Electronic Reimbursement Duplicate

Two bishopric counselors submitted the same electronic reimbursement request for a member in the ward, one at the beginning of the month of October and the other near the end of the month (he didn't think it had been submitted). Both we were approved and repaid electronically and I realized the mistake when going through the summaries. What's the best way to approach and rectify this error? The member is the Bishop's wife so she is aware of the mistake but we aren't sure what would be the best way to address it. One thought that has been floated by the Stake Clerk is to just have her donate the money back to the ward, but we don't know if the Church has a specific way to approach this type of accounting error.

Yes, send it back to the ward. But it will have to be by paper slip. You can put it back into the budget it came out of. Just like returning the leftover of an advanced payment.

And include a note with the deposit batch and with one of the expenses that explains the situation and gives the reference numbers for the batch and the expense. That way the auditor can follow the paper trail and see that everything was corrected and matches up.

How would you handle state sales tax in this situation? We had this happen to us, but we are unable to transfer funds into that category.

janssenv wrote: Mon Oct 28, 2024 1:15 pm How would you handle state sales tax in this situation? We had this happen to us, but we are unable to transfer funds into that category.

See if you can go back to the expense which is being returned and try to edit the amounts assigned to each category and zero out the tax category. If that works, please post back here. We have one unit in our stake in NC which separates out state tax. I'd like to know in case they ever have this situation.

Yes, it worked! Thanks for the great idea.

Just had this happen in my branch, one reimbursement happened December 2024 and the duplicate was processed Jan 2nd of this year.

I’m new to being a clerk so I don’t know the systems all that well. Can somebody help walk me through the process of correcting this? Like in a very simplified step by step way?

The comment about “sending it back to the ward but by paper slip” didn’t make sense to me.

I was thinking she (primary president) could add the amount to her tithing and pay by check. This was we could put the amount back into the branch budget and document the extra reimbursement with the bank deposit records. At least that is what I think y’all were talking about with the “paper slip”.?

Help with this would be much appreciated…

Glenndio wrote: Wed Jan 08, 2025 7:03 am I was thinking she (primary president) could add the amount to her tithing and pay by check. This was we could put the amount back into the branch budget and document the extra reimbursement with the bank deposit records. At least that is what I think y’all were talking about with the “paper slip”.?

Donations to tithing do not end up in the ward budget. It's sent to church headquarters and your budget will not be reimbursed.

Glenndio wrote: Wed Jan 08, 2025 7:03 am I’m new to being a clerk so I don’t know the systems all that well. Can somebody help walk me through the process of correcting this? Like in a very simplified step by step way?

The comment about “sending it back to the ward but by paper slip” didn’t make sense to me.

There's no way to return the funds via online donations. So it has to be done "old school" via the process that was done before the internet: filling out a paper "tithing slip", stuff it in a gray envelope, and hand it to a bishopric member.

Depending on the age if your paper slips, she would put under "Budget" or use "Other - specify". She can pay via cash or check. When you process the "donation" you put it into Budget.

There is an additional consideration for depositing budget expense overpayments (or duplicate payments) into the ward budget. Budget overpayments, advance payment returns, and contributions to pass through expense payments can be deposited into only five of the budget categories. Those are Administration, Miscellaneous, FSY, Young Men, and Young Women. Included in with these five default categories are all of the subcategories created under those five default categories. Any returns of duplicate payments, overpayments, or advance payment returns for expenses categories such as Activities, Elders Quorum, Relief Society, Primary, et cetera will have to be deposited into either the Administration or Miscellaneous categories and then moved by transfer into the appropriate budget category.

Note that when making a deposit into a budget category, the LCR > Donations / Enter Donations tab will show a drop-down list box in the Budget category line with the available budget categories mentioned above.

Okay, that’s what I thought y’all were referring to, but I’m glad I asked for clarification.
We only have two members in our branch who pay tithing the old-school way, so I don’t process many checks like that.
I’ll have her cut the check this week, print out the duplicate payment information, document the reason for the donation, and then staple everything together with the unit copy of the deposit slip.

Thank you for the help! Much appreciated. Being a new clerk is a bit overwhelming at times.

We have a situation that the member submitted the reimbursement request once or several different reimbursement requests once. However, several reimbursement requests have been paid multiple times via ACH with different reference numbers. Has anyone experienced this and what was done to resolve the issue? Is it the format or structure in which the member is submitting the reimbursement request? Thanks.

The member can make a donation back to the ward budget using a paper slip. Cannot do it online at this time.

As for why it’s happening, is the member or whoever is submitting the payment request using Tools or LCR? Duplicates are being submitted. The approvers need to be more diligent and ask questions if they see multiple requests with the same amount.

I’d mention this in bishopric meetings to double check expenses for this member in the future, and look back at past payments.

russellhltn wrote: Sun Nov 12, 2023 12:57 pm Yes, send it back to the ward. But it will have to be by paper slip. You can put it back into the budget it came out of. Just like returning the leftover of an advanced payment.

I recall being instructed that on repayments of duplicate reimbursements, and returns of unspent advances, the donor should be recorded as the unit (not the person actually writing the check. That is the way we have always done it in our stake, but I cannot find that particular instruction in writing anywhere, Can anyone help?

guycolbyiv wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2026 2:44 am I recall being instructed that on repayments of duplicate reimbursements, and returns of unspent advances, the donor should be recorded as the unit (not the person actually writing the check. That is the way we have always done it in our stake, but I cannot find that particular instruction in writing anywhere, Can anyone help?

I've heard that kind of thing before but I've never seen any official instructions of that sort. It doesn't seem necessary for a return of an expense from budget because budget deposits do not show up on the annual tax statements.

However, if the duplicate reimbursement was for a fast offering expense then I would use a donor other than the member (could be the unit name or a specially created donor for that purpose) so that they don't get tax credit for a donation they did not actually make.

guycolbyiv wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2026 2:44 am I recall being instructed that on repayments of duplicate reimbursements, and returns of unspent advances, the donor should be recorded as the unit (not the person actually writing the check. That is the way we have always done it in our stake, but I cannot find that particular instruction in writing anywhere, Can anyone help?

Yes, I think that was the advice back in the days of FIS as there was concerns that it could appear on the tax statements. But it's not an issue with LCR's handling of finances.