all designated funds should be in a particular subcategory of "Ward Missionary."

It's a bit tricky to clear out the "Missionary" category, but you can see how to do it in this post.

I know this is an old Thread, but the topic is new to me. I followed all of the conversation just fine, except where I got to the part of the above quote that I underlined. Two questions.

1) In the enter expense screen you enter the reference #, but there is still the box for the payee. What do you put in that box? Where exactly are we transfering the money from the ward missionary subcategory to?
The Ward Missionary main category------- because that is the account the church sweeps each month? Just hazy here.

2) Apparently you have to wait until you get the financial statement at the beginning of the next month to make the missionary money transfer.
So the printout for the subcategory is always a month behind because you can't transfer till you get the reference # from the financial statement? Need help here too! Hope you can remove some cobwebs.

blairjames wrote:I know this is an old Thread, but the topic is new to me. I followed all of the conversation just fine, except where I got to the part of the above quote that I underlined. Two questions.

1) In the enter expense screen you enter the reference #, but there is still the box for the payee. What do you put in that box? Where exactly are we transfering the money from the ward missionary subcategory to?
The Ward Missionary main category------- because that is the account the church sweeps each month? Just hazy here.

I always put "Corporation of the President." Remember, this isn't actually a transfer, because the money has already been taken out of the ward's account. This is an expense; the expense entry you put in just reflects that money already left the account. It's a bookkeeping function, so that's why you select "Not a check" and input the reference number.

The post you quoted referred to an older separate category that was being used instead of using a subcategory under "Ward Missionary." If you don't see a "Missionary" category, don't worry.

To answer your other question:

blairjames wrote:2) Apparently you have to wait until you get the financial statement at the beginning of the next month to make the missionary money transfer.
So the printout for the subcategory is always a month behind because you can't transfer till you get the reference # from the financial statement? Need help here too! Hope you can remove some cobwebs.

In essence, yes. It's not that big of a deal, though, because money is always (hopefully) flowing in to the account as well.

Since I know that the money is usually taken on-or-about the first Thursday of the month, I'll enter a not-a-check expense at about the same time. I may give it a made-up reference number like "2010-04." This allows me to track the expense "as it happens" instead of waiting for the financial statement. Then I just confirm the expense during the monthly reconciliation.

Since there's always some kind of Ward Missionary expense each month, there's no confusion over what the reference numbers mean when they are "2010-01," "2010-02," "2010-03," etc. Also, I usually enter one Ward Missionary expense per month and list all of the full-time missionaries within that one entry.

When I create a Ward Missionary sub-category with the missionary's name, I like to call it something like "Smith, John-Last pymnt 2012-03." I like to know that I'm keeping track of when the 24th payment will be made. This can help when the family loses track of exactly when they can stop donating (especially when other relatives are making contributions) and they can't even remember when the first payment happened. If I see, for example, that the missionary has three months to go and there's currently a balance of $800, I can inform the family that they only need to worry about one more month.

Thank you for the informative tips.

As I have looked back to see what others have done in the past, I see that they have created a transfer somehow from the ward missionary sub category instead of the expense method that has been earlier discussed. How would that work and would that accomplish the same thing properly?

blairjames wrote:Thank you for the informative tips.

As I have looked back to see what others have done in the past, I see that they have created a transfer somehow from the ward missionary sub category instead of the expense method that has been earlier discussed. How would that work and would that accomplish the same thing properly?

The reconciliation process is the most likely technique that led to the creation of transfers (as opposed to expenses) for the debits to the ward missionary subcategories. During reconciliation, you can create Other Items (not Temporary Items). Once you save those Other Items, they become Transfers (which you can see on the View Transfers screen).

The one tricky thing is that you do have to make sure you enter a negative amount -- if you enter a positive amount you'll create a mess, since you'll have to undo those transactions and then make the correct negative transactions.

One ward financial clerk in our stake does it this way very successfully. He likes the fact that this technique lets you see the transactions for all the missionaries in the ward on one screen. That way it's less likely you'll lose your place as you are entering transactions for multiple missionaries, as might happen when you enter Expenses one by one.

I personally prefer Expenses because you can't accidentally enter the wrong sign, and then on Income and Expense Reports it makes better sense for the expenses to show up in the Expense column. But either way works; it's just a matter of personal preference.

Alan_Brown wrote:But either way works; it's just a matter of personal preference.

For years I enter them during reconciliation as an Other Item, then one day I noticed in the training videos they only entered them as Expenses, never as Other Items, so I changed my methods.

Like Alan mentioned, either way works, as long as you are mindful of the sign, but I figured I couldn't go wrong by doing it the way the training stated.

Mikerowaved wrote:For years I enter them during reconciliation as an Other Item, then one day I noticed in the training videos they only entered them as Expenses, never as Other Items, so I changed my methods.

Like Alan mentioned, either way works, as long as you are mindful of the sign, but I figured I couldn't go wrong by doing it the way the training stated.

I have never entered them as expenses. I guess I missed that part of the training and the Stake auditor never mentioned it. Thankfully, CUBS will take care of this for us.

I have searched but have not found an area to ask about our particular predicament. We are military and just moved overseas to Japan. We have a daughter who is stateside due to the short time between college and her mission. She enters the MTC 11June. We just got our records transferred to our new military branch however her records need to stay in the ward she is attending until she gets set apart. How do we set up the payment arrangement so our previous ward and stake in Virginia do not have to take on that expense? Can these payments be made online? If so what is the URL to the site where we can do so?

ashbycl wrote:I have searched but have not found an area to ask about our particular predicament. We are military and just moved overseas to Japan. We have a daughter who is stateside due to the short time between college and her mission. She enters the MTC 11June. We just got our records transferred to our new military branch however her records need to stay in the ward she is attending until she gets set apart. How do we set up the payment arrangement so our previous ward and stake in Virginia do not have to take on that expense? Can these payments be made online? If so what is the URL to the site where we can do so?

You can send payments to the Virginia ward in a tithing envelope.

ashbycl wrote:I have searched but have not found an area to ask about our particular predicament. We are military and just moved overseas to Japan. We have a daughter who is stateside due to the short time between college and her mission. She enters the MTC 11June. We just got our records transferred to our new military branch however her records need to stay in the ward she is attending until she gets set apart. How do we set up the payment arrangement so our previous ward and stake in Virginia do not have to take on that expense? Can these payments be made online? If so what is the URL to the site where we can do so?

The ward financially responsible doesn't have to be the ward the membership records are in. I'd recommend having your new bishop contact the missionary department to have the responsibility transferred to your ward where it's easier to deal with.

I talked to the clerk Sunday and he said I have to contact them. Is her an email where I can send our info to?

ashbycl wrote:I talked to the clerk Sunday and he said I have to contact them.

Unless it's a special situation because you're in Japan, he's wrong.

First, as stated, there is no requirement that the ward who sent the missionary out has to be the one to handle the finances.

Second, transferring the ward responsible happens all the time. However, either the ward accepting responsibility has to contact CHQ, or CHQ would have to check with that ward. Otherwise the transfer doesn't happen. That ward can't transfer it to your ward without your new ward's acceptance. But generally the new ward can request it away from the old one without too much trouble. Which is a long way of saying that making you contact the old ward seems like the roundabout way of doing this.

But maybe since you're now in a different area office, that might be different. Worse comes to worst, you could probably set up bill pay to send a check to the Bishop. He'd have to know what to do with it, and the clerks would have to fill out the deposit slip and know which missionary it's for. So it's some work for them, but if they're willing, it's possible.

Or, in the very worst case, snail-mail the check to the bishop of the old ward. Tithing slips and envelopes would be nice, but not absolutely necessary.

I would suggest that you sit down with your new bishop or clerk (in Japan) and ask how others are doing it. It may simply be a matter of him requesting responsibility and then you paying into your new ward missionary fund.

But because your new ward is no longer in the US and Canada, missionary contributions may need to be handled in a different manner. Your new bishop should know the process and be able to help you.

Mailing a check to the former ward that takes 10 days to two weeks to arrive is not a good way to go. If the decision is to let the former ward continue to handle the funding, you might set up a bill pay to send a check to that ward's bishop (which usually takes a week anyway).

But neither of those ways is very good, and I imagine your new ward will have handled this situation before or will be able to find out how best to handle it now.

And congratulations on your new missionary, by the way. What a blessing.

Can I access my missionaries account at home, or do I have to go to the ward clerk every time to see how his account is doing? (We have an anonymous ward member who wants to contribute to his mission, and we have family that wants to also contribute)

dianebehrens wrote:Can I access my missionaries account at home, or do I have to go to the ward clerk every time to see how his account is doing? (We have an anonymous ward member who wants to contribute to his mission, and we have family that wants to also contribute)

No, you can't view a missionary's account online. I wouldn't expect to see that ability anytime soon, if ever.

dianebehrens wrote:do I have to go to the ward clerk every time to see how his account is doing?

Yes.

I am ward clerk--was approached by a member who's son entered the MTC Mexico yesterday. (14 October 2015) -- Members father / missionary's grandfather wishes to cover the expenses for his mission. The funding party owns a number of business -- well to do--and was informed by his CPA that donations directed specifically as subcategories i.e. in the "name of the individual missionary" as opposed to the higher lever "general missionary fund" would not receive similar tax consideration--in other words--IF the donation is made under a general category -- it enjoys full protection--one level down i.e. name specific missionary -- same tax protection is not insured. The grandfather would rather not invite an audit if he declares the donation under the name specific--vs. the more general missionary fund category. Our collective judgment -- based upon discussions--is contrary i.e. it would not matter if general or particular by category. Can you advise? Thank you!!

I don't think anybody here will provide authoritative tax advice, especially when they don't know the full details of the situation. However, on the tax valid statement provided to the member at the end of the year there will be no mention of specific missionaries. It will only list Ward Missionary Fund as the category.

But if the grandfather lists only Ward Missionary Fund on his donation slip, then he has not specified any specific missionary which should satisfy his CPA. If you (or your financial clerk) actually places it in the sub-category for his grandson, that then is a decision of a church representative (the clerk on behalf of the bishop) which is perfectly fine because at that point it is church money and the appropriate church representative (the bishop) can decide how he wishes to use the money (within church policy of course).

If the grandfather wishes to use the online system, he can still specify the Ward Missionary Fund without a specific missionary. But you'll need to go in and make a category adjustment to the donation after the fact or make transfers from the top level Ward Missionary Fund to the individual sub-category.

Having said all that, my personal understanding is that it shouldn't matter whether the specific missionary is listed because once the donation is made the church can use the money as it wishes and the amount paid is not really related to the amount it takes to support he missionary (it is almost surely more or less than then standard monthly payment). But I'm not a CPA or a tax lawyer so I wouldn't recommend anyone rely on my advise.

Well, I'm not a CPA but I see it this way: When the donor receives a receipt from the church for tax purposes, there is no breakdown of where the charitable donation goes. The donor has a record of the categories for his own record but, even then, there's a specific notice that once the church receives the donation, the church can use it however it wants. So there's really no guarantee that your Fast Offering won't be diverted to something normally covered by Tithing, for example. The breakdown is simply never reported to the IRS. Does the CPA realize this? I think the church has covered itself pretty well and carefully separates charitable funds from non-charitable funds.

If you were making a donation and you could earmark how it were to be spent then there would be a question of whether it's really a proper, charitable donation. This is why donations to girls camp aren't charitable, for example. But the money which church headquarters charges to the ward each month for each missionary is NOT the real amount of money it takes to support those missionaries each month. It's simply the money that the church demands, again from the ward. Officially, the responsibility is on the ward and NOT the families that donate to the ward missionary fund. So, again, this is not really an earmarked donation.

Again, I'm not a CPA but, in this case, I think the CPA is giving bad and/or not-fully-informed advice.

lnelson wrote:IF the donation is made under a general category -- it enjoys full protection--one level down i.e. name specific missionary -- same tax protection is not insured.

I am not a tax professional; the donor in question should certainly make his best decisions based on competent advice.

However, the Church was very careful and consulted with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in the way it set up the equalized contributions system. What the donor's CPA says is certainly true if the donations were going to directly support the actual missionary, but that's not what is happening here.

• The donations are nonrefundable;
• The missionary will get supported regardless of whether there are any donations credited to the subcategory
• The amount of support the missionary receives is dependent on the costs where he serves, not on the amount of any donations made to his subcategory.

All those factors create enough separation that there should be no problem with these donations being tax-deductible (repeating again my disclaimer that donors should rely on competent professionals).

lnelson wrote:was approached by a member who's son entered the MTC Mexico yesterday.

I don't know if he's on the equalized system or not.

lnelson wrote:was informed by his CPA that donations directed specifically as subcategories i.e. in the "name of the individual missionary" as opposed to the higher lever "general missionary fund" would not receive similar tax consideration .... Our collective judgment -- based upon discussions--is contrary i.e. it would not matter if general or particular by category. Can you advise? Thank you!!

We're not in a position to give legal advice. I believe the church does put all donations made to a subcategory on their year-end tax statement. I don't want to dis this guy's CPA, but I'm pretty sure the church has consulted some good tax lawyers before adding those donations on the form.

Again, I can't give legal advice, but I can point out a few facts that might be germane to the situation:

• For all missionaries on the equalized system, the payment is the same - regardless of actual cost. Everything is pooled at a higher level.
• If the donations fall behind, the missionary isn't sent home.
• Donations made can't be refunded - even if the missionary is sent home early.
• It's actually the funding ward that's on the hook, even if generally it's the family that pays that. Nothing happens to the family if they fall behind.
• The subcategory with the missionary's name is to help the ward track the situation as they may have multiple missionaries out with different lengths of missions and different end-of-mission dates.

This might be thinner ice than the CPA is comfortable with, but I think the church would suggest that the ice is sound, none the less.

If it would make the CPA feel better, if he sends in his donation via check, the payee will be the name of the ward and the donation slip will only have "Ward Missionary" as the category. It will be the ward that assigns the sub-category. There is no labeled box for the name of the missionary. (The on-line donation system will force him to select a name, so that may make his CPA less comfortable.)

russellhltn wrote:(The on-line donation system will force him to select a name, so that may make his CPA less comfortable.)

Although you can select a missionary in the online system, you can also select 'Ward Missionary Fund' instead of a specific missionary.

eblood66 wrote:

russellhltn wrote:(The on-line donation system will force him to select a name, so that may make his CPA less comfortable.)

Although you can select a missionary in the online system, you can also select 'Ward Missionary Fund' instead of a specific missionary.

Ah, so you can. You can even donate to the "Ward Missionary Fund" for another ward.

Either way, the receipt you use when filing taxes has no breakdown at all. It just lists the totals of charitable donations. No categories. No sub-categories.

gregwanderson wrote:Either way, the receipt you use when filing taxes has no breakdown at all. It just lists the totals of charitable donations. No categories. No sub-categories.

Actually, it does have a breakdown. I just generated mine online for last year's contributions and it shows the breakdown for Tithing vs. Fast Offerings. I didn't have an Ward Missionary contributions so I can't say for certain but I expect it shows the total for Ward Missionary as well. But I'm sure it doesn't show specific missionary sub-categories.

eblood66 wrote:Actually, it does have a breakdown. I just generated mine online for last year's contributions and it shows the breakdown for Tithing vs. Fast Offerings.

Year-to-date does have a break down, but I think you'll find the tax statement does not. IIRC, it just lists dates and amounts.

Edit: I take that back. The on-line system does break down tithing and fast offering totals. We'll have to see what happens with ward missionary.

russellhltn wrote:Year-to-date does have a break down, but I think you'll find the tax statement does not. IIRC, it just lists dates and amounts.

Incorrect.

eblood66 wrote:I didn't have an Ward Missionary contributions so I can't say for certain but I expect it shows the total for Ward Missionary as well. But I'm sure it doesn't show specific missionary sub-categories.

Correct. I did have Ward Missionary donations for a specific missionary, and although the Official Tax Statement generated on the Online Donations site does show how much I donated to each top-level category, it does not list any subcategories -- there's just a total for Ward Missionary Fund for the year.

russellhltn wrote:I take that back. The on-line system does break down tithing and fast offering totals. We'll have to see what happens with ward missionary.

Well, that's new. It almost seems like a bug, really, but the statement is designed so specifically to include it now (so it must be a new "feature". Sometimes, out here in the user world, "bugs" and "new features" are hard to distinguish from each other. ) But it makes me wonder what a good, old-fashioned tax receipt printed by the ward's computer from MLS looks like today.

EDIT: It's also interesting to me that the online system can print my tax receipts for 8 previous years, which is more than the ward's MLS software will retain. And I can't print a tax receipt for the current year.

gregwanderson wrote:

russellhltn wrote:I take that back. The on-line system does break down tithing and fast offering totals. We'll have to see what happens with ward missionary.

Well, that's new.

Agreed. That's not what I remember from the MLS-generated tax statements.

eblood66 wrote:

dianebehrens wrote:Can I access my missionaries account at home, or do I have to go to the ward clerk every time to see how his account is doing? (We have an anonymous ward member who wants to contribute to his mission, and we have family that wants to also contribute)

No, you can't view a missionary's account online. I wouldn't expect to see that ability anytime soon, if ever.

I was just approached by a father of a missionary in our ward today that indicated that he is able to view his one son's missionary account online, but his attempts to view his other son's account returns an error about contacting the administrator. I didn't think this function existed, but now am wondering.

Has anyone heard of such a thing? Maybe it's brand new?

Aerick wrote:I was just approached by a father of a missionary in our ward today that indicated that he is able to view his one son's missionary account online, but his attempts to view his other son's account returns an error about contacting the administrator. I didn't think this function existed, but now am wondering.

You might want to ask him to show you this on the ward computer. Then you'd know exactly what he's seeing and how he's getting it.

My guess is that he's actually seeing what he's donated to the first son's account. Because I don't think anything else finance-wise is on the web. For him to see the actual balance is to suggest that finances are on the web.

eblood66 wrote:

gregwanderson wrote:Either way, the receipt you use when filing taxes has no breakdown at all. It just lists the totals of charitable donations. No categories. No sub-categories.

Actually, it does have a breakdown. I just generated mine online for last year's contributions and it shows the breakdown for Tithing vs. Fast Offerings. I didn't have an Ward Missionary contributions so I can't say for certain but I expect it shows the total for Ward Missionary as well. But I'm sure it doesn't show specific missionary sub-categories.

Just an update:
Now, Looking at my 2015 "Annual Charitable Cash contributions" tax document given to me by my finance clerk, It DOES NOT have any breakdown in any categories, and I did contribute to a missionary. It just lists the date and amount total donated. Thus, the IRS would not see any donations to any missionary, specifically by name or to the "ward mission" or "general mission" fund. The actual wording of the form is the same, but it looks MUCH DIFFERENT than the 2014 Contributions statement I can print out online. However, this is the document my clerk printed, and I can't print a current 2015 online (not given that option,) so I can't check the difference. Is this a difference in the MLS print-out vs online? I can't say....

If a missionary has an overage on their account, can I transfer these funds into another missionary's account? Can the family leave the funds in the account and use for a future sibling? or do I need to transfer these funds to ward missionary account?

scottandrewhardy wrote:If a missionary has an overage on their account, can I transfer these funds into another missionary's account? Can the family leave the funds in the account and use for a future sibling? or do I need to transfer these funds to ward missionary account?

Work with your bishop to determine how the ward missionary funds should be used. If the missionary with the overage has returned, you should transfer those funds to the general ward missionary account so that the returned missionary sub-account will close.

After that, the bishop may decide to hold the funds for another sibling (if it will not be too long in the future). Or there may be a current need to assist another missionary who is currently serving. The bishop might also just make a note of the extra amount, and when another missionary leaves from that family, transfer that amount from the ward missionary fund, even if the ward did not actually hold the funds in the interim.

It is all part of the ward missionary fund, and the bishop administers it according to guidelines. But whatever is decided, you should zero out a returned missionary so that there will no longer be a balance there.

Note that any excess may need to be sent to the stake. See Handbook 1: 14.4.3. If we're talking about a large amount, the stake may start asking questions.

I have a missionary that had returned and still have one in the mission. From the start of their service I was told by our ward clerk that I have to write the name of my missionary whom I want to send my financial support opposite to the missionary fund on the donation slip to make sure that it goes to the recepient that I wanted to pay and not to the general missionary fund. Doing that gives me peace of mind as I can check from my emailed officials receipts by our ward clerk all my contributions made to each of my missionary children.
When they are done and I still want to make missionary contribution I'll just write it down on the missionary fund with no specific name. In that way it serves to anyone in need in the world.
This is what I did here in Australia but I am not sure if it applies globally.
You can ask your ward clerk for more clarification.
Gene

generosanuarinprado wrote:From the start of their service I was told by our ward clerk that I have to write the name of my missionary whom I want to send my financial support opposite to the missionary fund on the donation slip to make sure that it goes to the recepient that I wanted to pay and not to the general missionary fund.

I'm not sure how it's done in Australia, but in the US, there is a "General Missionary" fund and a "Ward Missionary" fund - two different lines on the donation slip. Yes, it would be wise to write the name of the missionary to make sure the clerk puts it into the right sub-account. Especially if you've got a new clerk who may not be familiar with the family situation and what missionary you are supporting.

If a donation is made to the Ward Misionary fund but not credited to any speicific missionary, it will be used in the ward. Any excess would flow to the stake for use by other wards. Any excess from the stake would then go to the General Missonary fund.

russellhltn wrote:

generosanuarinprado wrote:From the start of their service I was told by our ward clerk that I have to write the name of my missionary whom I want to send my financial support opposite to the missionary fund on the donation slip to make sure that it goes to the recepient that I wanted to pay and not to the general missionary fund.

I'm not sure how it's done in Australia, but in the US, there is a "General Missionary" fund and a "Ward Missionary" fund - two different lines on the donation slip. Yes, it would be wise to write the name of the missionary to make sure the clerk puts it into the right sub-account. Especially if you've got a new clerk who may not be familiar with the family situation and what missionary you are supporting.

If a donation is made to the Ward Misionary fund but not credited to any speicific missionary, it will be used in the ward. Any excess would flow to the stake for use by other wards. Any excess from the stake would then go to the General Missonary fund.

And any donations to the "General Missionary" fund are swept out for use by the church in worldwide missionary efforts. The ward/branch does not have access to the General Missionary fund. I have seen some members misunderstand the two funds and their application.