Need Envelope for Cash Contributions !!!

by Ekin Tran
(Houston)

I have a question regarding Envelopes for Cash Contributions. My church provides envelopes for Cash offering, but some people they do not want the church record their names and contributions, so do they still need to put their offerings in envelopes for IRS purpose? Or are envelopes needed for only people who want their contributions recorded for tax deductible purpose?

Thank you for your help,

Ekin Tran

Answer

Envelopes are for the convenience of your church members. If you receive a contribution in an envelope, you should record it, but not everyone who gives their offerings in an envelope is doing it for a tax deduction :-) Make sense?

Hope this helps,
Church Accounting Package

www.freechurchaccounting.com

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1Comments

Do the tithe/offering evelopes need to be kept.

KKathy Butler

Two years ago I took over for the church secretary who retired. She told me that we were told to keep the tithe/offering envelopes that the contributions were given in. She said she did not understand why, but she kept them. I don't quite understand either, because we don't record contributions by envelope number but by name, and not everyone gives their checks or cash in an envelope. I could understand if we required everyone to put it in an envelope with their name. That would be part of the record keeping, matching envelopes with recorded contributions. So my question is: do we by law for IRS audit purposes need to keep the envelopes? We are a small church, no employees, and we do not even have to fill out a 990 or tax form. Thanks for your help.

Vickey's reply:

According to Richard Hammar, an attorney, CPA: Keep for at least 6 months after you issue your donors periodic (i.e., quarterly, semi-annual, or annual) summary of contributions, and include in this summary a statement similar to the following: "Any documentation, including offering envelopes, that the church relied upon in preparing this summary will be disposed of within six months. Therefore, please review this summary carefully, and inform the church treasurer of any apparent discrepancies within six months of the date of this summary."
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