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Stewardship—Love Offerings (Gifts), Reason for the Season, and Prayer for Gabbie
December 02, 2009
Greetings:

Hope you had a very blessed Thanksgiving and also have a very Merry Christmas.

With all the holiday preparations, please do not forget the “Reason for the Season”!

This month's special issue contents-at-a-glance...
Love Offerings (Gifts)
Reason for the Season
Prayer for Gabbie
Church Accounting Package

Welcome...to Stewardship!

Love Offerings (Gifts)

Nothing evokes more passionate responses from my readers as a discussion of love offerings (gifts).

I believe this is because the IRS does not spell out exactly how churches and nonprofits are supposed to handle love offerings on the their website.

However, we do have the following court cases that lay a foundation of guidelines for determining when a love offering is considered nontaxable to the recipient and nondeductible to the donor:

Duberstein and Bogardus, both Supreme Court decisions; Banks v. Comm, 62 T.C.M. 1611; and an 8th Circuit case, Goodwin v. U.S. 67 F.3d 149.

From the preceding cases we find the following guidelines for nontaxable love offerings (gifts:

  • It cannot be for a service performed.
  • Must be spontaneous in nature.
  • Cannot be solicited.
  • Cannot be a tax deduction for the donor.

First of all let me clarify an important point...you can give love offerings (gifts) to whomever and whenever you please. The debate is in whether that gift is taxable to the recipient and tax deductible to the donor.

Why should this matter to your church? Well...one of the number one issues that hurt churches in an IRS audit is improperly paying employees or non employees.

Those weekly or monthly love offerings you give your church musicians or pastors could potentially turn into a financial nightmare for them and your church...because the gifts could be considered payment for a service performed and it definitely is not a spontaneous gift.

So you will need to either include these amounts in their W-2s or...if over $600 paid annually to non employees...send 1099s to these recipients.

I know there will be many of you that disagree with me with that statement and as I have stated several times....never take what you read on the internet at face value.

Do your own research and for the sake of your church and staff....educate yourself on the proper documentation and handling of love offerings.

See more information including some links to some very informative articles in this love offerings page.

Reason for the Season

I hope all of you have a very blessed Christmas and do not forget the “Reason for the Season”.

I was properly reminded of this yesterday when the janitor at my work casually asked me if I was ready for Christmas. I told him I just couldn’t get into the mood as it was going to be a very slim Christmas this year because of some very expensive repairs to my house drained my savings and maxed out my credit cards.

He looked at me with a shocked expression and said, “Christmas does not come in a box! It is not about presents at all! It is about God giving his precious Son, Jesus, for the saving of this old sinful world.”

I told him he was so right and apologized to him and most importantly....apologized to my Jesus for forgetting even for a moment what Christmas is all about.

So don’t get so caught up with all the hustle and bustle of season and forget even for a moment what Christmas is all about....our precious Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!

Prayer for Gabbie

A couple of months ago, I asked you to pray for my assistant pastor’s baby girl. Gabbie is 7 months old and has been in the hospital most of those 7 months. She has a hole in her little heart and has been awaiting surgery since she was born to repair it. But each time surgery is scheduled; Gabbie has another “episode” and ends up in the hospital.

This last time was a very severe episode and little Gabbie was put on a ventilator. These wonderful parents, Wesley and Martha VanMeter, their daughters, and their precious baby, need your prayers. Please request prayer for them at your churches too.

(Update: Gabbie just celebrated her 2 year birthday and is doing wonderful) 9-20-11

May God richly bless you in your work for Him!

vickey

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