Can Church pass the anonymous cash donation to a member of our Church

by David
(Rockville, MD, USA)

Someone anonymously wrote on a envelope asking to transfer it to another member of our Church(who is needy), assuming there are cash only inside because obviously he/she doesn't want the member know who gave the money to him.

Questions:
1) is it legal that we just pass that envelope to that member, or we have to open the envelope and record it somewhere.
I believe that all we need to do is to pass that envelope to the member without doing any recording. Any law back this up?
2) The member who receive the envelop, would that become his/her income, or if there is a cap on the amount that is not taxable to this member?

I am so grateful that I found this site, May God bless your ministry.

Comments for Can Church pass the anonymous cash donation to a member of our Church

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Aug 22, 2012
Reply passing cash
by: Anonymous

Have you read IRS Pub 526? it should answer your questions. http://www.irs.gov/publications/p526/ar02.html

Aug 22, 2012
Passing Cash through the church
by: Anonymous

It would seem that this anonymous gift should be kept totally anonymous, including the church not posting it to the giving record of the donor since the donor specifically designated it to go to a specific individual. The donor could have just as easily mailed it to the recipient without involving the church. It certainly should not be considered as a tax deductible gift by the donor.

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