Can Members Get Tax Statements from Church Headquarters?

A couple who moved into our ward tells us that their previous ward dissolved several months ago, but they have not gotten any tithing statements. According to the wiki article on tithing settlement, the onus is on the dissolving ward to distribute tithing statements.

What should members do if their ward dissolves and they receive no tithing statement? Can members get tax statements from church headquarters?

In the case of a dissolved Ward, the onus is on the surviving stake.

So you mean that the surviving stake should have access to print tithing statements for dissolved wards?

kendsnyder wrote:So you mean that the surviving stake should have access to print tithing statements for dissolved wards?

Yes, a stake should have access to MLS backups, if they followed the instructions for Discontinuing a ward or branch. Then they could restore that backup and print any donation statements that are needed.

kendsnyder wrote:A couple who moved into our ward tells us that their previous ward dissolved several months ago, but they have not gotten any tithing statements. According to the wiki article on tithing settlement, the onus is on the dissolving ward to distribute tithing statements.

What should have been provided by the dissolved ward was a Tithing and Other Offerings Statement (a summary of donations made year-to-date) and a Tax-valid Statement.

Tithing settlement is always the responsibility of the ward in which the member resides at the time tithing settlement is accomplished. While the current ward may not have a list of contributions made to any unit the member belonged earlier in the year, it is not necessary to have this for the member to declare their status. The Tithing and Other Offerings Statement is provided to the member for them to verify the accuracy of donations made and to help identify errors or omissions of contributions.

If the members of a discontinued ward did not get the Tithing and Other Offerings Statement or Tax-valid Statement from the discontinued ward they can contact the stake for the discontinued ward to get them. The stake should still have them if they followed the procedures for discontinuing a ward (see step twelve). If they do not have the printed copies then they can print them from the backup copy of the discontinued ward's MLS.

The Tax-valid Statement would normally be signed by the bishop. But if the procedures were not followed by the discontinued unit then the stake president can sign the Tax-valid Statement that is printed from the backup copy of the ward's MLS.

kendsnyder wrote:What should members do if their ward dissolves and they receive no tithing statement? Can members get tax statements from church headquarters?

While Church HQ has not confirmed this for this year, they should provide a tax-valid statement to any member who made contributions (linked to their membership record number) to more than one unit in the year. This procedure was announced during the CUBS transition last year but did not happen due to unresolved transition problems. It may or may not happen this year (actually in January 2012).

The procedure for units to provide tax-valid statements to any donor, whether a member of the unit or not, is still required. Therefore, it is now the responsibility of the discontinued ward's stake to ensure these statements are delivered.

Thanks for the helpful replies.

This is going to sound contrived... but the couple is telling us that the ward AND the stake were BOTH dissolved because it was a singles ward and the singles ward program in Utah had some big changes this year. They have not yet personally contacted the former Stake President and the former Bishop but have heard from friends that neither know how to get tithing statements.

The records and the backup MLS files are kept somewhere. You should be able to find out through the stake, the stake now responsible for the former stake young single adults, who has the records, and MLS backup files. If they don't know it may be necessary to contact LUS for help.

Interesting situation. But some unit somewhere is responsible. All I can suggest is calling local unit support.

Thanks. What is LUS?

kendsnyder wrote:Thanks. What is LUS?

Local Unit Support.

kendsnyder wrote:but the couple is telling us that the ward AND the stake were BOTH dissolved because it was a singles ward and the singles ward program in Utah had some big changes this year.

No singles stakes were dissolved as part of this switch (at least in the Salt Lake area). All Student Singles Stakes that existed were renamed, and all YSA wards were put into a Singles Stake. There were a number of new YSA stakes created, and about 40 YSA and student single wards dissolved. If the unit was dissolved, the stake that unit was in still has responsibility for the financial records of the discontinued unit. The tricky part is the name of the stake has changed. However, the unit number has not. That stake may now cover an entirely different geographic region, but they still have responsibility for the finances.

kendsnyder wrote:Thanks for the helpful replies.

This is going to sound contrived... but the couple is telling us that the ward AND the stake were BOTH dissolved because it was a singles ward and the singles ward program in Utah had some big changes this year. They have not yet personally contacted the former Stake President and the former Bishop but have heard from friends that neither know how to get tithing statements.

Most of the singles wards and stakes were not actually dissolved, but renamed. For example, the former BYU 16th Stake is now Provo Utah YSA 16th Stake and the former BYU 206th Ward is now the Provo YSA 226th Ward

I guess we got a little more creative in Salt Lake. As examples, the Salt Lake University 2nd Stake got renamed to the Holladay YSA Stake and covers and entirely different geographic location. The Salt Lake University 36th (Student Singles) Ward got renamed to the Templeview YSA Ward and covers roughly the same geographic region.