Who Gets Tax Statements For 2010?

First off, I understand I need to get Tax Statements to the donors who are present members of the ward.

Concerning donors who are not members of the ward at the end of the year (2010)...

It seems like I read in the instructions that came with CUBS that Tax Statements are now mailed by CHQ to members that have move during the year - meaning that as a Finance Clerk I no longer need to mail partial-year statements to members who moved from our ward during 2010. I'm I remembering/understanding correctly?

It is my understanding that, beyond the members of the ward, I only need to mail Tax Statements to 2010 donors who never lived in the ward during 2010, correct?

Also, is it true that we are not required to provide Tax Statements to anyone (in the ward or out) with a total donation amount less than $200?

ckmcdonald wrote:First off, I understand I need to get Tax Statements to the donors who are present members of the ward.

For the most part this is true. See the next question.

ckmcdonald wrote:Concerning donors who are not members of the ward at the end of the year (2010)...

It seems like I read in the instructions that came with CUBS that Tax Statements are now mailed by CHQ to members that have move during the year - meaning that as a Finance Clerk I no longer need to mail partial-year statements to members who moved from our ward during 2010. I'm I remembering/understanding correctly?

That is close to what was said in the Frequently Asked Questions of the CUBS MLS Message (see Donors). The complete statement is: "They will receive a statement from Church headquarters if they donated to more than one unit. This statement will be mailed directly to the member and include all donations made during the appropriate time. (This will include donations made at the member's current ward and all other donations he has made associated with his member number.)"

So this says that if they are a member of your ward and donated to another unit they lived in earlier in 2010, you don't have to send a statement. But I'd really make sure this was the case before I would assume that I don't have to send a statement.

ckmcdonald wrote:It is my understanding that, beyond the members of the ward, I only need to mail Tax Statements to 2010 donors who never lived in the ward during 2010, correct?

Donors who never lived in the ward (e.g., grandparents of a missionary providing part of a missionary's support) will not receive a Tax Statement from any other source, so yes, you need to send out those statements.

ckmcdonald wrote:Also, is it true that we are not required to provide Tax Statements to anyone (in the ward or out) with a total donation amount less than $200?

I don't know where you heard that. That has never been stated in anything I've seen. On the contrary, we are specifically told to give tax statements to all the donors. That sounds like it comes from someone making some interpretation of IRS rules (which we should not be doing).

I'd also add that nothing in the instruction would prohibit us from giving a statement if asked for one. This is just determining who we should initiate the sending.

aebrown wrote:Donors who never lived in the ward (e.g., grandparents of a missionary providing part of a missionary's support) will not receive a Tax Statement from any other source, so yes, you need to send out those statements.

At first, I wondered about this because they will have contributed to more than one unit. But after further pondering, I realize that their home unit will have their records, and the distant unit to which they are contributing (missionary, for example) will have them as an out of unit donor, without any membership information, and there will be no way to tie the records together.

So yes, we need to send statements to our out of unit (missionary) supporters.

ckmcdonald wrote:Also, is it true that we are not required to provide Tax Statements to anyone (in the ward or out) with a total donation amount less than $200?

The wording in the audit form is

For the year-end audit only: has the ward followed all instructions from Church headquareters concerning tithing settlement?
If any of the following apply, mark "No."
Tithing settlement was not held.
Tithing settlement statements were not given to the Church members.
A copy of the tithing declaration report was not given to the stake president.
Tax-valid donation statements were not given to the Church members after the end of the year.
The Tithing Declaration Report was not sent to church headquarters using the MLS software.

There is no mention of an exception, so I would also say no.

aebrown wrote:That is close to what was said in the Frequently Asked Questions of the CUBS MLS Message (see Donors). The complete statement is: "They will receive a statement from Church headquarters if they donated to more than one unit. This statement will be mailed directly to the member and include all donations made during the appropriate time. (This will include donations made at the member's current ward and all other donations he has made associated with his member number.)"

So this says that if they are a member of your ward and donated to another unit they lived in earlier in 2010, you don't have to send a statement. But I'd really make sure this was the case before I would assume that I don't have to send a statement.

I don't know where you heard that. That has never been stated in anything I've seen. On the contrary, we are specifically told to give tax statements to all the donors. That sounds like it comes from someone making some interpretation of IRS rules (which we should not be doing).

You mention the case where the member starts the year out in another ward and ends up in our ward. This case isn't of much interest to me because getting a Tax Statement to a current member of my ward is relatively easy - making it not worth fussing about if they get a duplicate statement. I'm more interested in the opposite case, where the member moves out of our ward. It can be troublesome to hunt these people down. I was in hopes that I didn't have to - thinking the CUBS FAQ stated that CHQ would get them their statement. HOWEVER, after reading the FAQ a little closer it makes it sound like CHQ will only send them a statement if they donate in their new ward also. How can I know if they donated in the new ward - it sounds like if they don't CHQ won't send them a statement? It would seem that I have to get them a Tax Statement regardless, making me wonder what the point is of CHQ sending them one.

As for the $200 threshold I mentioned - it could easy be entirely hearsay. However, I heard it from a tax attorney and it is supposedly, as you suggested, an IRS thing, not a Church policy. That aside, it seems that a little common sense and reasoning could be applied here. Our ward, like many others I suspect, has 20-30 children who donated less than a dollar. There are also many more youth than this who paid under $50. Is it really realistic to be getting Tax Statements to 60-80 youth who will not be filing? Just curious what other wards do. For the past 7 years I've applied a little common sense and only distributed statements to those who in any likelihood would be filing a return.

ckmcdonald wrote:You mention the case where the member starts the year out in another ward and ends up in our ward. This case isn't of much interest to me because getting a Tax Statement to a current member of my ward is relatively easy - making it not worth fussing about if they get a duplicate statement. I'm more interested in the opposite case, where the member moves out of our ward. It can be troublesome to hunt these people down. I was in hopes that I didn't have to - thinking the CUBS FAQ stated that CHQ would get them their statement. HOWEVER, after reading the FAQ a little closer it makes it sound like CHQ will only send them a statement if they donate in their new ward also. How can I know if they donated in the new ward - it sounds like if they don't CHQ won't send them a statement? It would seem that I have to get them a Tax Statement regardless, making me wonder what the point is of CHQ sending them one.

I agree that it is difficult to be certain, so it is safest to distribute the statements to all the donors. Although the CUBS message did come from an official source, it's not particularly clear to me that a somewhat ambiguous statement overrides the very clear written policy that has been in place for so many years. Perhaps after we get through this year's reporting we will have some evidence that we were overly cautious, but I don't have tremendous confidence that I understand exactly what I can rely on CHQ to do in terms of tax statement distribution.

ckmcdonald wrote:As for the $200 threshold I mentioned - it could easy be entirely hearsay. However, I heard it from a tax attorney and it is supposedly, as you suggested, an IRS thing, not a Church policy. That aside, it seems that a little common sense and reasoning could be applied here. Our ward, like many others I suspect, has 20-30 children who donated less than a dollar. There are also many more youth than this who paid under $50. Is it really realistic to be getting Tax Statements to 60-80 youth who will not be filing? Just curious what other wards do. For the past 7 years I've applied a little common sense and only distributed statements to those who in any likelihood would be filing a return.

You may call it common sense, but it sounds to me like you are making a lot of assumptions. Unless you know the entire financial circumstances of each person involved, you can't be certain of how they will be filing, or whether they will be filing. The policy is simple and clear: in the MLS Software Manual, we read "Each donor should also be given a year-end tax-valid statement after the year ends." I think you are treading on thin ice to assume you can do otherwise.

Besides, it's pretty easy to print the statements by household and deliver one envelope per household. You're not saving yourself much time.

aebrown wrote:Besides, it's pretty easy to print the statements by household and deliver one envelope per household. You're not saving yourself much time.

We do have a number of donating children with non-paying parents - which does add a little to the overheard of distribution. However, the biggest reason I don't like printing the 80-or-so statements for children is I don't want to spend the time printing them, waste the paper and then worst of all, burdening our insanely busy Bishop with signing them all.

I'm not sure I'd classify not printing statements for children as treading on thin ice but thanks a lot for the feedback - I'm just trying to decide if my method of not distributing them is acceptable. In the 7 years I haven't printed them, no one has ever ask me for one.

I'd be interested in hearing what other Fin Clerks do (have done). I'd be a little more nervous if I found out I'm the only Clerk not distributing Tax Statements for children!

Found the following in the "Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations"
(here http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1828.pdf pg 24)


Substantiation Rules:
A donor cannot claim a tax deduction for any single
contribution of $250 or more unless the donor obtains
a contemporaneous, written acknowledgment of the
contribution from the recipient church or religious organization.
A church or religious organization that
does not acknowledge a contribution incurs no penalty;
but without a written acknowledgment, the donor
cannot claim a tax deduction. Although it is a donor’s
responsibility to obtain a written acknowledgment, a
church or religious organization can assist the donor by
providing a timely, written statement containing
the following information:

■ name of the church or religious organization,
■ date of the contribution,
■ amount of any cash contribution, and
■ description (but not the value) of non-cash contributions.
In addition, the timely, written statement must contain
one of the following:
■ statement that no goods or services were provided
by the church or religious organization in return for the
contribution,
■ statement that goods or services that a church or religious
organization provided in return for the contribution
consisted entirely of intangible religious benefits, or
■ description and good faith estimate of the value of
goods or services other than intangible religious benefits
that the church or religious organization provided in
return for the contribution.

The church or religious organization may either provide
separate acknowledgments for each single contribution
of $250 or more or one acknowledgment to substantiate
several single contributions of $250 or more. Separate
contributions are not aggregated for purposes of measuring
the $250 threshold.

ckmcdonald wrote:I'd be interested in hearing what other Fin Clerks do (have done). I'd be a little more nervous if I found out I'm the only Clerk not distributing Tax Statements for children!

We print them all. We hand out as many as we can. We keep the rest in the filing cabinet in case we receive a request from someone who has moved from the ward. We get several of those a year.

We do not feel it our responsibility to track down a member who has moved from the ward. We do keep the statement on file in case they request it. (EDIT: This is not the correct thing to do. According to the online training, "If the donor has moved from the ward, the clerk should try to obtain the new address and mail the receipt.")

If we know someone has moved to a neighboring ward in the stake, we send the form to that clerk for distribution. This year, we also divided two wards into three. We have asked the two ward bishops to print out all of the forms and send them to the appropriate ward for distribution.

ckmcdonald wrote:Found the following in the "Tax Guide for Churches and Religious Organizations"
(here http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1828.pdf pg 24)

That is interesting, since it might explain a potential source for the rumor you mentioned earlier. However, it certainly provides no valid reason why a clerk could choose not to distribute tax statements to anyone.

aebrown wrote:That is interesting, since it might explain a potential source for the rumor you mentioned earlier. However, it certainly provides no valid reason why a clerk could choose not to distribute tax statements to anyone.

I agree - we should do what we are asked, but given a Tax Statement of less than $250 has no purpose, I find it interesting that Church asks us to provide them anyway.

lajackson wrote:We do not feel it our responsibility to track down a member who has moved from the ward. We do keep the statement on file in case they request it.

Is this consistent with official Church policy? I spend a considerable amount of time each January hunting down addresses of folks that have moved so I can mail them a Tax Statement. I'd love to be officially relieved of this task.

I printed 'em all. I handed out what I could, mailed the rest (after crossing out the words "RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED" on the envelope so the letter will have a chance of being forwarded to those who moved during the year but we had no new address for), then filed any that were returned as undeliverable.

ckmcdonald wrote:I agree - we should do what we are asked, but given a Tax Statement of less than $250 has no purpose, I find it interesting that Church asks us to provide them anyway.

Besides simply saying "it's the policy," you might consider other reasons for handing out these statements, beyond your assumptions as to what the current IRS code requires:

1. Those who itemize deductions need an accurate total of all their donations, even if they don't have to produce a signed receipt. This is required to accurately file a tax return, and to provide documentation to the IRS in the case of an audit, even if the particular $250 provision for a signed receipt does not apply.
2. The official Tax Statement is the only statement a unit provides (except upon request) that includes all donations to the unit for the year. Even if it is never used for tax purposes, it lets the donor know just what the Church records say they have donated.

It's this last point that seems to me to have universal applicability. In my family, I teach my children from an early age to account for their income and tithing throughout the year. This final annual statement closes the loop and allows any donor of any age to compare their own records with what the Church says they donated. That's a good benefit. Clearly not all donors will care about this, but you can't know which ones do.

ckmcdonald wrote:

lajackson wrote:We do not feel it our responsibility to track down a member who has moved from the ward. We do keep the statement on file in case they request it.

Is this consistent with official Church policy? I spend a considerable amount of time each January hunting down addresses of folks that have moved so I can mail them a Tax Statement. I'd love to be officially relieved of this task.

No, that is not an accurate statement of Church policy; clerks should mail receipts to donors who have moved, where reasonably possible. In the Tithing Settlement online lesson we read (slide 27):

The clerk should deliver the tax-valid statements to donors by January thirty-first. If the donor has moved from the ward, the clerk should try to obtain the new address and mail the receipt.

aebrown wrote:No, that is not an accurate statement of Church policy

I have edited the post and am headed off to remedial training.

ckmcdonald wrote:I'd be interested in hearing what other Fin Clerks do (have done). I'd be a little more nervous if I found out I'm the only Clerk not distributing Tax Statements for children!

I, for one, have done essentially the same as you. I figured if a young person needed the statement, they would ask.
In the future; however, I would probably reevaluate that decision if I'm called as a financial clerk again.

ckmcdonald wrote:It seems like I read in the instructions that came with CUBS that Tax Statements are now mailed by CHQ to members that have move during the year - meaning that as a Finance Clerk I no longer need to mail partial-year statements to members who moved from our ward during 2010. I'm I remembering/understanding correctly?

We now have the official word on this. The statement in the CUBS instructions about Tax Statements being mailed by CHQ in some situations is not correct. An MLS message was just sent to all units, letting them know:

As in prior years, for 2010 units should continue to distribute donation statements for donations received and recorded in MLS for all donors. A consolidated donor statement for donations received and recorded in multiple units will NOT be sent from Church Headquarters.

Mikerowaved wrote:I printed 'em all. I handed out what I could, mailed the rest (after crossing out the words "RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED" on the envelope so the letter will have a chance of being forwarded to those who moved during the year but we had no new address for), then filed any that were returned as undeliverable.

I don't think that method works in the post-CUBS world, at least using MLS 3.3.0. I followed the usual practice of printing the statements in two separate batches for separate physical processing -- those in the ward and those out of the ward. The first batch was handled out and mailed. The second batch was printed, but MLS refused to print mailing labels for it.

I just saw the MLS message aebrown referenced. One quick note to make it easier to send out statements --- If the member's record number is recorded in your MLS, then when you pull them up in the "Add/Edit Donors" section, the address that will show up is the address that the Church currently has on file. I discovered this by a happy accident a few weeks ago, and it made it simple to send the tax-valid statements to those members who had moved during the year.

cbweatherman wrote:I just saw the MLS message aebrown referenced. One quick note to make it easier to send out statements --- If the member's record number is recorded in your MLS, then when you pull them up in the "Add/Edit Donors" section, the address that will show up is the address that the Church currently has on file. I discovered this by a happy accident a few weeks ago, and it made it simple to send the tax-valid statements to those members who had moved during the year.

You're kidding? This sounds too good to be true. Even though I have all mine tracked down and mailed the good old fashioned way already, I can't wait to run down to the church and have a happy accident for myself.

You're saying that if the person of interest has moved but they donated prior in our ward that MLS will have their MRN and will acquire their present (new) address and show it to me in Add/Edit Donors?

This was very disappointing to me, based on the CUBS documents, I called Local Unit Support and clarified, the 2nd week of January. I was told that these members would have their statements mailed to them from CHQ. I instructed all my clerks and Bishops that this would happen. NOW, today, when requests have started coming in, I called and Local Unit Support has now indicated that the message received yesterday was sent. But because of some problem it's not now happening. Why else would that message be coming out now? The LUS person told me they had been messaging all month that the statements would be mailed from CHQ.

When I was a head clerk, it was my part of my procedure to print a copy and email a pdf of donations for families that moved out of my ward. I thought it extremely helpful, though, truth be told, most came back asking for them anyway, not remembering they already had it.

JohnShaw wrote:...Why else would that message be coming out now?

The tradition to send late information. The deadline to send the statements was
Jan 31st, so they send the message on Feb 1st ?

Isn't this like the MLS message that always arrives at the end of January that tells
clerks how to enter donations processed in the new year that were recieved in
the prior year so they will count towards the prior year's taxes. By that time all
prior-year donations are already processed.

To me, it seems that whoever is in charge of sending out these notices isn't
too good with deadlines. But perhaps it is to show the local clerks that deadlines
really aren't that important, afterall, and clerks should just relax.

A little patience here bretheren, I expect these Brothers and Sisters have been pulling their hair out for a year or so preparing and transitioning an organization of millions over to CUB's. I'm sure their fun is not over yet and likely won't be for another year or so.

cbweatherman wrote:I just saw the MLS message aebrown referenced. One quick note to make it easier to send out statements --- If the member's record number is recorded in your MLS, then when you pull them up in the "Add/Edit Donors" section, the address that will show up is the address that the Church currently has on file. I discovered this by a happy accident a few weeks ago, and it made it simple to send the tax-valid statements to those members who had moved during the year.

I played around with this a little today. It indeed does as cbweatherman says, and fairly reliably. I tested it on 12 regular donating active HofH's that moved from our ward in 2010. Of the 12, 2 it had no address for (form was blank). Of the remaining 10, 6 had the correct new address and the remaining 4 had a new address I could confirm the city but wasn't sure on the street (odds are they were correct).

Of the 2 with no address, 1 moved at the beginning of Dec and the other 3 weeks ago. It may be that the latter was blank because the move was fairly recent. It would seem the family that moved in Dec (very active) should have their new address registered at CHQ by now.

Is this a new feature of MLS, or am I just the last person to find out about it?

RossEvans wrote:I don't think that method works in the post-CUBS world, at least using MLS 3.3.0. I followed the usual practice of printing the statements in two separate batches for separate physical processing -- those in the ward and those out of the ward. The first batch was handled out and mailed. The second batch was printed, but MLS refused to print mailing labels for it.

I tried this again and succeeded in printing mailing labels. The trick is not to try to group the set by household when using File -> Print mailing labels. Print the labels for individual donors instead.

And many of the labels did show new, out-of-ward addresses. Following advice above, I first made a manual pass through the Add/Update Donors menu and opened up each donor I cared about (those with non-zero amounts for whom I had printed statements). But I'm not sure if this step is absolutely necessary because I didn't try without it.

RossEvans wrote:I tried this again and succeeded in printing mailing labels. The trick is not to try to group the set by household when using File -> Print mailing labels. Print the labels for individual donors instead.

And many of the labels did show new, out-of-ward addresses. Following advice above, I first made a manual pass through the Add/Update Donors menu and opened up each donor I cared about (those with non-zero amounts for whom I had printed statements). But I'm not sure if this step is absolutely necessary because I didn't try without it.

This is best news I've gotten all week. It's a little bit late for me, but this will save me hours in the future! Amazing that I never noticed this before. I just assumed that once they were gone, their records with their address were gone, too! I wish this were more obvious so everyone would know about this. Some training procedures should include this as a callout in the future. I'm going to go look at the wiki for tithing settlement and year end procedures and see if this is spelled out already. If it isn't, I'm going to add it. If it is, I'm going to emphasize it more, because I was looking for this kind of information and I missed it.