MUST HAVE REFERENCE GUIDE

Site Map or Site Search

CHURCH ACCOUNTING PACKAGE

Credit for Church Member Donations

by Financial Secretary
(NC)

As the financial secretary, I have members who want credit for donations to the church. They will put their receipt in the envelope for me to write it on their statement. Is this okay?

Comments for Credit for Church Member Donations

Click here to add your own comments

Feb 23, 2017
 Tax Receipts must be prepared from the Church's accounting
by: Bill OConnell

No, this practice is irresponsible, and places both you and the church in jeopardy.

Every corporation in America is legally obliged to maintain "books and records" to prove either:

1. what it must pay in taxes, or
2. in the case of a church, that its operations comply with its mission that allows it a tax-exempt status.

In the case of a church, you are providing a document to American taxpayers that allows them to reduce their taxes on form 1040. You should be producing these from the books and records that are subject to internal controls of agreeing to bank deposits, etc. And the IRS expects that you are not simply producing receipts that conform to amounts requested by the donor-taxpayer.

As an officer of the church you have personal exposure if these receipts are proved to be fradulent. Further, the tax-exempt status of the church could be at risk as well.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Church Accounting FAQs.

If you want to DIY your payroll, I highly recommend you look at using Gusto! It is very user friendly and their support is awesome! Plus they know how to set up and maintain payrolls for churches and nonprofit organizations.

Note: I am a "partner" of Gusto, but as I have told you before ... I never recommend anything that we or our clients have not tried and love =)



Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.