Temple Recommend interview Tithing Question

During a temple recommend interview branch president says to the interviewee that MLS finance records doesn't show the interviewee is a faithful tithing payer. But the interviewee insists he/she pays tithing directly to Church HQ. Now the branch president is asking me, the District Clerk, where he could get info about the interviewee's tithing donations to the HQ. The interviewee refuses to produce any documents to support his/her claims, but the president is asking for a hard evidence (he always does that during such interviews). Is there a way to check if the interviewee is actually paying tithing directly to HQ, or should the president follow the interview protocol and trust that interviewee is saying nothing but the truth?

I know of no way for a unit to find out about donations made directly to CHQ. I believe that some members donate directly to CHQ specifically for privacy reasons and for that reason the donations do not show up for the unit to see. However, I don't have any specific experience with that to say for certain.

I've never heard of a bishop or branch president demanding proof of full tithing status and personally it seems inappropriate. But that's not my call to make--that would be something for the mission president to counsel with the branch president about.

Wow. The priesthood leader should never ask the member to produce financial records during a temple recommend interview or during a tithing settlement interview.

Handbook 1: 3.3.3, second paragraph, last sentence.

rchomskis wrote:Is there a way to check if the interviewee is actually paying tithing directly to HQ, or should the president follow the interview protocol and trust that interviewee is saying nothing but the truth?

As others have said, no, there is not a way to check. And even if the branch president got that information, how would he know if it was a full tithe or not?

The district president may need to do some training here, or even the mission president if he is the one who called the branch president. Some members pay tithing in kind directly to Church Hq. Others pay directly so that a local unit will not know how much they earn. There are a number of other reasons where a member would pay directly to the Church.

But none of them require that the Church or the member provide any details to a branch president. The president should have been able to determine from the rest of the interview and from the Spirit whether or not this member is telling the truth.

As the district clerk, I would inform the district president of the branch president's request and suggest that the district president answer the branch president's question.